The Minoan Snake Goddess

I loved our gathering last night.  Menstruation and all of the tenderness, vulnerability and watery emotion of womanhood is so fascinating to me - most essentially I think, for its value as our infinite source of holistic, benevolent, healing power.  

I've been studying a bit about ancient Minoan culture and it's deity, who graced our altar last night;  The Minoan Snake Goddess.  Minoan culture (the ruins of which are still present on the Greek Island of Crete) is known for being an ancient society of true partnership with nature and among men and women.  In Rhian Eisler's book, The Chalice and The Blade, Minoan Crete is identified as a civilization characterized by robust health and vitality, sophisticated art and social life, and overall conditions of peacefulness and ease for all of its citizens - which, from the archeological evidence, seems not to have had a hierarchical ruler or ruling class, or weapons of war.  I find it profoundly interesting that such a culture would be represented with an image of a bare-breasted Goddess and snakes (belly to the earth!).  Soft belly to the earth.....

Gratitude and appreciation to all who attended and shared!  

Women's Day and Ecofeminism

“You’ve got to be small and different.”

— Dr. Vandana Shiva

In honor of Women’s Day, I signed up for a three-day advocacy course with Dr. Vandana Shiva on Ecofeminism, through her organization, Navdanya.  Women from around the world dialed in to hear about Dr. Shiva’s most recent work, and to be encouraged and inspired to be confident protectors of land, soil, seeds, food, and human rights.  

Read more about Navdanya here https://www.navdanya.org/site/ and here https://navdanyainternational.org/. 

I have followed and admired Dr. Shiva’s work for decades.  Her voice is a persistent, lucid, and fierce international presence in the realms of organic farming, world-wide agriculture policies and widespread corruption, colonization and technocratic interference with indigenous sovereignty and natural systems of resilience. 

“The future will be what we seed.”  

- Dr. Vandana Shiva

I am an inexhaustible activist by nature in the areas of women’s health, food as medicine, bodily sovereignty, medical freedom, and in my inconsolable desire to activate human potential.  As an Ayurvedic and Chinese Medicine practitioner I have been trained to seek, understand and address root causes of imbalance and dysfunction.  This leads me to be keenly interested in ecological disruptions, women’s health (and therefore human health and well-being), the up-rooting of humanity through mass displacement and perpetual crisis (trauma), food and housing insecurity, and thus, necessarily, political and economic corruption and grassroots activism.  Currently I am delving into issues of soil health and seed security by aligning with gardening experts and activists around the world, and by getting my hands into the soil to tend and discern the lessons held at the roots of life on this planet.  All of these issues, of course, are one and the same in their implications for human and planetary health and vitality.   

In a conversation about how to be effective in methods of stewardship and activism in the face of massive, extractive and manipulative global powers, Dr. Shiva tells us that “You’ve got to be small and different.”  Top-down mechanistic power structures seek to impose uniformity, conformity, and monocultures of the mind – in exactly the same way that mechanistic, market-driven agriculture debases the soil by planting low-nutrient, genetically modified single-species crops for volume and profit.  Dr. Shiva guides us instead to cultivate relationships in our local communities and with our natural environment, and to learn and practice indigenous regenerative agriculture methods that favor crop diversity, rich nutrition, and a reciprocal relationship between the land and all who inhabit it.

Through patents and intellectual property rights that now aggressively claim ownership of seeds – laying claim to life itself – corporate agribusinesses are increasingly seeking to bully, conquer, manipulate and master land, food, and the right to farm the land in India and around the world.  Dr. Shiva teaches, writes and implores individuals - especially women - to disrupt this pattern by taking responsibility to study and engage directly with the living systems in our local environments in order to create ecosystems and communities based on co-evolution, partnership and relationship; driven by what women bring naturally – an appreciation and deep connection with the aliveness and vulnerability of our world, nurturing care, sensitivity, awareness, compassion and love.   

How do we come together to effectively dismantle/disempower power structures that extract, manipulate, and seek to colonize and capitalize on every aspect of Nature’s bounty – seed to harvest, birth to death, from cellular structure to spirit and soul?  After years of advocacy on various issues myself, I suspect the way to do this will have to do less with opposing or fighting anything or anyone, as this is exhausting and leads to more and more physical, emotional and psychic violence.  I imagine that getting in the trenches; hands in dirt – heart-to-heart and shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbors – will be the way to steward the Earth in a way that will make our ancestors smile and ensure abundant landscapes for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to inherit. 

In conversation about the lessons she’s learned as an activist and food and soil protector, Dr. Shiva had this advice for us:  (some comments are paraphrased) 

·      “Hold your ground.” 

·      “(Cultivate) resilience.”

·      “Keep doing the right thing.” 

·      Don’t wait for external funding to start or motivate your actions.  External funding means that you will be indebted to the wishes of those who financed your projects. 

·      Take action with commitment, conscience and courage. 

·      Walk lightly; be extremely sensitive.  Let the universe take care of you.  Give your bit; do your best, but do not expect an outcome. 

·      Life does not thrive with the imposition of top-down orders.  Mechanical systems dissipate energy.  Life thrives when it is tended with the love, compassion and nurturance of women. 

Read Dr. Shiva’s book Oneness Versus The One Percent. 

Watch the trailer for the soon-to-be-released documentary about her life, Seeds of Vandana Shiva:

“Monsanto’s worst nightmare...”

https://vimeo.com/518756378

Read about the farmer’s protest happening in India now, and the history of agricultural policies and corporate take-overs that have harmed India’s small farmers for decades. 

https://navdanyainternational.org/30-40-years-indian-farmers-protest/

Read recent reports published by Navdanya:

http://navdanya.org/site/eco-feminism/women-feed-the-world 


https://www.navdanya.org/site/eco-feminism/the-earth-rising,-women-rising

Wounds, Grace, and Superpowers

I was recently invited to offer some inspiration for healing at a forum on the global issue of violence against women and girls at Webster University, Athens. This essay is what came through me and what I offered at the event. 

I would like to talk with you about Wounds, Grace and SuperPowers.  The way I’d like to do that is by talking about the practice of the Red Tent for Women, the power of our cyclical nature, and what we have to gain, and to offer, from being in intimate alignment with our own cyclical nature and that of Mother Nature herself.   

I am a trained natural healer of many stripes.  I also consider myself a “wounded healer.”  I know I’m not alone in this.  In fact, I will go as far as to say that we are the daughters, mothers, sisters and stewards of a wounded humanity…. We bear the wounds of our own lifetimes, and of our lineage, wherever it is we hail from.  We are in a moment where humanity the world-over knows the ruthless smack of war, forced displacement, slavery, exploitation, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, economic crises, homelessness, hunger, deep social and political division, and ironically, illness caused by habits of endless excess and exhaustion.  We are more disconnected from ourselves and others than perhaps ever before, giving ourselves to constant busyness, and often, for our nervous systems, and our bodies that don’t often enough receive the benefit of our attention, gentleness and care, there is a feeling of being in a constant state of crisis.  While technology has brought us many incredible developments and conveniences, it also brings perpetual news and influence – much more than we can reasonably keep up with and process emotionally and spiritually.   

It is my intention today to remind us that we have a very powerful ally in our corner, nourishing us, holding us, offering us Her wisdom all day, every day – if we slow down enough to perceive what is right before us, and in fact, within us.  Our Mother Earth – her nourishment, her seasons and her cycles, for women in particular, is an infinite resource and inspiration.  When we remember how to listen deeply, tend to vulnerabilities, harness her power, and to be her ecological stewards, we will be making enormous steps towards personal and collective health and harmony. 

 I’d also like to talk about the notion of Grace:  Merriam Webster defines grace as

“ unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.”

This spiral is a diagram of everything – oversimplified, but infinitely true.  This is simply and elegantly how the living world works.  In this spiral we can map life cycles, infinite patterns of birth, growth, manifestation, death, decay and regeneration; also the circulation of blood through our arteries and veins; the perpetual expansion and contraction of waves rising and falling, cycles of breathing in and breathing out, moons shining brightly and becoming dark again, and, most essentially, our very own cyclical nature as women. 

Making these connections, of course, is not original wisdom on my part. 

In traditional cultures such as Native American and others, there was the notion and practice of the Red Tent – a gathering of women at the new moon, also called a “moon lodge,” where women went to rest and be together when they were menstruating.  They engaged in self-care, conversation, meditations, and this is where the young were guided by the mature women of the tribe.  In Lara Owen’s powerful book for modern women entitled Her Blood Is Gold; Awakening to the Wisdom of Menstruation, she shared her personal experiences, as well as her extensive academic research into modern and traditional attitudes and practices around menstruation.   She documented numerous tribal cultures that viewed this extraordinary feminine phenomenon as Sacred.  Sacred as life itself.  In fact, what comes through as an overall theme in her writing, is embodied in the beliefs of the Cherokee tribe, that “the menstruating woman is performing a function of cleansing and gathering wisdom, that is beneficial not only for herself but also for the whole tribe.” (pg 33)  She writes that “Our monthly shedding is a key to our own renewal, our health and our personal power.  Every month we have the opportunity to renew and refresh our whole being, physically, psychologically, and spiritually.”  Thus, in the modern red Tent, we reclaim this gift and responsibility to tend to our vulnerabilities as well as our dreams, to re-align with the wisdom of the natural world, and thus to holistically empower ourselves. 

Long before we were living under fluorescent lights and in front of screens, women would tend to menstruate together, at the time of the new moon; the darkness nature’s cue to encourage deep rest, deep dreaming; allowing space for important insights to come in the quiet of these tender moments when women are most sensitive and attuned.  As we let go of our blood and metabolic debris, so too do we have the opportunity to process and let go of emotional debris. 

Most of us will relate to tears and discomfort being experienced as this time, even rage.  These are messages from deep within us, meant to guide our way forward.  Our task is to responsibly, gently, with great forgiveness and ever-evolving maturity, transform the metabolic and emotional residue of painful experiences, and even tragedies, into insights, wisdom, and a renewed sense of purpose and courage. 

The principles of Yin and Yang, from traditional Chinese medicine offer another rendering and perspective on the relationship between darkness and light, masculine and feminine, expansion and contraction, seasons and cycles, which we embody.

By honing our sensitivity and cultivating the art of going with the flow, we collect our nuggets of truth as we go, shedding skins, growing, transforming, slowly, slowly, month by month.  Year by year.  It is a beautiful, graceful, powerful, difficult process.  It often hurts – and it is not to be taken for granted.  We must come to understand these energies, our bodies, our emotional life, and we must engage with courage and great intention.  In doing so, we more intimately understand the Mother Herself – correct choices become more obvious and more compelling, as we recognize Her patterns, Her vulnerabilities, and Her power in ourselves. In modern times, in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, the imperative is to slow down in order to feel, to let go, to heal, and to finally break free from our patterns of pain, abuse, and extraction.

 Grace is our surrender to nature, coming to terms with our pain and vulnerability and also coming to terms with the power of our creative and thoughtful actions.  Grace is deep listening, keen observation.  Grace is forgiveness.  Grace is being humble and rising from the ashes of despair to be in true service to humanity, ecology, and holistic vitality.   Grace is communities of women coming together in genuine support of one another to tend our sensitivity, celebrate our beauty, and to stand as anchors of hard-earned wisdom, emotional intelligence, and humanitarian integrity, and to be catalysts for positive change.

What is inevitable is that this process of generating momentum and power happens with or without our conscious engagement…..cycles of expansion and contraction, extroversion and introversion, joy and pain, chaos and calm are guaranteed to be in store for us.  The process of birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth – as we witness in the elegance of a flower from bud to bloom to wilted compost – goes on with or without our conscious engagement with it à  So what happens if we do not engage?  If we avoid the storms, or pretend they’re not happening, or we medicate our pain for years on end, stuff our emotions with comfort food and our bloated bellies into skinny jeans?  The powerful energy of hidden agony will inevitably gather momentum and collide with other repressed emotions and wounded beings, and patterns turmoil, illness, and violence will erupt again and again and again. 

 As empowered women, what kind of storm do we wish to unleash in this world?

Feeling deeply into the shadow aspects of ourselves gives us clarity and insight to choose our actions wisely.  When we emerge in our more expansive, expressive phase of being; when our ideas and our work - having been generously tended, nurtured and encouraged - are ready for the world; there is no stopping us.  Our capacity to speak truth articulately, to create and collaborate according to our core values, and to connect with others in a meaningful, harmonious and productive way, becomes exponentially more effective.  We develop the ability to act and speak with clarity, confidence, and conviction.  We develop the courage to say YES to life when it is aligned with our desires and when it represents an opportunity to grow, and to say NO with grace and conviction when it is necessary to set a boundary.  Imagine the ecological impact we will have when we ourselves are intimately and blissfully aligned with the natural order, when we know it in our cells, because we have learned to catalyze healing and vitality through our own felt experience. 

 In practicing our skills in community - among our Sisters - in the tradition of the Red Tent, we develop an innate sense of belonging, as well as a sense of responsibility.  We learn that we ourselves are sacred and essential pillars, each firmly held by, and ultimately responsible for, holding up the structure and integrity of our communities. 

I would like to share a quote from Judith Duerk’s book, Circle of Stones; A Woman’s Journey to Herself: 

“How might your life have been different, if, as a young woman, there had been a place for you, a place where you could go to be among women…a place for you when you had feelings of darkness? And, if there had been another woman, somewhat older, to be with you in your own darkness, to be with you until you spoke…spoke out in your pain and anger and sorrow.

And if you had spoken until you had understood the sense of your feelings, how they reflected your own nature, your own deepest nature, crying out of the darkness, struggling to be heard.

And, what if, after that, every time you had feelings of darkness, you knew that the woman would come to be with you? And would sit quietly by as you went into your darkness to listen to your feelings and bring them to birth…so that, over the years, companioned by the woman, you learned to no longer fear your darkness, but to trust it…to trust it as the place where you could meet your own deepest nature and give it voice.

How might your life be different if you could trust your darkness…trust your own darkness?”

In closing, I will ask us to stretch even further and ask: 

How would our world be different if every month over the course of a lifetime, every woman comes back into her center, into a deep sense of herself, and what feels right and in alignment with nature, and what feels wrong, and that through that meditative, sacred process, month after month, year after year, she continually informs and refines her purpose, her actions, her priorities, her confidence, her relationships with other powerful women and her impact on her community and the world.  How would our world be different? 

Conversations in the Red Tent: The Art of Seasonal Harvesting for Wisdom and Renewal

Harvesting lessons for wisdom cultivation, giving myself to darkness that fertilizes dreams, and sowing seeds of renewal is what the fall season implores for me.  

This annual phenomenon of late life glory role models what it means to gracefully let go, how to allow and bear witness to the natural process of decay and death, and how nature deeply appreciates the wisdom and well-earned beauty of life that has aged.  As the nights have become darker and farmers have been delivering ripe fruits and nourishing roots, the tenets of the ‘Honorable Harvest’ that I learned from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s writings during this past year (see below) are deeply inhabiting my dreams, and my yearnings for a renewed way of life.  I am gently releasing parts of my emotional landscape that have served me, taught me - in some cases tore through me - to embark on more wholesome ways of relating to the earth, an organic sense of “home” and belonging, and ever more intelligent and authentic ways of relating to other humans as well as the other inhabitants of the planet. 

According to Robin Wall Kimmerer, a renowned professor of environmental and forest biology and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, as written in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, if the guidelines for an Honorable harvest were to be “made official” (generally they are not in traditionally oral cultures, but they are well understood and faithfully practiced), they might look something like this:  

“Know the ways of the ones who take care of you so that you may take care of them. 

Introduce yourself.  Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.

Ask permission before taking.  Never take the last.

Take only what you need.

Take only that which is given.

Never take more than half.  Leave some for others.

Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.

Use it respectfully.  Never waste what you have taken.

Share.

Give thanks for what you have been given.

Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken. 

Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”

Upon deep introspection, for me, living according to principles of the Honorable Harvest would begin with manners of self care, community and living with purpose that vigorously question and challenge the norms and currencies of civilized societies.  In short, in a digital, chemicalized and commercially driven society, it is my experience that what feels like the honorable choice is usually not convenient, quick, or widely celebrated.  Holistic choices are – perhaps necessarily - cumbersome, expensive, and made where no one is looking.  

Trees majestically demonstrate the graceful art of letting go of what’s old, allowing its once lush flora to tumble on the cool, crisp breeze back to the earth; creating a thick, nourishing carpet for the forest floor and compost that will nourish and protect many roots and life forms in the immediate environment. 

Our human processes of letting go according to seasons and cycles can and do turn up in fits of grief or other strong emotional discharge; the menstrual cycle; seasonal allergies or illnesses; or intuitively knowing that a change is imminent or necessary.  The natural urge to let go can show up as personal, relational, community, or ecologic turmoil.  The process of change and releasing what is old and stale can disrupt our equilibrium and therefore feel profoundly uncomfortable, so it is exactly at these moments when the deep nourishment of well-prepared, organic seasonal foods, meditation, gentle movement practices, and deep rest will be supportive and very likely transformative.  

“I think we are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude, to once again become cultures of reciprocity.”  - RWK

I would like to invite our community into a conversation about what the notion of ‘The Honorable Harvest’ means for us city dwellers, and how we can be proactive stewards for earth and a wholesome humanity.  How would the principles of The Honorable Harvest urge us to change our way of relating with food?  Earth?  Loved ones?  Strangers? Community?  Commerce?  Our self care?

“It is an animate earth that we hear calling to us to feed the martens and kiss the rice.  Wild leeks and wild ideas are in jeopardy.  We have to transplant them both and nurture their return to the lands of their birth.  We have to carry them across the wall, restoring the Honorable Harvest, bringing back the medicine.”  - RWK

The winds of change are upon us.  Let us breathe slowly and deeply and make the choices necessary to cultivate health, wisdom, and resilience. 

Join our Red Tent Community for a forest walk and conversation this week:

Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Time: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Place: Eindhoven, contact host for location

Plan for rain or shine!

Please email to RSVP

Read more about the Red Tent here

Athena Centre for Women - Volunteer Reflections

I spent a month in July 2018 volunteering at the Athena Centre for Women (a project by Action for Women) on the Greek Island of Chios.  The centre serves women living in Vial Refugee Camp, a severely overcrowded and underserved camp where more than 2000 refugees reside in broken metal containers, tents, and in many cases, with no shelter at all, completely open to the elements. 

Athena Centre for Women provides a vital service to the women living in Vial who are able to travel to the centre.  Here women find a clean, quiet, safe and welcoming space to rest and relax for a few precious hours a day – something that hasn’t been available to them since leaving their war-torn countries, on the precarious road they’ve traveled to get here, or at home in Vial Camp.  In the centre women also have access to legal and medical appointments, bras and undergarments, sanitary supplies, a wholesome meal, and, depending on the skills and talents of volunteers who come, may have access to language, wellness, and art classes. 

I taught yoga and wellness classes at the centre, and generally supported administrative and coordination functions of the centre as needed.  I also engaged in many hours of socializing, snuggling babies, listening, giving and receiving shoulder massages, and sharing meals.  Together we experienced many funny and tender moments.  We anointed ourselves with essential oils, engaged in a photography project, and talked about dreams for the future.  When words failed us – because in a room full of five women there could be five different languages spoken – we communicated through art, body language, smiles, expressions of anguish and frustration, watery eyes, firm nods, and with hugs.  As volunteers, we would often cringe and ache internally when a request for a basic human need was made and we said “no” due to lack of resources or better solutions. 

Women from around the world come here to serve our sisters who have been in harm’s way for too long.  It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the degree of suffering we witness, but also the courage and resilience; and the beauty of women in whose eyes we can also see ourselves.    In this place we bear witness to the tenderness and strength of each woman’s heart, as well as the grave consequences of war, forced migration, and poverty. 

For me the Athena Centre for Women represents a space where women gather to lift each other up, promote self-care, share wisdom and stories of joy and tragedy, and to develop self-confidence and friendship.  Here we learn about what it means to be brave, and how to engage in heartfelt, respectful conversations with women of diverse backgrounds, interests, and cultures.    

Women who come here from Vial camp are tirelessly struggling to survive; the women who volunteer here strive tirelessly to elevate and inspire; we all endeavor to keep hope alive.  Volunteers arrive as advocates and activists.  We leave with a more accurate perspective on serious world issues and crises; with images etched in our hearts that will never be forgotten, and with new friendships that poke holes in the walls between our cultures and nations. 

Volunteers and donations are needed. 

Apply to volunteer at https://actionforwomen.ch/volunteer/

To donate:  https://actionforwomen.ch/donate/ 

Watch a video about the Athena Women’s Center: 
https://www.facebook.com/actionforwomenCH/videos/1385208041623681/

The Problem With Emotional Stability

This piece was recently published by Rebelle Society

Thou shalt conform, perform, and be happy.  
What if circumstances and relationships are deplorable and ridiculous?
Well then something is wrong with you.  Do you understand?
 
Aye, it must be hormonal then.  
Shall we medicate or smother?  

The war we see from afar – it’s not ours; not worth our angst.  We can’t do anything about it anyway.

The starving children and forsaken mothers – they’re not our problem either.  Born of stupid mistakes.  Not worth the price of our tears.  Their breasts hold the ills of the world; bear more than most.  

The sick, lonely, addicted, unemployed.  Consequences for one’s own actions are a brutal reality, we believe.  

The troubled child that doesn’t fit in will learn to suck it up. 

The broken adult who spun a glorious heartfelt web, and we spit on it; he’ll work in fast food and still the bills will go unpaid.   

The violent criminal:  Sick, not like us.  Too bad he didn’t have better parents.

The glamorous celebrity and the politician who once believed in their extraordinary visions and infinite possibility are routinely eviscerated in tabloids; in “Real News” and fake.  We ogle, laugh, and condemn, and deplore children who taunt and bully.  

We know, too, the worker bee who works, believes, holds it in, holds it up, shows up and turns it out because “good” people can, and do.   Whose heart implodes.    

There is nothing to anger, suffocate or depress a soul here.  

We tell ourselves to live by the truth of positive memes; emotional stability is a virtue.  

Emotionally stable.  
Emotionally stagnant.  
What is the difference?

Stable = unwavering; same all the time, predictable; positive.  
Stagnant = unwavering; same all the time, predictable; negative.
True?

Do it this way, do it everyday.  
It’s the way we’ve always done; the way you are expected to do.  
Complaining is not advisable; dreaming - imagining - is not efficient.  

Brilliantly radiant and complex beings turn… beige.  
Become heavy, stuck, lethargic, dull.  Flattened, like a sticky pancake.  
Congealed in turbidity.  
A swamp. 
Eventually grow to love and become protectresses of the swamp; dare not travel outside its boundaries.  

Beware!
An emotional swamp is a dark and treacherous landscape.

Like standing water, emotional energy turns brackish and infectious if it sits stagnant for too long, harnessing its capacity to cause dis-ease; virulent and contagious.  

When our visceral responses to our world are denied outward expression -  stopped at the door - choking us; not allowed to dance in the daylight of existence, our cells will idle, suffocate, eventually collapse.  The dead tissue, and dead dreams, will accumulate and implode within us, causing certain sickness.  This sickness grows large and dark and haunting.  With each denial it naturally expands in girth, velocity, and its propensity to explode.  The damage it will do may be of storm-wind proportions.  Or it will simply, silently, maliciously erode…  

For some, this will be catastrophic. 

Medication is not the antidote for this sickness.  It arrives far too late to the party, and smooths only the very surface of the lake.  

This thing you are holding, that every woman has held before.  
A thing in her Heart – Agony.  Sadness.  Hers, and the world’s.  
A dis-ease that could take down a nation.  
Love that could eradicate Winter.  

These are among the things that cannot be measured or controlled by science; for their magnificence cannot be contained.  

Be sad and know that it is good!  Appropriate, and necessary.

Be angry and rage!!  Sans guilt.  Holler.  Stomp.  Cry.  Say out loud the words that represent what feels True!  Refuse to be erased.  

LOVE with the fierceness of your entire being:  Gaia’s indignation.  

WE ARE BY NATURE, BIPOLAR.  Yin and Yang.  Masculine and Feminine.  Active and Restful.  Of Sun and Moon; Tides, Storms, Trees, Water, and Earth.  

In light of our place among the wildness of Nature, the delusion of emotional stability is inhumane!  Impossible.    

We can be assured that sadness – and everything else - will arrive at our door.  

What can we do?

Invite the Sun to warm our faces; the Moon to soothe our eyes.  
Stretch out on the floor, close our eyes, and feel.  Simply feel.    
Have a brave and candid conversation with a confidant, or a stranger.  

Conceive:  
How do I move forward?  
This is where it gets exciting!!  
This is where life becomes an adventure rather than a repetitive obligation of daily doldrum.  

Let it be your Art.  
Art that arises from the depth of human experience; a unique projection of perspective and Vision. 
Our humanness a finely tuned instrument in the orchestra of space, time, matter, and relationship.  
Personal Truth.
Unmitigated genius. 
Humanly channeled Wisdom; direction, momentum.
A Divine mentor.
Unscientific intelligence.  
Is there such a thing?
What do you think?  What do you feel?  What do you sense?
 
Let it be so.  

I say,
Let that Fire of fury invigorate you to speak; ROAR if you must!  Insist on being heard.  Fear not the sound of your own Voice!  

It is your precious gift to the world to transform your vital storm into color, form, story, rhythm, flow.  

Vision.  
Justice.  
Compassion. 
Vitality.  
Peace.