Tales From The Labyrinth

This Duet

I am myself,
moving
ever towards
the center
that is right here...
Time
envelopes us...
away,
together,
the way your hands move,
haunts my heart
and finds movement in my feet...
The shape of
your tears
find the river of my soul
and we are this room,
these duets
of love
in all stages of leaving
and coming together
for the last time
in this breath of beginning
again
and again...
This pearl in the palm of my hand
is our dance,
luminous light
found in the irritation
of being human,
this joy
of matter
opening
into the infinite
space of our bodies,
this duet
of love...

Photo: Pearl found this morning on the hardwood floor at Soul Motion Body Prayer, during the "last dance" with my partner...

Fifth Holy Night 2007 ~ Freedom and Lawfulness

Oh the freedom
that breathed through my being
the day I left the rigid rules and regulations
I’d imposed upon my body and psyche
along the road,
way back there where the bend
happens near the dark wood…

You will still find structure,
organic and bendable
allowing my spirit to move
in and around,
feeling the limits and places to stretch
into potentials hereto unknown…

My body delights
in all the ways we now can dance,
move and rest,
find silence,
sing,
create in all ways becoming known,
seeking
the divine in each breath
taken
then released,
stepping between
and through the pillars
of freedom and lawfulness…

Fifth Holy Night of Inner Christmas
with Lynn Jericho

Lynn's Blog on the Twelve Holy Nights of Inner Christmas

Photo: Steps to the mansion of imagination...
Longcross Hotel, Trelights, Port Isaac, Cornwall, England.

Winter Solstice Planting

What seeds
are you planting
this shortest day
of the year?

When all life
sleeps deep
beneath the
Winter night blanket
of dark velvet,
where a tiny spark,
like stars in the vast sky,
ignites,
cradled tight
within the earth
and dreams of reaching
the light of day,
finding
the path back
into world...
Singing the joys
of Spring, Summer,
Fall, and of the blessings of Winter...

Photos: The Buddha watching over light seeds that will only thrive and grow in fertile darkness, Winter Solstice labyrinth walk in our Santa Rosa Labyrinth, and Christmas Caroling with friends and neighbors, organized by Ulla and husband.

To view the Winter Solstice at Newgrange Ireland, click the link below and download the archive. It is long, but well worth being included in this five-thousand-two-hundred-year-old event.

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/Solstice2007

Celebration of Traditions

Beautiful, magical Jassman Jill of
Follow Your Bliss
is inviting us all
to share in a Celebration of Traditions!

Here are some of things we do at our home this month of December and into the New Year to mark and celebrate these holidays...

This time of the year can be very special...

For if we can slow down
for just a few minutes every day
and breathe in what matters
to our hearts...

we might connect and find new meanings
for ourselves along this path of our lives...

It might be through lighting a candle from any tradition,

making gingerbread houses with loved ones...
decorating home and yard,

celebrating this time of year in the faith,
style, and tradition that has meaning for you...

decorating a tree...

as we decorate ours with my collection of "strawberry" ornaments that my mother has been giving me over the years...

On December 21st, the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year... I'll be gathering with Ulla and our neighbors to Christmas Carol through our neighborhood, and walk our candlelit labyrinth...

with a question in our hearts of what seed we are planting this longest night of the year as we once again move towards longer days to come, and come together to share deserts and cheer...

On Christmas Eve we celebrate with my family... this particular year, the Chinese restaurant in my parents' home town carved these beautiful creatures for us to have at our Christmas Eve celebration meal...

And on Christmas day we celebrate with my step-son's mother and family...

This time of the year is when I reflect on the year past and turn my attention to the coming new year... it is when I celebrate the birth and return of the light... deep within the darkness of our Northern Hemisphere Winter...

This Christmas day will mark my one year anniversary of blogging! It also marks my second year of
participating in Lynn Jericho's
Twelve Holy Nights of Inner Christmas

These twelve nights of reflection marks the time between Christmas Day and December 5th. Each day, Lynn gives a prompt to guide the meditation. This years focus will be on polarities that we meet in life and how we can contemplate these dualities to bring greater depth and meaning to our lives...

I wish for you and your family, and all those you hold dear, a time of heart and soul and the blessings of the traditions that bring you joy and comfort this time of the year. As well as the possibilities of all things beautiful...

Please visit Jill's blog to connect with others sharing their holiday traditions and to add your own if you would like!

Hanukkah

Tonight...
is the first night of Hanukkah...

Our home is a mixture of several faiths. Our combined years of seeking the Divine makes for many rich opportunities to mark what is important to us...

My husbands lineage is Jewish. And so we light the Hanukkah lights for eight consecutive nights... His beautiful menorah is made from stone from Israel...

I love this time of the year
and the celebration of the light
that takes spark in so many different traditions,
born into the dark, misty, damp, long, black nights
of the heart of winter...

For more on the tradition of Hanukkah, please visit my blogging friend from Israel, Robin for thirteen facts about this celebration!

Thankful... More Than A Day

Every night before I go to sleep, I write down five things from the day that I am grateful for... There have been days when to do this has been a stretch beyond stretching... but instead of not, I would struggle to find just five words that I could give thanks for... over the years, this practice has changed my life and become very important to me.

Are you ready for a change? If the answer is yes, try this and see what happens over a little bit of time. Just five words each night before you go to sleep.

I've a long way to go today before sleep, a date with my husband to see the new Bob Dylan movie, "I'm Not There," some art that has been begging for my attention, and many other odds and ends, but if I were to log those five words in my bedside journal right now they would read...

1) The beauty of this Fall day...

2) Having this medium of connection with so many people around the world, like you!

3) My husband's humor, which gets me out of so many dark moods...

4) Bonnie at E Studio...

5) My friends & family~especially right now my dear Aunt Rosina who gave me those turkey-candle-holders... 

See? It is pretty simple!

Happy Day of Thanks my dear friends where ever you live. I am thankful for you and the many ways you make a difference in my life, and in the lives of those around you...

Photo: Turkey candle holders in the heart space of our labyrinth.

The Next Day...

She slipped through
the portal
in the labyrinth
in the wee hours of the morning...
and when she awoke,
only one of her shoes
lay in the folds of the fall leaves of her ball gown...
Now...
where did she leave that shoe...
for she had danced all over bloglandia,
meeting the most amazing people
seeing the most gorgeous gowns,
simple and fancy,
full of imagination,
play, and delight
beneath the full September moon...

Oh sweet friends,
if you find this little  slipper
beneath flowers and feasting treats,
near crystal or music echoes...
Spin three times
in the center of your labyrinth
and you'll find yourself here!!!
And we can reminisce and
send periwinkle kisses to eb
and all the revelers
of the Bloglandia Ball!!!!

Wonder Dust

This little purse...
from the magical faerie castle...

Is filled with wonder dust...

It slips easily into your imagination
so you can take it anywhere...

planes, trains, automobiles,
or into the quiet or bustle of your own home...

you can sprinkle the contents anywhere you like...

on children, partners, your garden,
creative art making or paperwork...
on your house, apartment, sleeping bag,
the ocean or town square,
on animals ~ large and small...
on those hurting~
needing a hug, or a bit of magic in their lives...

you can sprinkle it on yourself, anytime, anywhere...

If the purse design is not quite to your taste...
it metamorphoses into the shape,
color, and texture that best fits you...

It never empties... like love, it is always full
and so delighted to come away with you into life...

Where, oh where, will you sprinkle wonder dust today???

This magic purse filled with wonder dust, is for you dear readers, and for Corey, Mary, Denise, Renee, Alma, Shelley, Ulla, Nicole, and Annie...for you all, readers, commentors, and persons named... are a wealth of inspiration and friendship that I so appreciate...

Prayer Beads

I've mentioned to you before, how important it is to me to have a spiritual practice. There are days, where I don't know what I would do with out having the familiar practice of stepping out of time, touching into the great silence and mystery of the divine. Having a familiar structure, custom made for me, by me, allows me to be supported and carried, on the days when it feels as if I can not carry myself.

I started these weblogs with marking the  "Twelve Holy Night's of Inner Christmas " with  Lynn Jericho. This deepened my morning meditation where I write, and until recently, walked our backyard labyrinth. The deep space of our labyrinth transforming, is now moving me in different ways...

The wellspring of soul calls...
and taking the time to listen brings such joy and connection in ways I never imagined.

Like the surprise of my dear friend Kimberly Saward, beginning her weblog in England, entitled "Ariadne's Thread." Along with her beautiful writing, Kimberly shares recipes for cooking and recipes for the nourishment of the soul. She has invited anyone who wishes to join her and others in marking the forty days of Lent with prayer and prayer beads.

I have never made a mala, or rosary, or prayer beads... Having recently purchased two fat bags of "assorted stone beads" from a local bead store, I became obsessed with sorting them, with the urge to make my own prayer beads for my morning prayers and meditation. I started with shapes, but quickly moved to color. My office floor became the beach at the ocean, searching for gems at the edge of surf and sand...

I chose several beads and laid out a possibility...

and finally settled,
for now, on this configuration of colors...

My own circle of intent,
to join with others, to encourage and be encouraged,
to open to that source of life,
finding my own prayers
and gratitude
that brings me ever more into this amazing
and wondrous path in the labyrinth of life...