Pilgrimage Staff

One day while walking along the shores of the Hood Canal near my hermitage I found a great big wooden stick. It was sturdy and the right height so I brought it back to sit with it for a while and ask how it wanted me to embellish it.  Often when I lead art programs I talk about art as being both tabernacle and pilgrimage — a sacred container and a sacred journey of discovery.  It holds the power of both.  I have wanted to have a staff and a small box as symbols of these energies of art.  At our Awakening program I was inspired by a participant to use crepe paper applied with gel medium in a different colors and have finally made time to work on this.  I will probably do some more with it as it needs, but for now it is a reminder of the sacred journey I am on.

On Sunday, kigen left a comment which included this wonderful quote:

“There are ways, but the Way is uncharted!”
Tao Te Ching, Ch I, tr. by Blackney

which reminded me of another favorite quote:

“The way is made by walking” –Antonio Machado

I received this little gem in my Panhala email the other day:

life is a garden,
not a road

we enter and exit
through the same gate

wandering,
where we go matters less
than what we notice

-Bokonon, The Lost Book

As much as we want to plan how the future unfolds, all we can really do is put one foot in front of the other and embrace whatever comes and notice the beauty that surrounds us.  The season of Advent is an unfolding journey that leads to a birth.  What will be birthed we cannot know, just as the seeds lay deep within the winter soil of the garden waiting for spring.  Perhaps you might put your hands on your belly and see if you can feel something stirring.  What is calling you to be given expression and form?

-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts

**Remember to scroll down or click here to read the latest submissions to the Poetry Party this week and to submit your own creative response**