One of my lovely readers honored me by nominating me in two categories for the Bloggers Choice Awards — religion and photography. A couple of years ago you, my dear readers, helped me to win at The Best of Blogs in the inspirational category. It meant a lot to me that you took the time [...]
Posted in Fun | 3 Comments »
On the Death of the Beloved
Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts,
Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.
Your love was like the dawn
Brightening over our lives
Awakening beneath the dark
A further adventure of colour.
The sound of your voice
Found for us
A new music
That brightened everything.
Whatever you [...]
Posted in Grief, Poetry | 2 Comments »
Leah Piken Kolidas is another artist I discovered in my art editing work for Presence journal. I fell in love with her piece “Betwixt and Between” (seen just below). It evoked in me that exhilirating sense of being on the border of something new, of entering a new landscape. I especially loved when I went [...]
Posted in Sacred Artist Interview | 12 Comments »
On Saturday a wonderful package arrived in the mail. It was a commission I ordered from artist Marcy Hall (see her Sacred Artist Interview) of my two beloved animal companions — Duke who died over two years ago and Tune who is of course alive and well. When I discovered Marcy’s delightful art, I knew she would be [...]
Posted in Grief, Links & Resources | 6 Comments »
Poetry Party #26! I select an image and suggest a title and invite you to respond with your poems, words, reflections, quotes, song lyrics, etc. Leave them in the comments or email me and I’ll add them to the body of the post as they come in along with a link back to your blog if [...]
Posted in Poetry Party Invitation | 20 Comments »
***
Again the wind
Flakes gold-leaf from the trees
And the painting darkens—as if a thousand penitents
Kissed an icon
Till it thinned
Back to bare wood,
Without diminishment.
-Jane Hirshfield
***
-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
(all photos except for the last one taken at the Seattle Arboretum, end photo taken at Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle)
** Come back Monday, October 27th for our [...]
Posted in Visual Meditation | 4 Comments »
I long for You so much
I have even begun to travel
Where I have never been before.
-Hafiz (excerpt)
Last week on Tuesday I piled my things into the car, the essentials like my journal, my yoga mat, my camera, and of course my sweet Petunia. We headed north on I-5 to the Canadian border. Two elements of getting to a retreat [...]
Posted in Photos, Poetry, Spirituality | 10 Comments »
Before I left on my retreat last week, I sent my latest Reflective Art Journal off to the printer. As usual, I am so pleased with how it turned out. This issue’s theme is Crossing the Threshold: New Year, New Beginnings and in it I explore rituals and practices for celebrating the new year from Celtic, Christian, [...]
Posted in Links & Resources | 2 Comments »
‘I learned that her name was Proverb.’
And the secret names
of all we meet who lead us deeper
into our labyrinth
of valleys and mountains, twisting valleys
and steeper mountains–
their hidden names are always,
like Proverb, promises:
Rune, Omen, Fable, Parable,
those we meet for only
one crucial moment, gaze to gaze,
or for years know and don’t recognize
but of whom a later word
sings [...]
Posted in Family Systems, Grief, Photos | 16 Comments »
How necessary it is for monks to work in the fields, in the rain, in the sun, in the mud, in the clay, in the wind: these are our spiritual directors and our novice-masters. They form our contemplation. They instill us with virtue. They make us as stable as the land we live in. -Thomas [...]
Posted in Contemplative Living, Nature | 11 Comments »
