This was first posted on 2 April 2014– before many of you were reading my blogs. During my retreat, I am taking the time to revisit some of the exercises that have been most fruitful in my own spiritual journey and to see what new revelations might appear. As we lean into the season that …
NOTE: If you missed the ritual for the end of Lughnasadh and beginning of Samhain, you can find it in last Wednesday’s reflection. This link will take you there. The feast that begins Samhain (pronounced SOW-en) is All Hallows Eve (or Halloween) on the night before All Saints Day. It is one of the four …
There is no canning going on in my kitchen because I don’t have enough produce to make putting up for the winter a viable option, really, which leaves me feeling a little bereft at this time of year. Childhood memories are rooted very deep in the psyche, so I grieve for the Mason jars of …
I finally had an entry in the Lughnasadh Give-Away! Maybe it is appropriate that my daughter won since her second anniversary is tomorrow. I will be doing another give-away mid-Samhain for a chance to win six Solstice or Christmas cards. Here in Colorado most of the deciduous trees have shed their color as the predominant …
I am collecting the last of the tomatoes from the plants on my porch. I missed a temperature drop and lost my chocolate mint, but (oh!) it was delicious while it lasted. The flowers I planted to refresh the pots in early September have gotten to the tired stage, and my amaryllis bulbs have been …
Today is the Feast of St Francis, that delightfully eccentric saint whose scandalous conversion is the stuff of legend. From a distance, it is easy to love and admire him…although he drove many of those who knew him in person to total distraction. This is true of a lot of loose cannons; in fact, it …
Tomorrow is my 63rd birthday. Sixty-three is (in my estimation) a particularly laden birthday because it is seven nines – and seven and nine are important sacred numbers. There are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (there are also nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, if you use a different list), nine noble virtues from …
Estate sales – about which I have written here before – are over-flowing with lessons in living and dying, giving and receiving, conflicting agendas, and hope. For my husband, most stuff is just stuff. He understands that there is furniture that won’t fit in the homes of any of the children and there is clothing …
The other day, I stumbled on a statistic that took my breath away. According to the Washington Post (which seems to be quoting a study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Biological Science), the average US household discards between $1400 and $2300 worth of food annually. In fact, approximately 40% of the edible …
I recently read an interesting bit of information which was part of some health study. I don’t remember what the study was really about, but the researchers discovered that people who can turn their attention inward and feel their heartbeat – not using fingers to find their pulse or putting their hand over their heart …