“Tenderly, I now touch all things, knowing one day we will part."
~ Saint John of the Cross
Greetings friends~
It has been an unexpectedly long time since my last newsletter. I planned to write before a trip to Ireland and the Big Island of Hawaii this summer, but it didn't happen, and now here we are, spinning through the cosmos toward winter. After a hot, parched summer in Santa Barbara, I thoroughly enjoyed the lush, green, rainy islands - visiting friends and family on an ancestral pilgrimage and driving a van for a group of astrologers on a sacred site tour of the land of Eriu. I reveled in the wisdom of my neolithic ancestors and their exquisite feats of ingenuity and observation around cosmic cycles and relations with the natural world. Beauty, magic, myth and the way of the feminine were the ground and surround, however, we also auspiciously arrived on the same day as the Pope and throughout the journey bore witness to horrendous stories of current and past abuses of children and women in the name of the Catholic Church. In verdancy and outrage, I returned to Southern California, acutely aware of the dry, dusty creek beds, thirsty trees, effects of fire... as well as the abuses of power, privilege and patriarchy at home, in the midst of a heat further ignited by the recent political and social injustices and unrest. Furthermore, as we here on the west coast are still recovering from fires and related devastations, floods and hurricanes have reeked havoc on the east coast, and now recent mass shootings have deepened our collective despair. The troubles certainly continue to trouble. In this, we are called beyond hope, to delve inside ourselves to uncover the truth of our beings, the dream of our soul and a life of meaning and purpose. May we have the support, courage, faith, steadfastness, imagination, kindness, truth and friendship we need, as well as a good dose of holy ferocity, singing and weeping, laughing and feasting, as we engage this endeavor and meet and greet each moment of change.
November 1, Samhain, in the Celtic tradition, marked the new year, the end of harvest time and the beginning of the dark time, the first days of winter (in this hemisphere). A time in many cultures where the veil between the worlds is thin, and we remember in gratitude, our connection to our ancestors and all that sustains us in this and the Other World. As days become shorter, it is a natural time to turn inward, reflect on what we have experienced, and rest and vision for what is to come.
I am grateful to have the opportunity to slow down and take time to reflect and prepare for the upcoming year. In this spirit, there is not currently much on the calendar. For locals, check out the Women's Grief and Gratitude Retreat in December, and stay tuned for information about Dream Courses, Young Adults Councils and a follow up to the Soul Activism Training. The next local Community Grief Ritual will be March 30-31, 2019 and I am inspired to offer more initiatory programs for youth, as well as continue to provide opportunities for people to cultivate connection, compassion and community both locally and beyond. Stay tuned for updates as dates and programs are confirmed for next year.
Thanks to so many of you who reached out in response to my last newsletter. Thank you to all of you who continue to show up to and for the programs, groups, sessions, councils, talks, etc. I keep offering... your presence enriches myself and others in a shared field of openness and mutual tussling with what it means to be human in this time and place, and how to surrender and respond to what it is we are being called to in service to life. I am deeply grateful and honored.
in love and blessing,
Alexis
Upcoming Events
Women's Grief and Gratitude Retreat
December 8-9, 2018
Arroyo Hondo Preserve, CA
Camping
Join us for a weekend camping retreat to explore our grief and gratitude in communion with each other and the land. We will share in circle, engage in ritual, have time on the land, sing and dance, weep and laugh.
With Sharon Tollefson, Elizabeth Gonella, and others.
Saturday 9am - Sunday 4pm.
Register by November 25
Mundane Miracles, Holy Wonders & Other Tidbits
SEA STARS
I am very grateful to live near the ocean. Even though at times I lament the sparseness of fresh water due to years of drought, I receive abundant gifts from the salty sea. Not too long ago, I was walking on the beach at low tide with a friend, enjoying conversation and the beauty of the morning. As we passed by familiar rocks covered with muscles and sea anenomes, she excitedly asked, "Is that a starfish?" I followed her gaze to a bright orange area on the underside of a large rock. If you are not from this part of the world, then let me tell you that until about five years ago the area would have been covered with starfish, the orange and purple thick bodied sea stars, and the thin legged ones too. However, I have not personally seen one in years despite my very frequent walks on the beach. Since 2013, almost all of the starfish have been killed, from Alaska to Baja California, as a result of sea star wasting syndrome, a virus of undetermined origin associated with warmer water temperatures (read climate change). So you can imagine my surprise and elation, when I lifted up a strand of sea weed, and lo and behold, there was a bright orange starfish - Ochre Sea Star, Pisaster Ochraceus Segnis. Seeing this creature after years of its absence reminded me of a story I heard from a wild and mischievous teacher regarding seeds and the mystery of life. It was known in some of the rural villages in Guatemala, where he lived, that on occasion, after a good rain, long forgotten seeds would sprout out of the walls of the old mud houses, bearing flowers and fruits never before seen, but heard about in the stories of the old ones, waiting for just the right conditions and circumstances to return again. Along the same thread, another indigenous elder, from the Aleutian Islands on the coast of Alaska, shared his experience of grief as a young boy, when he realized the traditional masks of his people were all lost and forgotten. He was advised by his elder to go out onto the water and sit very quietly for a very long time until he connected to the place from which all things, all traditions, originate - the womb of the world so to speak. The elder shared that the masks resided there waiting to come forth at the right moment. And they did.
ODE TO CLOUDS
I read an article this summer in a local publication entitled, Southern California is Losing Its Clouds: New Study Reveals a Significant Decline Since the 1970s. Apparently "cloud cover is plummeting in southern coastal California," according to a climatologist. I was struck by the absurdity and the impossibility of this... and yet the truth, local clouds on the brink of extinction. So much is changing, lost, forgotten... is there anything exempt from the hand of this uncertain fate? Clouds, are a feast for the imagination, as well as being essential for the earth-atmosphere system, as they help regulate the earth's energy balance by reflecting and scattering solar radiation and absorbing earth's infrared energy. Those ephemeral passing beauties, signifying change and weather, moisture and life. Whimsy. Rain. Rainbows. Protection from the sun. Storms. Heavenly realms. Enchantment. As we learn to dwell in a field of uncertainty, it is good to pause a moment and reflect on the beauty and majesty of clouds. Lift your gaze and look up or outside through the window at the vastness of the sky, our atmosphere and beyond, and breathe in, knowing your heart is as vast. Find a way wherever you are to honor clouds, and for that matter, everything else you see, smell, hear, touch, taste and feel... all the 10,000 things on the cusp of now. We never know when something we notice or may not have noticed, might disappear.
BOOKS I HAVE RECENTLY ENJOYED
Linda Kohanov: The Tao of Equus
Sharon Blackie: If Women Rose Rooted
OTHER RESOURCES THAT HELP
Michael Meade Mosaic Voices Podcast: Hope and Despair #95
VOTING
We are on the eve of midterm elections in the US, and have the possibility to reshape our government and change our collective dream. Whether or not democracy is currently working or for that matter, your personal cup of tea, let us cast our votes for justice, truth and peace and all that is good, however we do it, in the voting booth and in our every day actions and prayers.
Voting Guide for Santa Barbara, CA Thanks to Art Ludwig of Oasis Design.