Santa Barbara backcountry, Los Padres National Forest
PC: Alexis Slutzky
Greetings !! ~
It has been a while, I know, and what a time it has been. Thank you to those of you who have written to let me know you have missed the newsletters in your inbox - that touches me. I am inspired to start writing again and engaging this extended and beloved community. I am grateful for that and for you. Much to reflect on and share, which I intend to do in a longer newsletter perhaps at the end of the year. How to give voice to what has transpired and is transpiring in this time of collective initiation?
For now, to acknowledge we are just on the other side of the Celtic New Year, Sawain, Day of the Dead, the time of the thin veil between the worlds, where the invisible realms and mystery are perhaps more accessible to us. A time of completions, endings, holy rage, heartbreak, approaching the last days of 2021... and simultaneously new beginnings, beauty, fresh perspectives, seeds, gestation ... as the cycles of change continue... same as it ever was, and in no way the same too. We are moving into the dark in the northern hemisphere, in the midst of what a mentor of mine, Francis Weller, calls the Long Dark, referring to these times. We must be prepared for the dark, and learn how to court it. There are practices that help us befriend the dark so we are not afraid, or if we are afraid, to have accompaniment. With hands to hold, songs to sing, stillness to surrender to, attentive listening and heightened senses, dreams, growing our comfort with silence and solitude, feeling the presence of presence/god/spirit/love, slowing way down, honoring what has come before and allowing what is while visioning what will be.
Last night, I gathered online with a group of folks to share together with the energy of the dark moon, as we have been doing each month since the beginning of the year. We reveled in silence, poetry- ours and others (one shared below), shared tears and laughter, and steeped in the felt sense of the seeds we are individually and collectively sowing. This morning, I woke early to swim in the ocean under a cloudy sky. It was marvelously cold, and lo and behold, it began to rain!! Oh water blessing beyond. It was pure divinity to be held within that expanse of water, above and below, behind and before, in all directions, wet. The blessing of that in these dry times and land was extraordinary. The seeds have been watered. And of course, as we remain in dire and beautiful times, we must remember to water the seeds of "the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible"*, every day.
There are a few upcoming and time sensitive online offerings to share below.
If you are called to deepen your capacity to be with grief, as well as accompany others in their grief, please come join this dynamic 4-week online training, Grief Accompaniment.
Additionally, I will be co-facilitating a 6-month virtual journey of exploration and connection for ages 18-28 starting in January 2022- June 2022, ReGeneration Rising.
Podcast interview series coming soon. I am very excited and honored to be having recorded conversations with dear mentors and friends who have made a profound difference in my life, in order that I can share their insights and messages with you (as well as keep myself out of the familiar stance of isolation - stacking functions, the permaculture principle, as a best practice!!) I plan to release the first few episodes at the beginning of the year or shortly thereafter.
Also, as the monthly new moon calls come to completion --- the last one is December 6 from 6-8pm pt, which you are welcome to join, for registration and information, see below --- I am envisioning a new online community forum to continue to gather, share, seek shelter, find belonging, inspiration and rewilding. I will update as it comes into form, which I imagine will co-arise with an updated website. Stay tuned!
Thank you for taking the time to read. Please reach out if you are inspired. I would love to hear what is moving in you. May my gratitude for you be a drop of rain on the dark earth of your soul soil and may you find unexpected blessings in the dark.
in grace and wild peace,
Alexis
*Charles Eisenstein
Inspiration
12 Veterans participate in a wilderness fast ceremony....Alone for four days and four nights with no contact with the outside world and minimal shelter. Their journey, rigorous and challenging, leads them to a clearer sense of who they are and where they belong in the world as civilians.
You are Your Own Best Thing - book by Tarana Burke and Brene Brown
Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower
Written by Rainer Maria Rilke
Translated by Joanna Macy
Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29