“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.”
~Mary Oliver
Greetings friends~
Hard to believe we have already experienced more than one full moon, and one with full eclipse!!, since I took this photo of the full moon rise on winter solstice in Santa Barbara. We keep spiraling through space on this beloved, beautiful and bountiful planet, as the waters rise, songs are sung, babies born, loved ones die, whales migrate, bees pollenate, prayers are danced, people stand, make love, fight, heal, bless. The light is returning, spring is springing and we are in troubled times. I have been listening to the Soweto Choir recently, inspiring music of liberation and freedom from the place on the planet of our human origins, where we came out of the earth and became all of our brilliantly diverse colors, forms, traditions, rituals, languages, around the world. I have also been reflecting on time, and the difference between linear and cyclical time. Linear time as a more recent human construct connected to a worldview of progress, with the aim of getting somewhere better. Most traditional cultures live within a very different concept of time, reflecting a worldview of cycles, relatedness, animation and connection with the living world. Indigenous elders have said that we left cyclical time and entered linear time when we left our hearts and our capacity for presence, for the terrain of our minds. Jon Young, nature educator and mentor, tells a story of being with the San Bushman in South Africa, who at the time were not familiar with watches. One of the elders, noticing Jon's watch, shared an observation - every time someone looks at their watch, the next thing they do is something very rude. Our anxiety about running out of time.
In October 2018 we received news from the UN Climate Assessment report that we have twelve years to lower the carbon levels and address climate change/disruption/chaos in a real, urgent and committed way, in order to mitigate further climate related devastations and stop the loss of life as we know it. How do we still inhabit a deeper, slower rhythm of the heart, which puts us in direct contact and communion with the animals, plants, ancestors, and earth itself? How do we keep from rudeness, yet open to outrage? How do we find beauty in the chaos, and love fiercely? How do we support youth to bare witness with keen attention and uncover their gifts to serve creation? How do we grow wise and compassionate elders? These questions and our responses are the holy endeavors of our time. Author and activist Deena Metzger, in her poem, Song writes, "There are those that want to set fire to the world, We are in danger. There is time only to move slowly. There is no time not to love."
Grateful to be on the journey with you.
Young Adults Retreat (age 17-25): June 29 - July 4, 2019. Details Coming Soon.
Soul Activism Training: next round starts October 2019.
in love and blessing,
Alexis
Upcoming Events
Saturday, March 30, 9:30am-6pm
Santa Barbara, CA
An opportunity to honor our personal and collective grief with regards to the sorrows of the world, loss of loved ones, ancestral grief, trauma, places in ourselves that have not known love, what we expected and did not receive, and the reality that everything we love, we will lose.
Soul Activism Series: Wild Awakening - Women, Soul & Nature
April 11-15, 2019
Cuyama Valley, CA
In this 5 day retreat, with nature as teacher, we are supported to find our natural rhythms and remember parts of ourselves long forgotten. We will share and weave our stories in a community of women, awaken unique expressions, listen deeply to the collective call, and follow our curiosities, desires, dreams, longings and wild impulses.
Limited to 10 participants (women with whom I have worked)
Register by March 15
Mundane Miracles, Holy Wonders & Other Tidbits
SEA STARS CONTINUED
In my last newsletter, I wrote about the sighting of a sea star - Ochre Sea Star, Pisaster Ochraceus Segnis. It was the first one I had seen since 2013, when their population began to decline as a result of sea star wasting syndrome, a virus of undetermined origin associated with warmer water temperatures (read climate change). I am happy to share that on the full moon last month, with a very extreme low tide, I spotted ten starfish. It felt like a miracle. So many of our creatures are dying, whole ecosystems, and so many of us heartbroken. Deena Metzger recently wrote a piece called Extinction Illness: Grave Affliction and Possibility, which is a deeply moving and thought-provoking piece about our collective state of being. She says,
"Extinction Illness: an affliction and an alert. ...Extinction Illness is an iconic auto-immune disease: the species attacks itself and all life is threatened....But deep self-scrutiny of the illness and its causes can reveal, as is the case, again, with other life-threatening illnesses, which paths lead to healing and the restoration of vitality. There are old medicines and medicine ways that can be revived. Indigenous peoples whose ways and culture are not responsible for this tragedy, though they suffer it, know something of the values, approaches, lived ways that can mitigate what is otherwise our grim fate. Deep immersion in and attention to and unconditional love of the natural world are necessary pathways. There are other ways we can find but none will be effective unless we willingly, ruthlessly and essentially change our lives.The only healing for Extinction Illness is changing our lives to stop Extinction. The only healing for Extinction Illness is changing our lives to stop Extinction."
SYNCHRONICITIES AND SHARING
At the beginning of 2018, I shared with a friend and colleague who was on the path to becoming a reverend, that I was curious about the archetype of chaplain (though I don't have a resonance to the Christian lineage of the word), and was interested in experiencing that role. The next day, I received a call from someone at Unity Church, asking me if I was available to give a sermon the following Sunday. They wanted someone to speak on loss and change, as our local community had just come through the devastating Thomas fire and debris flow, and there were changes afoot in the Church community as well. Although it's been almost a year now, in the spirit of visibility, I have included a link to the video here, in case you are interested in seeing my first talk of this kind, and my first video on youtube or any public media for that matter. It was a joy to share with the community in this way, and I am grateful for the opportunity.
RECOMMENDED
30 minute video - Mark Tollyn speaks about his book, It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle
POEM
Please bring strange things.
Please come bringing new things.
Let very old things come into your hands.
Let what you do not know come into your eyes.
Let desert sand harden your feet.
Let the arch of your feet be the mountains.
Let the paths of your fingertips be your maps
And the ways you go be the lines of your palms.
Let there be deep snow in your inbreathing
And your outbreath be the shining of ice.
May your mouth contain the shapes of strange words.
May you smell food cooking you have not eaten.
May the spring of a foreign river be your navel.
May your soul be at home where there are no houses.
Walk carefully, well-loved one,
Walk mindfully, well-loved one,
Walk fearlessly, well-loved one.
Return with us, return to us,
Be always coming home.
-Ursula K. Leguin, 1929 - 2018
"[T]his is. And thou art. There is no safety, and there is no end. The word must be heard in silence; there must be darkness to see the stars. The dance is always danced above the hollow place, above the terrible abyss."
~Ursula Legwin