A few days ago I picked up an intriguing book at the library called Who Are You? 101 Ways of Seeing Yourself by Malcolm Godwin. Godwin taps all kinds of different cultures to look through familiar and unfamiliar lenses at our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual being. My beloved husband took one look at the …
Many years ago, I discovered that Orthodox Jews have a prayer for every activity and event in the day, a short prayer of gratitude that acknowledges the wonder and grace of the unfolding moment: a prayer for awakening, for rising from bed, for washing hands, drinking water, preparing food, eating food, dressing. Literally everything. This …
Tomorrow is my 63rd birthday. Sixty-three is (in my estimation) a particularly laden birthday because it is seven nines – and seven and nine are important sacred numbers. There are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (there are also nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, if you use a different list), nine noble virtues from …
Reminder: Speaking of ephemeral, the clock is ticking on the Lughnasadh Give-Away. Send the blog information to a friend. If he or she clicks through to read the whole blog, you get an entry in the drawing. Last week, in the midst of writing about forgiveness, I mentioned manna – that startling, miraculous stuff (the …
The early harvests are being gathered. The Farmer’s Markets are displaying a different level of abundance than they did over the summer months – although here in Colorado it has been a difficult summer for crops. Unseasonably cool temperatures extended well into June, there was a lot of unusual rain, and hailstorms have shredded leaves …
Tomorrow is Father’s Day and across the United States, family groups will be gathering for barbecues or picnics; some restaurants are featuring special menus — not as many as for Mother’s Day, but some. Lowe’s and Home Depot have been running ads (disparaging ties and lauding power drills) during sporting events for the past two …
Beltane begins with fire – specifically with the bonfires lit from the nine sacred woods (birch, oak, hazel, rowan (mountain ash), hawthorne, willow, fir, apple, and ivy). From that bonfire, the hearth fire in each home is renewed and rekindled. These woods symbolize the female and male energies, wisdom, birth and rebirth, life and death, …
A few blogs ago, I wrote about the emotional freight of time, and today brings that issue back again because it is my husband’s 60th birthday. He was born on the cusp of the ancient summer quarter, so this day has marked a special transition in the year for me ever since I met him. …
As we come to the end of one season (the spring quarter) and prepare to enter a new one, long practice invites us to release the old energy and acknowledge the lessons learned. It is an opportunity to empty ourselves in gratitude for all we have received, pouring back into the universe the blessings that …
Last Wednesday, I suggested that we take a week to consider all the things that fill our lives, and then to consider which ones we are willing to empty from our time, our energy, our focus. I invited you to join me in thinking about what might be able to breathe and grow in the …