As I mentioned last week, we are currently in the season of Christmastide leaning into these first 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany. A time of quietly tending to that which we have given birth to alongside Mary before it is revealed to anyone else. And of course a new year is upon us. I hope you have had some space to pause, ponder, and prepare to walk with presence into this next rotation of the earth around the sun. Many of you joined me Sunday in a collective ritual of reflection and I am so grateful for your engagement. There is great power in coming together to be with one another in this way. If you didn’t get a chance to be in this ritual with us but want to take some time on your own, you can sign up for the on demand version here. There are so many ways to close out a year and begin again. . . I trust you will find yours and I leave you with this blessing. May you draw close to the long arch of your life’s aim, values, and priorities. . . finding your true guiding principles and inner North Star. May you let go of being or becoming anyone but the unique piece of glass in the stained glass window of the cosmos. . . taking your particular place in the whole. May you look with care upon where and to whom you offer your precious attention and resources. . . stewarding your energy as you would a valuable treasure. May you find your life’s rhythms to tend to your being and becoming. . . letting go of your beat sounding to the expectations of the world. May you lean with a full awakened heart into your life. . . engaging all that is yours to do without attachment to outcome because it is yours to do. . . and you must. Christmastide and New Year blessings, Heather
Readings from this week's pauses: Monday: My body has never known the contractions of labor, but I know some thing of the effort of birthing, the ragged struggle to bring to light what lies hidden in my fertile darkness. I cry out to be delivered into wholeness, yeah find myself vexed by the shreds left behind: the untamed memory, the ease with which a wound gives way. I grow impatient with how I must tend to the cleansing even after the birth, must continually mop up in the process of healing. Yeah I know there will always be wounded places, That the labor of birthing has forever shifted my bones and altered my shape. We will long carry bits and scraps left in our Tender in word places. It is left to us to discern how to name them, attend them, care for them so that they don’t bleed us to death, don’t waste us away unawares. When we are spent from the labor and longing to rest in our deliverance, when we hunger to stay in the celebration and crave a lasting sabbath, you tell us t his is where our work begins. For the labor that is never over, give us strength; for the healing that is ever before us, give us courage. May our resting be for renewal, not forever; and may we work for nothing save that which makes your people whole. — Jan Richardson, Night Visions, p.88-89 Tuesday: “As we silently work upon ourselves, the energy of our devotion becomes a point of light within the world. At the present time a map is being unfolded made of the lights of the lovers of God. The purpose of this map is to change the inner energy structure of the planet. In previous ages this energy structure was held by sacred places, stone circles, temples, and cathedrals. In the next stage of our collective evolution it is the hearts of individuals that will hold the cosmic note of the planet. It is the heartbeat of the world and needs to be heard in our cities and towns. It is a quality of joy that is being infused into the world. This note can be recognized as a song being infused into the hearts of seekers.” — Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee from The Bond with the Beloved, as cited by Cynthia Bourgeault in The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, p180 Sunday: The Path of the Serpent Owl by Maya Luna It's okay not to have New Years resolutions It's okay not to have big goals for your life It's okay not to have plans you want to Manifest It's okay not to chase your dreams That path is not for everyone Some walk the path of Unbecoming They are traveling the road Backwards Seeking the core What is basic and essential What has been there all along Though we may be headed the same direction Our spirals are mirror opposites Some walk the path of the visionary Creating abundance and Dancing inside a multiplicity of forms And Some walk the path of the serpent owl Becoming more and more naked Shedding layers of fantasy into the ash Night sky Sitting in the dark And seeing the way the wind moves They do not walk a line or poise their arrow to the target They sit at the bottom of the ocean And wait Letting the waves devour them They are following the pulse of listening To silence Like a tiger in the brush Waiting for existence to strike lightening Into the fire of the heart For this kind Nothing less will do Some are opening the palms of their hands And unraveling To become Less and less Until they are No-Thing To become the still point In the center of All You know who you are Keep going
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