Heart Gifts

At this time of year the world seems to think we need gifts.  Well, for me, usually they are from the heart and not because a big chain store, an information specialist, or other outside source tells me I either need to give or get them.  Today however, during meditation, I realized that my heart is already full to capacity and I feel no "need".  I am so grateful for my beautiful home, my critters, the warmth of my hearth, the food in the cupboard, my health and the ability to go out and walk and revel in nature.  I am grateful to the dear friends that have found their way into my life.  There are two new ones this year and they are such a sweet delight in my life.  There are several who have been in my heart for most of life.  Rich, loving, caring and so appreciated.
In meditation this morning David talked about the four things that are necessary for our heart; attention, affection, appreciation and acceptance.  My dearest friends give me all of that and more and I so hope I return the gift. Feeling very joyful and grateful this morning!

Winter Daze....brrr.

It is already well into December!  Where has the time gone?  I have readied my witner wardrobe!  It is cold.  Have been doing a lot of work the Shiloh McCloud at Cosmis Cowgirl University and am just completing the three month course HerEvolution.  It was rich and rewarding.  Everything I have done with that wonderfully wild, insightful and talented group of women!
Writing away, painting some and preparing with great joy for Solstice and Christmas.  I will celebrate both.  Any chance to celebrate.  The house is covered in greens and candles.  Woodbox is full and I am settling in with a good book (see below) for a long winter's nap!
A dear friend shared a fantastic poem with me the other day.  It is by Charolotte Tall Mountain

Acceptance

In Nature I am neither rich or poor

Neither old or young

Modern or old-fashioned

My vestments, appropriate

to the heat or cool

Are indifferent to Her

She doesn't care if I am

employed or idle

Whether I've paid my bills on time

Or if I'll be the recipient of a prize

I cannot impress Her with my wit

But I feel She understands my pain

She offers me Her bounty whether

I have earned Her grace or not

So great is Her wisdom

Really wonderful words to ponder. 

Clarissa Pinkola Estes has a new book out "Untie the Strong Woman:Blessed Mother's Love for the Wild Soul. Yummy!  Some of my old Catholic resistance began to surface but it didn't stay around for long.  I recommend this book highly.  I am going to brew a cup of tea and curl up with said book.

I awoke this morning to delicious birdsong and the aroma of woodsmoke.  It was somewhere in the high 30's - brisk and definately Fall.  Yummy.  As I worked my way through chores outside the words of a friend rattled around in my head.  She asked some really important questions last week and I realized that I had no answers.  How can I manifest my ideal life if I truly have no clear picture.  So, I have been working on answering those very important questions.What kind of work do I really want to do and what income to I want so that I will have quality leisure time - time to nurture my passions and creativity?  Those were her questions.  I am still ruminating. 
This weekend though, there were two ideal days in a row to think and begin to answer those questions for myself.  I belong to an exciting community of women, Cosmis Cowgirls, and during September have participated in their Creativity Camp.  It is a synergistic group that provides daily prompts and support.  Sunday the prompt was basically the space between the lines...the blank spaces on the canvas...the pause in the music...the spaces "in between" in my life. 
The effect was amazing!  My day was quiet, peaceful, slow and really lovely as I noted the spaces that I usually rush through.  I welcomed the blank spaces...did not fill every moment with frantic rushing and doing.  The results were amazing.

The Space In Between

It is a magical place this "no" place

I have often missed it

Rushing and crashing through my days

Robs me of time

When I pause

I notice

The blue jay only a few feet away

Wrestling with a Pinion cone

extracting it's sweet treat

The sweet, melodic song of the finch

The Red Winged Symphony

The bee - busy gathering

The chicadee

retrieving seeds from the

long legged, swaying sunflower

The pink dance of the cosmos

The purple trumpet of the morning glory

The deep crimson bouganvilla reaching quietly to the sky

The way the sun plays throught the juniper

making lace on my page

the gentle caress and comfort of the breeze

on cheek and shoulder

Space expands

Deeps feelings of gratitude overcome me

Beauty reveals itself

in those spaces in between.



Narragansett Beach

Fall is in the air for certain.  I love fall - but then I really love each season.  I so enjoy the change - the subtle inuendos of each season. 

Fall I often say, is my favorite.  I was born in the fall and it enlivens me each time it comes.

I miss the ocean, the salt sting on my face, the heavy seaweed bouncing to and fro, the tiny bright and shiny stones like jewels littering the shore.

But the mountains now dusted with snow offer me a similar comfort and joy.

Each season, each place...joy, balance and delight.

No birds are singing this morning here in the mountains.  I wonder if they have slept in? Yesterday they were riotous!  Perhaps the rain has dulled their song for today. There is snow on the mountains. It is odd to feel the air damp here.  Maybe that is why I am feeling a melancholy and missing the shore with its own particular scents and sights and oh, the feeling of sun warmed wet sand between my toes.

A day of feeling, remembering, savoring and maybe a walk on the wild side.

Coyote, trickster or teacher?

Coyote has appeared many times in my life over the past few weeks. The "yip, yip, yip" at night serenaded me to sleep several nights. Then there was the indescribably eerie yip-howl that followed on one night. One single animal uttering a sound so strange I had to check to see that it was a coyote. It was just one and I ended up believing it was either sick or injured. I have never heard a sound like it before or since. Then driving home from work I saw a coyote sanding still looking toward me from a meadow by Hesperus.

I needed to know what coyote was telling me.

According to Animal Speak by Ted Andrews much magic is associated with coyote who is often called "Trickster". In many ways the coyote is to the plains Indians what raven is to the people of the Northwest...creator, teacher and keeper of magic. They both love to play and have fun; both remind us not to become too serious and also remind us that anything is possible!

According to Ted Andrews, if coyote has shown up in my life I need to ask some important questions: Are those around me being too serious? Have I forgotten that play time is essential to health? Am I complicating what is really simple in some areas of my life? Is someone playing "tricks" on me? Interesting questions that I am pondering.

The coyote teaches us about the balance of wisdom and folly and how they go hand in hand. We are taught the that it's energies are tied to simplicity and trust and how to develop poise amidst the chaos of life. We are stimulated to renew innocence and reawaken childlike wisdom in response to the world around us. Coyote also reminds us that true teachers (which he certainly is!) have a wonderful sense of humor. Through coyote we are assisted in a reawakening process of the intellect, creativity, the artistic mind and all of the intuitive faculties.

Today I am focusing on coyote wisdom and how it will lead me. Thank you coyote for showing up in my life and being persistent.

Summertime and the livin' is easy?

It is a lovely summer and now monsoons are with us each afternoon. Delicious. I can't believe that the last entry was May! So much has happened since then and yet so much remains the same. The garden is blooming and each day sweet Morning Glories greet me. They (whoever they are) say that Morning Glories will take over...well, let them. They are such beautiful little heart shaped leaves and delicate flowers. They delight me.

I have also been delighted by the wonderful women and programs at Cosmic Cowgirl University.

I just signed up for a painting class that I have wanted to take for years!! Shiloh is an inspiration and I love her work. It is divine, spiritual, colorful, womanfilled...and beautiful. I am so happy to be studying with her for the next month!! Thanks to the Divine that enabled this - and Zinnia.

It is an evening made for a walk, a little quiet time, some meditation...and a good old fashioned bath! Feeling very happy and grateful tonight.

A life...

Just finished reading a biography of Edith Wharton.


What an utterly amazing woman! I traveled with her through New York, Newport, Lennox Ma, then overseas, frequently! She worked at her writing, at her loves, at her friendships...then she worked tirelessly during the war for those in need. I was inspired. A quote of hers that really spoke to me from a letter which she wrote to Mary Berenson:


"of this wonderful adventure of living, which seems to me to pile up its glories like an horizon - wide sunsets as the light declines. I'm afraid I'm an incorrigible life- lover & life-wonderer & adventturer."
She seemed unafraid of aging and instead of shrinking from old age she saw how truly wonderful the later years of life could be. Her sister in law, Mini Jones, wrote sadly about the "woes and privations of old age," Edith responded: "The farther I have penetrated into this ill-famed Valley the more full of interest, and beauty too, have I found it. It is full of its own quiet radiance, and in that light I discover many enchanting details which the midday dazzle obscured."

Oh yes, how delicious...off to discover enchanting details today!
Her novels oft reflect on things spiritual and things very human. She is my heroine for today. Thank you Edith!