Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
Towards evening an unusual phenomenon can often be experienced around the lake. During the late afternoon a strong breeze kicks up moving from the water up the slopes of the mountains. It is a warm and unsettling breeze often accompanied by insects and a drying almost irritating quality. Then as the Sun gets close enough to touch the horizon the atmosphere around the lake often becomes uncommonly still as the waters become calm and serene. This hesitation and stillness lasts while the Sun is moving behind the mountains to the west. Then, just as the top of the sun dips below the horizon the stillness is broken by a perceptible breeze that runs down from the peaks towards the water. The breeze is warm coming down from the peaks and the surface of the lake is once again stirred by the sunset sigh.
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Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
Lake Tahoe was formed when a gigantic block of granite slipped down in an earthquake to form what geologists call a graben. The 193 sq. mi. block that slipped rests on the bottom of the lake 1,645 feet from the surface. The precipitous mountains that ring the lake rise to 10.000 ft and give it its magical and unique qualities. Perhaps these features are best seen in one cove of the lake known as Emerald Bay. Emerald Bay is on the southwest corner of the lake. Its walls are formed by granitic mountains that are a pale pink color. The shallowness of the bay creates a unique coloring to the remarkably clear water when the sun shines off of the bottom of the granite and reflects through the water. The color is a striking emerald green. This color vanishes when the clouds overhead are gray from storm activity.
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Saturday, January 31st, 2009
The summit of the Sierras in the locale of Lake Tahoe is a gathering place for storms that stream from the west through the Golden Gate in San Francisco. The Bay Area is a kind of funnel for storms that come from the eastern Pacific into the Delta of the Sacramento River. The Sacramento delta drains most of northern California into the ocean off of San Francisco. The Pacific storms that come through this Golden Gate hit the mountains and back up turbulently to the west forming scud clouds and strong winds as they gather the force to scream through the passes. The mountains rake the water out of the storms and deposit it in the form of beneficial snows that provide the water insurance against the yearly drought that is the California water year.
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Thursday, January 29th, 2009
The mountain ranges all around Lake Tahoe feel its influence no matter what the prevailing wind. When warm air rises from the sun warmed water and then rolls up the slopes of the surrounding peaks in the heat of the afternoon, large thunderheads form that surge upwards to branch out in all directions in space. Depending upon the angle of the sun and the prevailing wind first one peak then another give rise to the strongly forming thunderheads throughout the afternoon. When walking in the vicinity of the lake it is interesting to try to tell which peak is sending up the thunderheads on any given day. The location of the cloud gives information about wind direction in relation to the lake in a kind of primeval script. The rapidly ascending air creates fantastic forms that morph rapidly into elemental shapes.
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Sunday, January 25th, 2009
In the beginning stage of nigredo or blackness, a soul alchemist comes into contact with the roots of personality. Persona in Greek refers to the mask that the actors spoke through in the Greek theater. Persona means speaking through or sounding through. A personality is a mask that I speak through rather than revealing my true feelings about myself. I form the roots of the personality when I experience in childhood that my true feelings and creative impulses in life are not being recognized by the world. I then seek to adapt to the world by forming inner pictures that allow me to avoid conflict by repressing pictures that come from my deeper sense of self. The repression is a subtle source of irritation. I then hide my irritation about not being able to express my true feelings under a series of masks that help me to compensate for my feelings of insecurity. This is the dynamic of the persona or mask.
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Friday, January 23rd, 2009
In the early afternoon the air above the lake becomes well organized. The masses of clouds stretch out over the lake like flocks of grazing sheep. It is then that a curious phenomenon can be observed. The forms of the currents of the water begin to become furrowed and curved resembling a plowed field. Seen from the shore, the furrows appear like large S shapes extending into the middle of the lake. The flocks of clouds appear guided in a mystical syncopation with the furrows in the water, their movements resembling some solemn esoteric ballet. Perhaps the angel at the pool at Bethesda stirring the healing waters might be an appropriate image.
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Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
In mid- morning, the great lake breathes out in a cloud birthing gesture as the Sun rises more steeply and warms the surface. Squadrons of restless clouds form over the lake. These varied movements create a micro weather system that influences the area just over the lake itself. The bird-like clouds spring up off of the slopes of the mountains and emerge suddenly from an invisible realm into form. They reach a certain height above the lake and then they lose their lift. Settling down towards the lake they come to rest on the great bubble of air trapped by the ring of mountains. Their flat bottoms reveal the top of the air mass trapped in the basin of the lake by the ring of mountains. Like great flocks of birds they move in circles around the lake forming and dissolving in the morning Sun. At noon they sometimes build to great heights that can form thunderheads that sail off over the Carson Range and into the desert. But in the middle of the morning they play tag with each other in the shifting winds in the mountain ringed vessel of the lake. The sides and bottoms of the clouds absorb the serene hues of the water and the mountains into a symphony of magical blues.
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Lake Tahoe sits like a gleaming sapphire jewel on the eastern border of Northern California. It is a high alpine lake of immense size and remarkable clarity. Its pristine waters reflect the sky in remarkable shades of blues, greens and violets and the lake itself can show many moods as the colors of the sky shift with the ever present changes in the weather. The weather over Lake Tahoe is influenced by the fact that the flow off of the ocean to the west over the Central Valley of California provides a regular flow of moisture up the western slopes of the Sierras. The many mountains ringing Lake Tahoe create currents that steer these moisture laden currents into an amazing array of cloud formations throughout any given day.
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The Forces In The Soul - Lecture 3: Higher Will and the Protective Function of Prayer [52 min]