{"id":34214,"date":"2011-02-09T22:43:58","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T03:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=34214"},"modified":"2012-11-10T21:01:08","modified_gmt":"2012-11-11T02:01:08","slug":"eve-of-the-rabbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/daily-astrology\/eve-of-the-rabbit\/","title":{"rendered":"Eve of the Rabbit"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Amanda Painter<\/strong><\/p>\n

We’d had a blizzard that Wednesday, and on my way to the neighborhood coffee shop that morning to grab some breakfast the idea coalesced: a perfect winter day to cook up a cozy stew. I’d had a rabbit from the farmer’s market in my freezer for a while, but today suddenly felt like its day — solely based on the weather, with no conscious notice of the date. <\/p>\n

\"<\/a>
photo by Eric<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found a recipe for rabbit cacciatore and entertained the notion of inviting one of my neighbors — a fellow actor from the play I just did — to dinner. He never replied, but I think that may have been just as well. Chatting online with a friend later that night, I realized a dinner guest might have made for a very different experience. That chat is what follows.<\/em><\/p>\n

yes, this tiger ate rabbit on the eve of the new year<\/p>\n

(haha for the chinese new year<\/em>, he said)<\/p>\n

it was not intentional, but i realized it after i’d already decided<\/p>\n

i actually had rather a profound moment with it….. want to try to write about it, but not quite confident it will come out right<\/p>\n

i’d forgotten the rabbit was not cut in pieces…. it was just this little frozen ball of meat
\nwhen i opened it and unfurled this whole critter,
\nso obviously rabbit in shape
\nits spine,,,, back legs,,, little front legs…
\nhad to take a moment and breathe… some moments of silent gratitude to this creature<\/p>\n

and then i had to start the task of cutting and splitting it with that knife you gave me
\nreached into it & realized
\nthey do not put the innards into a tidy little bag
\nfirst one kidney, still slightly attached
\nthis perfect, tiny, velvet-silken-smooth-soft oval<\/p>\n

then the other
\nshiny shiny shiny shiny
\noh my god so incredibly shiny and dark and small
\nthen its liver
\nand what really got me:
\nits heart<\/p>\n

still up in there in its chest, still attached by the thick main artery, so i had to pull it
\nso dark red, blood almost black and denser than the other organs
\na hard-working muscle
\nit was still attached by that artery<\/p>\n

and it reminded me of reading about the body-donation program at BU in the alumni magazine<\/p>\n

the description of removing a person’s heart in this article
\nhad made me think of my dad
\n(he gave his body to the local medical school after he died)<\/p>\n

to reach in and remove a heart from any body, any creature………..<\/p>\n

yeah…. this really felt like a real animal in those moments<\/p>\n

(speechless, here<\/em>, he said)<\/p>\n

(this is making me think, if I couldn’t do that – I probably shouldn’t eat meat<\/em>, he said)<\/p>\n

yes…. and this was not even killing the animal
\ni did not have to see its eyes, feel its pulse
\nmost people in our culture would have issues with it; we’re so divorced form what we’re eating<\/p>\n

i consider myself still to be, to some extent<\/p>\n

so, you know…. i let myself take my time with it and feel a little<\/p>\n

acknowledge the animal with my heart and soul
\nand then i continued to cut it into pieces, cook it and eat it
\nphotographed its innards on the cutting board partly out of fascination
\nthe light shining on those too-smooth kidneys<\/p>\n

a different phase of the experience, but i don’t think it cheapened it — my fascination with it;
\nreally, they had a certain beauty to them, just as objects as well<\/p>\n

(well this rather primal and spiritual<\/em>, he said)<\/p>\n

yes
\ni would say so
\nfelt that way to me<\/p>\n

(i can feel you from here<\/em>, he said)<\/p>\n

*deep breath*
\nthanks<\/p>\n

(an initiation<\/em>, he said)<\/p>\n

yes, i guess so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Amanda Painter We’d had a blizzard that Wednesday, and on my way to the neighborhood coffee shop that morning to grab some breakfast the idea coalesced: a perfect winter day to cook up a cozy stew. I’d had a rabbit from the farmer’s market in my freezer for a while, but today suddenly felt … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}