In the Beginning...
A migratory befuddlement of changing newsletter domains.
Imagine walking up a path to a quaint but modest garden that obscures a threshold, a door. But not just any door, an enchanted door. For you see, this door changes colors depending on the intention by which you arriveā¦
Hello there and welcome!
Iāve taken quite a long pause in sending out a monthly newsletter as the winding obligatory path of life has been filled with crossroads, junctions, and turnstiles. So, if you have stayed to the course with me, and we find ourselves here, across screens, know that I am first and foremost grateful for you.
I decided to change venues because when I considered the value of our connection, I found that the container in which we relate needed something more, more relational, more enchanted, and more interactive.
This door changes colors! And, whatās more, it gives you as little or much more depending on how you want to engage.
Iāll be sending out a monthly reader which will include themes that have been quite literally jiggling around my brain, upcoming opportunities to work with me, the latest earworm that has been playing in the background along with my thoughts on why that one seems to want my attention, and journaling prompts for you to excavate your own inner workings.
I would be remiss here if I didnāt call in my dear companion and door opener, Ganapati (Ganesha). I have many things to be grateful for in my life, and among many of them was the arrival of Ganapati in my dreams 13 years ago.
āOm Gam Ganpataye Namahā
Bowing down to the Almighty Ganaati with all our existence and accepting all his great qualities in our self-being.
The White Door (A meditation)
I invite you to a potent and tender imagining for the beginning of the New Year according to the Roman Calendar.
In these monthly imaginings, we hold the sacred intention of revealing something that has been previously unknown to us. I have found it best that move my thinking brain into a state of neutrality, being curious about what occurs when I pose the question. If I fall into judgment of my perception, I gently invite myself back into curiosity. What next might happenā¦ This is the 1st pathway, of which there are two more. The 2nd pathway is compassion. I summon the spirit of compassion for what I may experience, what feelings might arise, and what I might excavate in my exploration. This leads to the 3rd pathway of courage. In my work, I often observe that imagination or experiential practice is often curtailed because of fear. More on fear later, but in this moment, when are experiencing this phenomenon, it is helpful to ask, āwhen I stop just short of the threshold, how am I or anyone in my relations benefiting from this obstacle, and what is helpful to know. In this way, we summon the spirit of courage to help remove all obstacles. So, with the pathways of Curiosity, Compassion and Courage, let us begin!
Take a moment, to settle in and gather your inner resources, whatever that may look like for you. It could be focusing on your breath, or it could be calling in your trusted powers and asking them to resource your space.
Imagine you are at the liminal threshold of a white door. Notice how you feel looking at it. Look at your hands, your feet, what are you wearing as you stand before it? Are you eager to cross it or ambivalent? Who is with you, supporting you? Who is not? Who is there that is not welcome? What do you imagine are the limitless possibilities that await you on the other side? Do you perceive any obstacles? Stay curious here and as the need arises for you to resource yourself, continue to do so. As you cross the threshold, what happens? Or as I like to often inquire, what is helpful for me to know about what I am experiencing? Stay with the practice until it feels complete for you and then bring your attention back to your present awareness and environment.
Journaling Prompt
As we begin the New Year, based upon the above experiential practice, what are you calling in with intention? What are any perceived obstacles to your endeavors?
Happenings
Surrendering to the 6 weeks between Solstice and Imbolc, I am allowing myself to be re-enchanted. I say re because I believe everyone possesses creativity and passion, but often after the long hard battles, and successes of the previous year, we need this time to recharge. For me, the practice is opening up new pathways of connection and offerings beginning after February. Until then I dream, and sleep, and fight with myself, if I am being brutally honest, to not surrender to the colonist, capitalist workings of working without profound intention.
In the spirit of this, my two upcoming offerings that are useful to know for your planning begin in February. In brief, the 1st offering is the pre-requisite for the Practitioner Training, The Foundations of Psychopomp. You donāt have to follow through with the larger offering of the Practitioner training if you are only seeking to deepen your connection and understanding with the animate world around you and how to form beneficial relationships with the other than human powers to support your life and destiny. Please extend your curiosity below if you feel called by clicking on the images below.
Enchanted
Each month in this section youāll find the pathways that delight the senses. Those of you who have spent time with me know I am led by visual and auditory pursuits and I am happy to create a space here to share what has my current attention and is playing, often without my consent, in my head musically but has a deeper meaning.
Sight
I try, I really do, to not work when Iām not working. So if by chance I shift my attention to zone out with a show, inevitably it has themes of the realms in which I work. This month two rather brilliant explanations of the realms of the dead were on queueā¦ Season Three of His Dark Materials, and Hotel Del Luna, both of which can be found on HBO and Netflix. I wonāt ruin the plotlines any further as I already gave you a big tease.
Sound
The current earworm came a la oracle style a few days before the torrential rain that hit my domicile for 3 solid days. I often call these tells, and I consider them carried by messengers from the liminal to inform me of something I need to know or pay attention to. The energy is on the particular line that always repeats itself and stays with me until I get the message. In this occurrence, the line is:
"The water, the water, didn't realize, its dangerous size ~ Feist, The Water
In this instance, I found out what I needed to observe. I have always loved this song but have not ventured to watch the video for the work until today. Mercyā¦ thereās more. Cillian Murphy (genius actor that he is, one of my favorites) stars in the short, set to the song. And it, of course, has been interpreted by some as him attempting to reconcile his fatherās death.
Now, Spirit Radio as I call it has my attention because my mother died most recently in November. I feel so seen. I want you all to consider, if you havenāt already, how there are forces in the natural world that really do care that we make it through whatever is happening in our lives. And, that if we open ourselves to these pathways of how they communicate and connect with us, we may just make it through whatever seems insurmountable.
Words
I leave you now with a few of my favorite words that slip off the tongueā¦
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief... For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry