Before I came to Houston for the SDI Conference I had spent several intense days writing, writing, and more writing and all through it Abbess Petunia was a quiet, faithful presence encouraging me on. Who is the muse in your own life? Make sure to stop by the Poetry Party — the random drawing for a prize is tomorrow! Become a fan of the Abbey on Facebook or follow the Abbey on Twitter (new!) © Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts: Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts Subscribe in a reader

“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

The moon will be full this Thursday, February 21st. There are no children in our home (by choice, I might add), and so I gather “the sleeping infant of (my)self” to go out into the dark night and drink in the inky beauty of white rock in a sea of blackness.  My sun sign is Cancer whose planet is the moon.  I have always felt an affinity for the moon and her phases and rhythms, appreciating the profound wisdom of her gentle waxing and waning as a mirror of the movement of the seasons from flowering to death and back to blossoming again.