Women who have experienced the full birthing process know the powerful moment of “transition.” Please watch this YouTube testimony to the power of love. Valarie Kaur, January 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCenwgheIBs
Valarie Kaur
Category Archives: Healing
On Sanctuary
With the upheaval we in the United States have experienced in the past weeks, the word “sanctuary” has taken on a deeper meaning for me. We all need places of sanctuary when times and events are ominous and hurtful. How can this blog address the need for sanctuary in our world today? Certainly churches, synagogues, and other houses of worship have traditionally provided sanctuary to people in distress or danger. And “sanctuary cities” are springing up across the United States. Last night I attended a vigil at a local Islamic Center (Hudson, NY) which was held to affirm solidarity with immigrants. It was a warm, candlelit outdoor gathering on a frigid night. The gathering was sponsored by the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement. Sanctuary as a movement is interesting to me.
Hudson Islamic Center vigil for solidarity
My interest lies in sanctuaries without walls, and spontaneous gatherings, rather than literal sanctuary in buildings. On the day of the Women’s Marches worldwide, a friend and I gathered together a group of women who for a variety of reasons were not marching. Around a dining room table we spoke our fears and hopes, and pondered actions we could take.
How, in our everyday lives, do we each provide sanctuary to others? How can we, with others, provide sanctuary in ways “outside the walls?” What does sanctuary mean to you, and how do you create or experience it in your life?
Spring Awakening ~ The Healing Power of the Earth
They are coming to life!
These warm days have encouraged our hearts, invigorated our bodies, as our faces turn toward the sun. The herb garden has awakened.
Pulmonaria
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lady’s Mantle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sweet Woodruff
Place of Resurrection
“Let your feet follow your heart until you find your place of resurrection.”
This Celtic saying reflects the importance of pilgrimage as a spiritual practice in the Celtic tradition.
At the holy well of St. Brigid in Kildare, Ireland.
Why “place of resurrection?” During pilgrimage we leave behind our usual ways, our comforts, as we step into the unknown. Resurrection is about the trust we have that our steps will be led by the ever-unfolding presence of guidance in our lives – that which brings us hope, healing, renewal, liberation, transformation, rebirth – whatever we choose to call it: God or Goddess, cosmic serendipity, Tao, flow, Christ consciousness, emergence, the Universe.
Celtic monks sought their places of resurrection in this world, journeying to find the place where they could best fulfill their mission. Many of us are wanderers in this way – spiritually if not physically. We follow our hearts to best discern where we can serve, and how we can bring the spirit of resurrection to others.
Feel free to share your pilgrimage and resurrection stories.
“Beauty as well as bread…”
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”
~John Muir
