The autumn equinox falls on September 23rd this year—a time when the sun rests above the equator, and day and night are divided equally. It heralds a season filled with change, celebrates the harvest, and ushers in the brilliant beauty of death. Autumn is a season of transition, of continual movement. At the heart of autumn’s gifts are these twin energies of relinquishing and harvesting. It is a season of paradox that invites us to consider what we are called to release and surrender, and at the same time it invites us to gather in the harvest, to name and

I have just returned home to Seattle after two amazing weeks of teaching soul care practitioners how to bring creative expression to their ministries of compassionate presence.  35 spiritual directors gathered in Louisiana and Mississippi for introductory workshops and then another 10 gathered on the shores of beautiful Lake Michgan for our Awakening the Creative Spirit five-day intensive (next one will be May 13-18, 2012 in the Pacific Northwest and they fill up early!)  It is hard to express what a profound privilege it is to be with groups like this, to make safe space for deep inner exploration, to

Watermelon  You know what summer tastes like—the pink flesh of a generous earth, this rounded life fully ripe, fully flavored. How could you be ashamed at the tug of desire? The world has opened itself to you, season after season. What is summer’s sweetness but an invitation to respond? There is only one way to eat a watermelon. Bury your face in the wetness of that rosy slab and bite. -Lynn Ungar from Blessing the Bread  I leave on Monday for two weeks away with my beloved in a warm, breezy place with little internet access and nothing but wide

The lovely Kristin Noelle has created a beautiful new blog called Trust Tending: Reflections, Conversations, and Art to Nourish Life Beyond Fear.  She offers a monthly theme, regular reflections, and these wonderful sketches that are so profound in their simplicity.  This month the theme is nature and she invited me to participate in a written interview with her about the role of the seasons in my own life.  Stop by to see the perfect sketch she created to accompany my words (reminds me a lot of this visual meditation I posted last month) and linger over some reflections by me on

The darkness embraces everything, It lets me imagine a great presence stirring beside me. I believe in the night. -Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours The Christian feasts of All Saints and All Souls on November 1st and 2nd honor the profound legacy of wisdom our ancestors have left to us and continue to offer. In some denominations, we celebrate and honor the dead for the whole month of November. In the Northern hemisphere the world is entering the dark half of the year. The ancient Celtic people believed this time was a thin space, where heaven and earth whispered to