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Archive for Spirit

The Miracle of Life

It’s almost like clockwork – every Spring, no matter how long it’s been since I last posted, I am inspired to write something about the sheer LIFE I experience burgeoning in my garden.

It usually starts with the Gertrude Jekyll roses – because they are early birds and because they smell divine. But even given their undeniable lusciousness, without the back-up chorus – lilacs shyly emerging from their slumber in the shade of the California Pepper, fat water lily buds jostling goldfish in the pond, eager buds covering every rosebush, tiny scrolled buds on the wild nasturtiums creeping under the fence; there’s even a peony bud building momentum in a pot outside my office door – I still might not be motivated to write.

But there is something so primal and yes, so beautiful, about this annual celebration of the life force that I too am awakened from sleep and want to take part.

It’s on days like this that I remember these words of Thich Nhat Hanh:

“The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

And I am moved to share my gratitude for being among the walking right now, for my garden, and its reminder of the endless generosity of the earth.

I lost my sister Katherine Grace on February 24th. I was privileged to share her last days, her last hours, and the precious minutes of her last breaths. I say privileged not only because she was extremely private and this sharing wasn’t a gift she gave easily, but also because the laying down of life is a sacred time for every human being, and it is always a privilege to be in the presence of the sacred. It’s a time when we are distilled down to the very essence of who we are. My sister fought hard for her life, for her time on this earth, even when she could no longer walk without help. But when it was time to lay it down, she surrendered with all the grace and beauty that defined her.

And as the beauty of new life emerges all around me, I send a silent prayer of gratitude for her life. In some secret way, I can imagine her here still, in my heart, like an unfurling bud that will continue to bloom as long as I walk this generous earth.

To my Kitty Gae, with love.

A Blessing

Looking for “inspiration” – a juicy tidbit to post this morning – I came across this blessing from someone who has inspired me deeply for many years, someone I (like so many others) hold dear to my heart; the late great John O’Donohue.

Here’s John’s blessing, taken from Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong:

May you listen to your longing to be free.

May the frames of your belonging be large enough for the dreams of your soul.

May you arise each day with a voice of blessing

whispering in your heart that something good is going to happen to you.

May you find a harmony between your soul and your life.

May the mansion of your soul never become a haunted place.

May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within.

May you never place walls between the light and yourself.

May your angel free you from the prisons of guilt, fear, disappointment, and despair.

May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to gather you, mind you, and embrace you in belonging.

May it be so, and to John’s beautiful blessing I add the collective prayer that we all “arise each day with a voice of blessing”, and recognize each other and all that lives as part of our sacred circle of belonging.

Good Medicine

My dear friend Lightning Dove, aka Sue Blondell, is an amazing artist and gifted "seer" who creates beautiful artwork and "medicine" tools that have the power to connect us to our deepest selves. I am blessed to own many pieces of her art, including an extraordinary "essence" painting of my husband and I and a magnificent full-sized painted gourd which is one my most precious "things".

Lightning Dove is having a rare public showing of her spirit-full work, called "Hush … be still … Listen", from Saturday, September 7th through November 6th at Spirit House in Woodside. Dove will be there in person for the opening from 11am to 4pm on the 7th, but if you can't make it then, be sure to come by while the show is up. You won't be sorry.

If you don't live in the area or can't make it, check out the galleries of her work on LightningDove.com, where you can commission some of her special magic for yourself or a loved one.

Here are some medicine tools she made for me recently:

 

Medicine-tools

(back left to front: small tobacco gourd, gourd rattle, owl wing smudger)

 

Great Spirit

A beautiful video by the award-winning young Hawaiian filmaker Dominic Walczuk, about dance and Nahko's music and the great spirit that breathes us all: