I was away for the weekend attending a workshop and returned last night to find my website down. After some long holds and frustrations with my hosting company and then the intervention of my web guy things are back on track now. Apparently my site got hacked which a pretty unsettling idea. There may be a few bumps still to smooth out, but look for the Poetry Party here shortly. Thanks for your patience!
“A major obstacle to creativity is wanting to be in the peak season of growth and generation at all times . . . but if we see the soul’s journey as cyclical, like the seasons. . . then we can accept the reality that periods of despair or fallowness are like winter – a resting time that offers us a period of creative hibernation, purification, and regeneration that prepare us for the births of spring.” (7) -Linda Leonard, from Call to Create : Celebrating Acts of Imagination One of the greatest gifts of the seasons to me as a writer
Marybeth Leis Druery is another one of the wonderful artists I have had the privelege to encounter through my art editing work with the Presence Journal for the spiritual direction community. Her website Contemplative Art is filled with her luminous watercolors and purchase of her beautiful cards and prints goes to support Student Open Circles. I always feel a sense of kindredness to the artists who so willingly share their wisdom here, and in a particular way with Marybeth. Not so much her religious upbringing, as the influences on her ways of being now. So read on for more illumination! _________________________________________________________ Are
“In a dark time, the eye begins to see.” -Theodore Roethke “Wisdom comes with winter.” -Oscar Wilde I love the bare branches of winter trees spread across the muted sky. Those aching arms that have been stripped of encumbrance to reveal the bones. When autumn comes I am dizzy with delight at the release of fluttering jeweled prayer flags settling to the ground to become the compost for next spring’s flowers. There is an excitement I experience at the change of each day’s landscape, a parade of colors, always something new revealed. It can be easy to forget that this is
I was connected to Josie Rodriguez‘s wonderful work through Laurie Mika (see Laurie’s interview here). I adore encaustic and I always feel a kinship with people doing the extraordinarily meaningful work of chaplaincy, especially hospice work. Ever since I walked with my own mother through the last few days of her life I have been drawn to the journey of dying and grieving. Josie is a hospice chaplain in San Diego and was so generous to send me her insights into my questions exploring the connection between spirituality and creativity. So read on! _____________________________________________________________ Are you rooted in a particular
Our Twenty-Ninth Poetry Party! 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 you have one (not required to participate!) Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog and encourage others to come join the party! The feast of Epiphany was celebrated yesterday in the Christian tradition.
* * * * * And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. -Gospel of St. Matthew 2:9-12 * * * *
I awoke this morning, on New Year’s Day, with a heart full of hope. Last year was brimming with new possibilities and the year ahead brings with it so many adventures and invitations to dance on the edges of things, I am absolutely dizzy with anticipation. In a most ordinary moment, I was taking sweet Tune for her morning walk today, when as I returned a flock of pigeons took flight across the street. A fairly common occurrence in the heart of the city, and yet this morning I had this transcendent moment where I felt myself lifted with them, my breath stopped, heart
** A Most Blessed Christmas to all my dear readers ** -Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts (all photos taken this week in downtown Seattle)
This song has been speaking to me in beautiful ways during the Advent season. I offer it to you as a gift for Christmas on this most holy night. Return in the morning for more images!