Sacred Artist Interview: Leah Piken Kolidas
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 […]
Altar of Remembering
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 […]
Invitation to Poetry: Honoring Our Ancestors
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 […]
Visual Meditation: Autumn in Seattle
*** 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 […]
I long for You so much (a time of retreat)
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 […]
What Endures
Today is the fifth anniversary of my mother’s death. My time away on retreat the last few days was a time of ritual and remembering. I will post more about the retreat itself in the next couple of days. Thank you for all of your beautiful blessings in comments and emails. Last night after I returned home we went […]
Going on Retreat
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 […]