Christine at Blisschick invited me to reflect on a moment of “unexpected bliss” for her series this week. Stop by to read my reflections on the way language can express the “curves of (our) longing” . . . lovely for me to re-read these words I wrote before my trip as I sit now in [...]
Posted in Family Systems, Pilgrimage | 1 Comment »
The darkness embraces everything,
It lets me imagine
a great presence stirring beside me.
I believe in the night.
-Rainer Maria Rilke in Book of Hours
I write to you from the beautiful city of Vienna. I am in the middle of an amazing time of pilgrimage and journeying to the heart of myself. After many months of hard work [...]
Posted in Family Systems, Pilgrimage | 1 Comment »
“And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see—or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read.”
-Alice Walker, from In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens
Last week I shared an encounter which made me wistful for [...]
Posted in Family Systems | 13 Comments »
I invite you to consider joining Betsey Beckman and me for an art and movement retreat for All Saint’s and All Soul’s on Honoring Our Ancestors. We will be gathering for three nights at St. Andrew’s Retreat House on the beautiful Hood Canal October 29-November 1, 2009. Our $50 early registration discount is good until [...]
Posted in Art, Creativity, & Spirituality Retreat, Family Systems | 3 Comments »
What Came to Me
I took the last
dusty piece of china
out of the barrel.
It was your gravy boat,
with a hard, brown
drop of gravy still
on the porcelain lip.
I grieved for you then
as I never had before.
-Jane Kenyon
The photo is of me as a young girl sitting on my father’s shoulder. I have shared some of my journey [...]
Posted in Family Systems | 9 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 »
In this family systems work I am doing every time I make a new discovery it leads me down a whole new trail of inquiry. Every question leads to a dozen more. Each thread I follow leads to a whole new landscape for exploration. It is exciting work and speaks to me of the complexity [...]
Posted in Family Systems, Photos, Pilgrimage | 9 Comments »
And it was then that in the depths of sleep
Someone breathed to me: “You alone can do it,
Come immediately.”
-Jules Superveille, from ‘The Call”
You cannot travel the path until you have become the path.
-Gautama Buddha
Wayfarer, the only way
is your footsteps, there is no other.
Wayfarer, there is no way,
you make the way by walking.
As you go, you make the [...]
Posted in Abbey Bookshelf, Family Systems, Pilgrimage | 6 Comments »
A Great Pilgrimage
I felt in need of a great pilgrimage
so I sat still for three
days
and God came
to me.
-Kabir
Tomorrow is my birthday and lately I have been longing for some retreat time. I was wise enough to block off the next few days to rest in some stillness at home while my dear husband is away. [...]
Posted in Family Systems, Grief, Pilgrimage, Spirituality | 12 Comments »
The Love of Morning
It is hard sometimes to drag ourselves
back to the love of morning
after we’ve lain in the dark crying out
O God, save us from the horror . . . .
God has saved the world one more day
even with its leaden burden of human evil;
we wake to birdsong.
And if sunlight’s gossamer lifts in its [...]
Posted in Family Systems | 24 Comments »
