I have a deep affinity for crows and ravens as they seem to connect two important parts of my life together.  Ravens and crows are a part of the same Corvidae or Crow family with ravens being larger and perferring wilder places.
Saint Benedict (whose Feast Day is today) is often depicted with a raven by his side […]

Posted in Photos, Monastic Spirituality, Nature and Creativity, Mystics and Saints | 5 Comments »

I wasn’t planning on posting anything else before our trip but this sweet, beautiful girl turns 10-years old tomorrow and that deserves a mention.  Even though we’ve only had her a few short months, she has already worked her way deep into my heart.  If you missed the story of our rescue of Abbess Petunia, read here and […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Nature and Creativity | 1 Comment »

My beloved and I went up to Canada for a long weekend retreat together, a time to be still and reconnect.  On Thursday night we made the long trip to Vancouver Island, driving a little way past the village of Sooke.  We had been to Sooke a couple of years ago and I longed to […]

Posted in Nature and Creativity, Lent | 4 Comments »

A New Moon teaches gradualness 
and deliberation and how one gives birth 
to oneself slowly. Patience with small details 
makes perfect a large work, like the universe. 
What nine months of attention does for an embryo 
forty early mornings will do 
for your gradually growing wholeness. 

-Rumi
Tonight is the New Moon and Wednesday begins the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. I am feeling especially reflective this weekend, listening for what my spirit needs during this holy season ahead.  What will those forty early mornings do for my gradually growing wholeness?  What possibilities lie dormant in the seeds that are just awakening beneath the ground […]

Posted in Poetry, Nature and Creativity, Lent | 3 Comments »

I wrote a few days ago about discovering the theologian Andrew Linzey in an article I was reading.  I was so thrilled to discover someone writing seriously about the place of animals in Christian tradition and spiritual practice that I ordered three of his books:
Animal Gospel, Animal Theology, and Animal Rites: Liturgies of Animal Care
The last […]

Posted in Nature and Creativity, Mystics and Saints | 10 Comments »

I am Going to Start Living Like a Mystic 
Today I am pulling on a green wool sweater
and walking across the park in a dusky snowfall.
The trees stand like twenty-seven prophets in a field,
each a station in a pilgrimage–silent, pondering.
Blue flakes of light falling across their bodies
are the ciphers of a secret, an occultation.
I will examine their […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Nature and Creativity | 10 Comments »

I have been reading a wonderful article from The Way journal by Andrew Linzey who is a theologian and writer on animal theology.  I was delighted to discover that he has in fact published several books on the subject. 
Linzey writes: “People who keep animals have often made  an elementary but profound discovery: animals are not machines […]

Posted in Monastic Spirituality, Nature and Creativity, Embodiment | 19 Comments »

Top two photos taken at Greenlake in Seattle, bottom four on Granville Island in Vancouver
I find winter trees achingly beautiful, even more so this winter than any previous one I can remember. I see the black branches spread across the darkening sky and my heart swells with […]

Posted in Photos, Nature and Creativity | 5 Comments »

We had a lot of rain while up in Canada, but one evening was particularly beautiful and the world was on fire for a brief window of time.  We often think of endings as only sad, but I find there is a beauty to them as well.  Against the fierce edges of life, things around […]

Posted in Photos, Nature and Creativity | 12 Comments »

As I walked this morning, I became aware of the bareness of winter branches and the beauty of naked tree limbs dark against the sky.  The questions of winter stirred in me.  This year a new one is emerging:  When I let go of all the embellishments of my life, what is the core that remains?  What […]

Posted in Photos, Advent, Nature and Creativity | 11 Comments »