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As in most recent years, I didn't make a resolution. No pronouncement about some goals I would accomplish (and then fail to pursue after the first week of January), no public announcements at all until I was ready to share them once measurable results could be seen. This doesn't mean I didn't have goals, but rather than hoist a banner resolution high above my reach, I set myself to action the moment a goal formed in my mind.
There were four main goals I accomplished this year:
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On Thanksgiving I began a spell to nourish family and friends, witches, pagans, and christians, neighbors and strangers through the shortest days and longest nights of a stunningly painful year careening to its end. On Thanksgiving I began to make soup.
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Reflections on 2016: Life, Death, Netflix and Hope
I confess that although I did not write a great deal in this blog in 2016, there were certainly plenty of things going on in my life and in my world. It would be an easy way out to say that the events of this year simply rendered me speechless, and I doubt that there would be many who would argue with me on that. Personally, I hit many milestones and manifested a number of things I had been hoping to achieve. However, the harbingers of doom and despair came in the form of the deaths of many artists who influenced my life, and the lives of many others.
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It grieves me deeply to learn of the death of Carrie Fisher, whose humour, cleverness and bravery have been an inspiration in my life. Carrie Fisher's legacy includes bravely sharing some of the most intimate details of her lowest points, from her struggles with drug addiction and bipolar disorder to the objectification that she was subjected to as an actress, to nasty, petty remarks from an entitled media whom, it seems, were angry that she didn't just stay perfect in her gold bikini forever and had the audacity to get old. She faced it all with courage and a cynical and sarcastic wit that I, who have had some considerable struggles in my life, find both inspiring and smugly satisfying. She was an accomplished writer, penning memoirs, script band-aids, and her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, which was later made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Shirley McLaine. But of course, she remains best known for her portrayal of Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars Saga, and this is, of course, why I know about her.
The Solstice is upon us and the chill of Winter is reaching deeply into bone. This year, in particular, is one that has tested the boundaries of cold and feeling isolated in a vast tundra of unknowing”ness”. Things change from season to season and in the never ending cycle that is life itself, Gaia remains steadfast and strong in offering up her body as our home and our refuge as Her fires burn brightly.
Even though I know this to be true, the memory of her fires fades as the Light of the Solstice returns and Summer takes hold. But now, this is the time of remembering as the nights have grown longer and the cold seeps in, and I feel a chill that cannot be heated by physical warmth. This is a cold that holds the space of awaiting the stoking of the inner fires that resonate with that of Gaia and fuel the yearning, to once again, be held in her embrace.
...The Gemini Moon is here to ask us to find a way to meld wisdom and understanding. The Sun is in philosophical, wisdom seeking Sagittarius, while the Moon is in curious, communicative Gemini.
What wisdom are you seeking? What understanding do you need to gain from it? And how can you take this new wisdom and understanding out to the world? What are you being called to share?
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If you happened across my public posts on Facebook, you'd know that I was very anti-Trump during this election cycle (no need to rehash why). However, I think it's hypocritical of Hillary supporters/Dems to take to the streets in protest, hang effigies of Trump (WTF?) and vandalize businesses.
This is the same kind of destructive and whiny energy that many demonized Trump for. And, after demonizing anti-Obama folks for saying #NotMyPresident for 8 years, it seems pretty hypocritical to now do the same to Trump. The fact is, Trump IS our President-elect. And, Hillary has called on us to have an open mind and to give him a chance to lead. As President Obama said, Trump's success is OUR success.
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