As the trees go bare and the winds chill, we hear ancestors whisper in dreams and in stones, we hear a summons rising on the steam and trailing through our bones. We set forth seeking mystery, craving understanding, determined that we will listen, we will change, we will keep our promises. We descend and we remember. We find the cauldron full-bellied and black. We gather by the fire. We peer inside the depths. We have been steeping in the broth of our own liberation, brewing dreams and stirring in as much hope as we can find. Finally, we pause, patient with all that is undone, unknown, and unfinishable. We recognize that we may never arrive and yet, we are here anyway. Slowly, we begin to consume the stuff of our own renewal, the sustenance we crave. Quietly, we savor the taste of what we've made of our lives. With gratitude, we realize: it is good.
A ritual of reconnection: Step outside. Look. Listen Feel. Feel your feet on the earth. Tip your head to the sky. If there is rain, welcome it. If there is sun, feel it bless your skin. Cast your eyes to the horizon. Bend down and touch the Earth. Rest your hands against your own heart. Wait. The sacred will meet you here.
So happy to announce the release of my newest book of poems: In the Temple of the Ordinary, vol. 2! It is available right now via Amazon and Barnes and Noble and also open for pre-order on Kindle.
October is here with her cooling breezes and breaths of pause, her yellowing leaves and orange moon, her whispers and her wandering, her migrating dreams and her changing stories. She invites us to stop and listen. She invites us to open our hands and our hearts and to release our burdens, our sorrows and our shames. She invites us to step into a season of enchantment, a time when magic is close to the skin, when ancestors speak and hearts listen. She invites us to steep in our own wondering. She invites us to deepen and renew, to remember and to soften. She invites us to settle into mystery, into not knowing, undone, unfinished, and home.
Happy October! Welcome to this month of Mystery and Enchantment. How are you walking with mystery this month? What is enchanting you?
I have a free #30DaysofGoddess practice update for October available for you here: #30DaysofGoddess.
Here, we are invited to tend to the heart of things, invited to deepen and renew, invited to reflect and restore. We are asked to soften, to open, to breathe the breath of grace, to know the taste of possibility, and the sweet touch of joy. I know that there is so much need. I know that there is so much to do. I know we are tugged in so many directions and to so many worthy causes. And yet, there is more to life than going and doing. Our hearts know this. Children know this. The wind knows this. The sky and earth know this. Sit for a spell, dear one. Listen to the rain fall and watch the leaves. Look for a bird. Feel the air. Tend to a space for yourself at the center of your own life where your soul stretches out to meet the sacred/Goddess. Allow yourself to be at peace as often as you can.
Erin Lale
Fellow faculty at Harvard Divinity School posted an open letter to Wolpe in response to his article. It's available on this page, below the call for p...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. The Wild Hunt has a roundup of numerous responses on its site, but it carried this one as a separate article. It is an accoun...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. This one is by a scholar of paganism. It's unfortunately a Facebook post so this link goes to Facebook. She posted the text o...
