Every act rewards itself, or in other words, integrates itself, in a twofold manner; first in the thing, or in real nature; and secondly in the circumstance, or in apparent nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson October is my favorite month year after year. Being here at our 50-acre retreat tree...
Art/Life
A Maze in Grace
Dear Gentle Readers, In this post, I find myself particularly reflective. These nine months of being the midwife for the nineteen-year-old, providing space so that she could give birth to her story, has been unsettling as well as moving. She has helped me to experience a profound part of...
Almost Twenty
Dear Readers ~ This week the story told by the nineteen-year-old closes as she prepares to turn twenty. Thank you for being here and for witnessing this one-year journey. Being the scribe for the nineteen-year-old I have learned to trust the creative process in new ways. I have gained...
Bridges to Cross
Dear Readers: We are nearing the close of this 1968 rite of passage. In this chapter, the nineteen-year-old employs the method of healing and integration that she provided for me in December 2018 as my arm healed. She looks to a time when she was an empowered/natural child. She...
Be Living Not Dying
9 Keep stretching a bow You repent of the pull, A whetted saw Goes thin and dull, Surrounded with treasure You lie ill at ease, Proud beyond measure You come to your knees: Do enough, without vying, Be living, not dying. From The Way of Life according to Lao...
Don’t Say a Word
Dear Readers, I am standing for the courage and the tenacity of this nineteen-year-old woman. In 1968 there is no term for post-traumatic stress. Her support system helping to ferry her through these rocky straits are the letter from Alice and the two books. I honor the time it...
Carried By Words
Dear Reader, I was mistaken … PLEASE NOTE: there is no warning with this post. Read on … This listening role that I have been given by the younger self is revealing a fascinating aspect of the creative process. As a trained artist and an intuitive painter, I allow...
Intermission
Dear Readers, This week we push the pause button on behalf of my younger self and her well-being. To support her and to maintain her dignity this is an appropriate place for: ‘INTERMISSION’ At this point in her story, three empowering gifts, comprised of two books and an...
Alice is My Wonder Land
Dear Reader, I am remembering my commitment to my nineteen-year-old younger self. I share her story in her words. It is a story of courage as well as confusion. She is imperfect and deeply damaged. I hurt for her yet I remember that there is nothing to fix. I...
Tuesday Afternoon
He whom life fulfills, Though he remains a child, Is immune to the poisonous sting Of insects, to the ravening Of wild beasts or to the vultures’ bills. From Verse 55 Tao te Ching There is a quality of ‘no-time and no-place’ to these days. First thing in the...