Meet the guardian devis!

There is a lovely sung version of the Buddhist meditation Metta bhavana, a meditation for extending compassion out to the whole universe. I listen to it regularly and find it very relaxing as well as inspiring. Most of it fits easily into the mindset of those raised in Western Christianity, but one line has always struck me, a line about the guardian devas.

Devas are non-human beings who share the characteristics of being more powerful, longer-lived, and, in general, living more contentedly than the average human being. Some Hindu and Buddhist believers say that every living thing -- person, animal, or plant -- has an angelic being called a deva (male) or devi (female) assigned to guard it and help it grow and prosper. Each deva or devi acts like divine energy, inspiring and motivating the person or other living thing that it guards to better understand the universe and become one with it.

So I have decided that Sundance and Cassidy are our guardian devis. I know, their names might make you think they are male, and they were named for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They are female, however, which means they are not our gaurdian devas, but our guardian devis.

Cassidy guards the basement office, studio and entertainment center from her throne.

Sundance keeps watch upstairs from her station in Tom's office, where she can see what is going on outside, too.

Divas, in other words, in pretty much every sense of the word.