-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
(photos from the Salmon Homecoming Festival 2008 in Seattle)
* Make sure to visit this week’s Poetry Party *
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I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Melanie-Préjean Sullivan’s reflection on her morning prayer practice. I have always been a student of spirituality. From the time I could read,
A Blessing for Friendship and Community*God of friendshipI come to know your love and carethrough the embodied presence of others.Weave me together with kindred spirits,knit me more closely with friends of the soul,cultivate in me a kinship with humanityso that I recognize my struggles and
9 Responses
truly a visual inspiration! the depth and range of emotions shown throughout these faces is intriguing indeed! the poem reminded me of my day yesterday standing on the shore watching heron and fish play with the rhythm of the waves gently lapping against the rocky beach. “for too many days i have not written of the sea…”
Thanks Rebecca, Bette, and SS.
The drumming and dancing were positively transcendent!
Lovely!
xoxo
Christine — Thank you for your beautiful photos so full of culture, wisdom, and spirituality. American Indian ceremonial costume is so deeply beautiful and meaningful. I would love to hear the beat of that painted frame drum!
I so love David Whyte! And those faces! I love faces, each so unique.
kigen, thanks for your words, this woman was the most striking figure to me as well. I loved the lines on her face and the stories they held. If we could only embrace the wisdom aging can bring. So glad you got your book! You’ll have to tell me how you like it. :-)
Yes Jen, it is a magnificent set of words. Salmon are so important to the story and people of the Northwest here, full of meaning and the promise of nourishment.
David Whyte’s ‘Song for the Salmon’ is exquisite, and one of my all-time favourites – a deep, soul poem of yearning and yes!
Hi again, just two things more — the photo on the top right was the one I meant obviously in my post . Received Lectio Divina in the mail when I got home today — love the beginning where it says in regard to the ancient Hebrews, “to fix the sacred words in their minds and hearts they murmured them aloud like bees feeding on honey.”
((-: Hugs and much congratulation! (will sign off now for a while)!
Hi Christine,
The face of the woman on the top left is nearly the face of my spiritual director. It reminds me how powerful an elder woman’s face can be in its simplicity and honesty, and how disappointing, the tendency of our culture and media, in its demand for face-lifts and toupees vs. the real depth of life expressed in natural aging. I have been studying a text on the virtue of becoming one with one’s aging face, as if becoming one with the earth, the soil, the land, with all its furrows and lowliness. But also in harmony with David Whyte’s poem, one might add becoming one with the rivers and sea and with their furrows and turmoil and quietude.
Praise and homage to the native peoples of our land!