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

a few little somethings...

a little inspiration...

two special movies...

a heart wrenched song...

I know what all have these clips have said to me

What do they say to you, my lovelies?

Happy Weekend!

Love and Light

Inspired...

Today

I was reading...

here

and became inspired

*

this is what poured out of me...

To Abide

to dig deep

to care fully for oneself

to be moved by the deep stirrings within

to listen for the whisper

to take in the sun

to sleep with the moon

to twinkle along with the stars

to Be

as the grass is

as the flowers bloom

as the birds sing

not because they have to

but because it is what they do

it is how they Be

following their nature

humans

complicated 

with flaws and brokenness

we forget

we forget ourselves

the journey is to go back to that

the place where creation began 

in our hearts

in our souls

when we stood with God

and He/She said

"It is Good"

Love and Light

(ps and yes that is something on my lens!!! showing my human flaws!)

Sunday Speak...

On the first Sunday we were in Colombia

we went to the church

where this food program 

began.

They are the contact church

that over sees things up at the center.

This was my second time at this particular

inner city church

and let me tell you

these people get down with God.

Like many South American cities

the presence of Catholicism is everywhere.

But this church has Christian roots

and offers more of a Pentecostal feel...

Last time I went it was like attending a revival rave...

this time proved to be a little "calmer"

I love that kind of open expression.

*

They had asked us to speak...preach...share.

So three of us did

Julie, Karen and myself spoke 

I wanted to share with you what I shared with them.

As I prepared the couple days before

I asked myself

If I had one chance to share my heart

what would I say?

this is what I came up with:

Jesus said there are two great laws.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart

and love your neighbour as yourself.

These should be reflected in all that we do.

I then read from The Bible

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

^12-13You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.
 ^14-18I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.
 ^19-24But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?
 ^25-26The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

I continued on to say:

I believe that we are all connected.

I believe that what happens to another affects me-

sometimes indirectly

sometimes directly

But we affect each other none the less.

We are like threads in a great tapestry and together we weave something beautiful,

something hand crafted

by God him/herself.

When one of us is fed

we all are fed

when one of us is rested

we all rest

when one of us is healed

we all heal

to come here is my heart

To come here helps me learn more about the One

I follow

To give of myself here is easty

what I receive from that giving is great.

This is not about saving each other

it is about coming together, 

working together

coming alongside one another as Brothers and Sisters.

When we do this God's Great Love

is shown

When we journey together,

people from different worlds,

we show the abundant Love of the Divine

who does not see us by the country we live in,

who does not see us by the home we have,

who does not see us by our standard of living

Instead we show a Love 

that surpasses all

those things.

A Love 

that sees the heart

the true reflection of a person

And when we come together that Love grows.

It closes miles, countries, continents.

Bringing Hope

Hope to those who are lost

Hope to those who think they are alone

When we fell alone

separate from others

Hope Faith and Love are easily lost.

But when we stand together

we become strong in Hope and our Faith grows

And when Faith grows 

Love flows forth

And it is Love

The Spirit's Great Love 

through us that 

can

does

and 

will change this world.

then I sang this:

"Life Uncommon"

Don't worry mother, it'll be alright
And don't worry sister, say your prayers and sleep right
It'll be fine brother of mine
It'll be just fine
Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend you strength to that which you wish to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And you shall lead a live uncommon
I've heard you anguish
I've heard you hearts cry out
We are tired, we are weary, but we aren't worn out
set down you chains, until only faith remains
Set down you chains
And lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lent your strength to that
which you wish to be free from
Fill you lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead a life uncommon
There are plenty of people who pray for peace
But if praying were enough it would have come to be
Let your words enslave no one and the heavens will hush themselves
To hear out voices ring out clear
with sounds of freedom
sounds of freedom
Come on you unbelievers, move out of the way
there is a new army coming and we are armed with faith
To live, we must give
To live
And lend out voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend out strength to that which we with to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead...
Lend our voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lent out strength to that which we with to be free from
Fill you lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead a life uncommon

This is one of my favorite songs

I especially love the line

"no longer lend yourself to that 

which you wish to be free from"

so powerful...

So my lovelies

fill your lives with Love and Bravery

and we shall live

a Life Uncommon

Love and Light

Monday Offerings...Your Secret Name

I have not read this book yet, though it is on my book shelf...

I do find this video very thought provoking

in the way of how we each see ourselves.

The story we tell ourselves

lives in everything

every thought 

every decision

every breathe we take

My Sister of the Wood writes about it here.


Our Story


what is the story you are telling yourself?
do you know you have the power to free yourself?


My youngest has been loving this song lately
and suggested that today I should post it as an offering
fitting... 
yes?
turn it loud sisters
dance
raise your hands
and grab your True story
it is yours for the taking!

I love each and everyone one of you...
Thank you for being you!
Love and Light


ps I will not be visiting much these next few days
with trip preparation  in front of me
know I carry each of you in my heart