On this the Last Day...

Back in the beginning of this year I had dubbed it 

The Year of the Owl.

I had no idea what that fully would bring,

but I knew it was the right path for me.

So much so that I have discovered that Owl has always been apart of my life

this was not just something for this year

but for the years that have past

and the years that are to come.

The beginning of this year brought storms

and through those storm came the understanding

that storms are relative to perception.

That with in each storm lies Hope and Light 

That with in each storm comes a Shelter provided for all.

This year we found a new rhythm in our family...

the old one no longer worked

so gently we walked it out

and found a new song

just in time...

This year brought this mother to her knees

as I almost lost my son to darkness and despair.

I found myself broken apart

chattered from within

and the voices would have had me believe

that all Hope was Lost...

but that was not so

It became a time of remembering

that mountains can be moved

with Faith.

It was a year where Mother Earth's beauty spoke to me

everyday that I stepped out into Her Grace...

Conversations flowed from the heart

filling the rooms in which we sat...

enlightening one another's  hearts

with our Spiritual Truth and Journeys.

This year brought successful creative outlets 

for both my boys.

We traveled together

me and my boys

to The Garden of Eden

a time of family and giving back.

Love of this face grew to epic proportions!

Gods Grace shone brightly over us this year...

as I felt the loss of friends

and the blessings of new ones

...and the Gift of The Creators Creatures

blessed me everyday

This year brought me the wonderment of

new Life...

 Love...

the reality of Death...

and the Freedom found in Forgiveness.

*

This year offered me more time...

to pray

to meditate

to be.

I was blessed by a weekend away...

with 5 other women

where we connected with 

ourselves

each other

 the earth

 and with the Source of all things...

which brought to me a time of re-birth

which brought to me this space.

I was given the Gift of Silence and Reflection...

where I spent time with God

and all Her beauty and gentleness.

*

This year...

an old, familiar seed began to grow

one that was rooted deep with in me

and that seed grew strong,

with out my help

and continues to do so...

and I have responded to this growth

I have embraced it

and all it has come to mean to me...

I know this coming year will bring

more growth

more experience

more Love

more Grace

more Connections

I look forward to it all...

*

but for now I ponder on the year that has past

and feel the Gratitude reflection brings.

For this is a real life.

Blessings to all of you, my lovelies,

as we enter into this New Year!

Love and Light

Monday Offerings...Jesus

The other day someone ask me if I believed the immaculate conception of Jesus...

I replied that I did 

that was hard for her to understand

for her it was more of a case of

see in believing

I reminded her that miracles and unexplained things are happening everyday around us...

"Like what?" 

Like life

the miracle of life

that happens everyday and we take it for granted...

Our bodies

the miraculous science of our bodies

that happen everyday and we take it for granted.

not even going into all the

amazing

unexplainable things

that happen to people

the "coincidences"

the "chance" happenings

lives saved

sickness' healed.....

it was hard for her to understand such things
perspective is everything
*

the conversation went on....

* 

It was a great conversation

 One that caused me to reflect

To go deep with in my own faith and belief

and look at Jesus...

again

 Jesus

 my teacher, my friend, my guide.

What he represented, when he walked this earth

The things he did,

for those who reached out.

The truths he spoke

How he provoked thought with his stories

and questions

challenging all those around him to reflect

within themselves

their lives

their beliefs

their actions.

Jesus was a simple man

born to simple means

when times where not that simple

Government and Church controlled the people 
and freedom of thought was not something that was embraced

Money held power

and poverty and ignorance allowed for control...

sound familiar?

I am reading this book right now.

It is fiction,

but an interesting view inside the very human mind

of a man with a higher origin and purpose.
(Ann Rice also has two books depicting the early life of Jesus)

For me, Jesus transcended human reality,

but yet he lived it in full.

Feeling sadness, pain, isolation, uncertainty, fear.

Jesus connects me to that which is bigger than myself..

he brings Divinity within grasp.

This time of year brings it all home for me.

The reality that the simplest of people can be the most important.

That we are not measured by the material, 

but by the spiritual.

That believing in something means 

walking it out

speaking it out

standing it out.

My Jesus lives beyond religious romantic views.

He lives in the place where real life happens.

He is a man of Grace

a Grace that lives and breathes

a Grace that stops a woman from getting stoned

a Grace that allows children to get excited and unruly

a Grace that gives Love and Acceptance to prostitutes 

a Grace that sits

without judgement

 with men whose business is corrupt....

a Grace that sees beyond the immediate outer layer of a person

a Grace that looks at the heart...

Recently a sister-friend sent me a gift
In it there was a quote from Jesus
~She is not dead; only sleeping~
That was me at one time in my life
not dead, as I thought,
just sleeping.

What does Jesus look like to you?

Love and Light

Storytelling...of Memorials and Letting Go

A Solstice Hangover...as the sweet Pixie talks about here...lingers around me.

I feel spent and empty, yet full and content.

Yesterday was a full day for me physically and emotionally.

I worked.

Midday I was off to celebrate Alice's Life and document it

via images for the family...

I won't go into detail...

other then to say

working while crying takes something out of you

but

I would do it again...

and

I will

To see the expression of Love

by those left behind...

the heart open up

exposing vulnerability

your own feeling of loss

your own feelings of immortality

your own feelings of fragility

Beautiful Pain...

*

From there it was back to work in the studio

and then preparations for the evening ahead...

Lanterns were lit

Candles frame the way

The fire burns

(thanks to my contributing husband)

and the time draws near.

The time to open the widow

to that which darkens our doors

and to that which will bring it light...

The sisters where lit and waiting

Waiting to hold the flame for those who would come.

A beautiful anticipation was around me

the energy of women

many women

coming together...

If ever the world sees a time when women 

shall come together

purely and simply

for the benefit of mankind

it will be a power

as the world

has never known

Matthew Arnold, 19th Century Philosopher

The women came

they gathered

they poured out

We wrote down what we anted to release,

but we also wrote down what we wanted to replace

those shadows with

My personal belief is that when we rid ourselves

of something shadow

we need to replace it with something Light

if the shadow space is left empty

that shadow will not only come back

it will bring friends...

because the place is familiar

and easy

thus the burden becomes even heavier

So we wrote what we wanted to leave behind on one card

and then wrote what we wanted to bring in on another card.

Then we were off to 

the fire

the cold of the night

the baptism of the darkest day

back into the Light.

for some of us 

this was the first time meeting

for some of us 

it was the first time burning

whatever the story

it did not matter

they came

exposing their hearts

opening their truths

bearing their souls

a beautiful gathering

hands held

prayers raised

voices sang

and we released

into the fire

then in loud voices

we called to us that which we long to replace

in our lives

that which we want to awaken

and bring back

together we surrendered

to Love...

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. ¹ You have searched me, God,

   and you know me. ² You know when I sit and when I rise;

   you perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You discern my going out and my lying down;

   you are familiar with all my ways. ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue

   you, God, know it completely. ⁵ You hem me in behind and before,

   and you lay your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

   too lofty for me to attain.

 ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?

   Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

   if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,

   your right hand will hold me fast. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

   and the light become night around me,” ¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;

   the night will shine like the day,

   for darkness is as light to you.

 ¹³ For you created my inmost being;

   you knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

   your works are wonderful,

   I know that full well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you

   when I was made in the secret place,

   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;

   all the days ordained for me were written in your book

   before one of them came to be. ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

   How vast is the sum of them! ¹⁸ Were I to count them,

   they would outnumber the grains of sand—

   when I awake, I am still with you.

Blessings to all who let go

and to those who have yet to do so

Thank you to Pixie Campbell 

for keeping the Flame.

I sink into my contentment

as reflections of dreams and spiritual encounters

come forth from those who attended

blessings

blessings

blessings

you Brave, Courageous souls

blessings

Love and Light