Grief...in this festive holiday season

As a Medicine Woman

I feel a responsibility when the people around me

are heavy with grief.

I feel a responsibility when my community 

is lost in sadness and feeling broken.

I feel a responsibility when the world

is crying out for the injustice

that is happening to the innocent.

I feel there is much I need to do

and some of those things are to 
drum, sing and pray...

with two trusted companions
holding an abundance of unconditional love
I walked out,
drum strapped on back
camera around neck
on a Medicine Woman's Quest

To cry to The Mother
and call to The Father
That they would hear my prayers
Listen to my songs
And be moved by the beat of my drum.

I have felt the grief
coming into this festive season.
There is always some
this time of year is not always the happiest
for some.

But this year it feels heavier...
there has been a lot of deaths this year
personally, communally, and globally
we have all felt it.

I had this exchange with a sister-friend this week:

there seems to be a lot of grief coming into this holiday season I feel a call for us to be gentle with ourselves and those around us...I feel like we are being called to grieve and in that grief Divinity is celebrating us in a way of seeing our beautiful raw humanity...we grieve because we love...and love is "the way"...not white processed sugar kind of love, but the love that holds light and dark at once
the kind of love that is found deep in the dark rich soil of the earth
the kind of love found in the celestial sparkle of the winter night sky
the kind of love found in a desert oasis...
Divinity is celebrating our being broken open, pouring our...and our BEING...raw and rough...

her response:
I got the exact info into my heart around 1 pm. thanks you for your validation. moon is in scorpio. death and loss and truth will accompany us but so does the light the moon sheds. i feel kali ma coming in too, to destroy falsity. people not used to allowing the grief to be seen or felt will be very irritable. it could be both a wretched and glorious period...

So I walked and I drummed
I sang and I spoke
I prayed and I sought
I laid my heart out
for those who can not
for those who grief and suffering is too great
for them...
for all of us
I called out.

I prayed the we would be guided...
guided to see that the grief we feel
is a reflection of our love..
that it is not something terrible
but something beautiful...

That even in this time of joyous celebration
of gift giving, family and friends
during this time of religious celebration
and honouring
during this time of ancient ritual 
and remembering
There is room and a place for grief.
That we would know we 
are allowed
to feel and even celebrate our grief with others
that our grief is not meant to isolate
but in fact is meant to open us up to each other
as creatures who love and need love
and that in this divine place
there is no room for shame.

We Grieve because we Love
and I, for one, would live a thousand lives with Grief
because I will not live one life without Love.

I don't know what the grief is that sits in your belly
that weighs on your shoulders
that sits heavy in your heart...
but I do know it matters
I do know it is a reflection of your fragile humanness 
your beautiful, stunning, love filled heart
and it is needed here in this place
for it is what connects us all as humans
no matter what our demographic
our social status
our skin tone or race
our religion or spirituality 
our political views
grief is what binds us
and love is the reflection...
and the antidote.

So I invite you dear soul
during this holiday season
feel it all
be it all
don't leave anything out
don't hide
don't pretend
grieve, love, grieve, love, grieve and then love some more
feel the joy this brings your heart
the honouring of that which you no longer have
feel the rawness of truth
and the beauty of honesty
and know
all this can be side by side.

This is an important time for you
this is an important time for our communities
this is an important time for our world...
So many injustices are happening
and never before have we been so plugged in
this can send fear or it can send empowerment.
I believe by honouring grief one can find empowerment
in what is happening around us
realizing that there is always a choice
that we have a voice...
We can start with our selves...
It can begin with us

for the nakedness that is winter
for the raw exposure of our flesh
for our tears and laughter
for our sorrows and joys
remember in this place where grief meets love
we shine
and show others the way
as the moon reflects off of our nakedness....
and illuminates the path...
in the darkness ~CB

You are not alone in your grief
and in it, I invite you to be brave
for you were made for a time such as these 

and there are many who stand with you

What ever that grief may be, how ever big
so is the love that stands with it
and that my friends
is a lot of Love...
and in love
there can be found Joy
and within joy countless other blessings.
*

Know that I stand with you

Grief in one hand...
and Joy in the other
*
This is how I will walk into 2016...
will you join me?

Love and Light

*if you feel the need, write to me your grief and I will hold it through out this season, in sacred honouring,
 releasing it at years end*

note: the moon has since moved into sagittareaus so all the feelings will be fiery and impulsive and potentially the irritability can turn to rage in those who are unaware