(This blog entry is a continuation of my last entry entitled Spiritual Loneliness.) David Whyte, in his stunning poem, Self-Portrait, calls our attention to a state of being not unlike what I described in my last blog entry as Spiritual Loneliness, a “fierce embrace” in which “even the gods speak of God.” (Read this gorgeous poem here.) What I am …
Spiritual Loneliness
I heard a term coined the other day that caught my attention—spiritual loneliness. The term was defined as a period of disquiet that occurs along one’s spiritual path. The point when the coolness of the forest path breaks away and you find yourself trudging across an endless expanse of desert. It is the place on the path where the sign …
Love the Sleeve You’re In
Our life challenge is to love the sleeve into which the arm of our eternal spirit has been thrust. This “mortal coil” in which we find ourselves—this life with all its triumphs and woes—is no more than a garment the spirit has donned in order to see itself in a new way. A charming experiment—to be this human in this …
Lost and Found
Years ago, while I was doing some spiritual work around a matter of grief, I was given this piece of wisdom by a guide: Nothing is ever lost, he said. What you think you have lost is right there in your hand. In this temporal world, where everything is in a state of flux, the notion that nothing is ever …
Tending Graves
A Vietnam veteran I knew told me a story about the first time he visited the exquisitely profound Vietnam Veterans Memorial, located in Washington, D.C. He said he paused at the name of every one of his friends who had fallen in that war and pressed his finger on each inscription. Then, he said, he was able to lay them …
While I Lay Sleeping
The other night, I had a half-waking dream in which I was given the following teaching: There are two worlds. The realistic world and the idealistic world. The realistic world is ruled by one’s father and the idealistic world is ruled by one’s soul. This little missive kept me awake for quite a while, not so much from a physical tossing …
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
There has been much talk about the meaning of this now past year, 2012. It is clear our world has been deeply shifting and evolving for some time, and we are not always certain, at first glance, whether these changes are good or bad. The universe and the Earth within it have forever sought balance–this is not new. So, for …
Go For the Gold!
Relationships are said to be a mirror, in which we can see ourselves more clearly. No surprise, we don’t always like what we see. All the scars and wounds from the past—the ones we thought were so well masked—flare out onto the surface like a bad rash. When the pain of abandonment, rejection, of not being understood or heard rears …
Talking to Trees
Once upon a time, I was going to call this blog Talking to Trees, because I love tree-talking more than any other shamanic practice. Trees are magnificent, gentle and wise beings. All of nature is generous, but trees have always struck me as the most giving of all Earth’s creatures. Recently, I attended a conference in the Hudson Valley with …
Where’s the Magic?
A couple of weeks ago, I started a blog entry about how magical my life was feeling. Everything felt very rich and serendipidous, even though the truth is, I have been living with less income this year and constantly wondering how to pay for the things I need. Despite the financial constraints, however, my life felt as if everywhere I …