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The Art of Disappearing
When they say Don't I know you?
say no.
When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.
If they say We should get together
say why?
It's not that you don't love them anymore.
You're trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.
When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven't seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don't start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.
Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.
~ Naomi Shihab
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When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down
where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water,
and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief.
I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light.
For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
~Wendell Berry
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Dear Ones,
Our human lives, regardless of race or religion, are rooted in the archetypal celebrations, rituals, initiations and stories of going inward during this imminent time of darkness, to self-inquire, reflect, meditate, make rituals and ceremonies, sit close to the fire--literally and symbolically--and offer what is no longer needed within us to the flames. This is the time to go toward the Dark Mother and rest in Her lap as the old year comes to an end. You could consider how you might do your own honoring of the Dark Mother and what rituals you need to enter you're your own Endarkenment time... fasting, ritual bathing, meditation, writing in your journal, tracking your dreams, preparing special meals, making art, praying, asking, offering...
This time of Endarkenment, with its shorter days, longer nights, and particularly the many holy days of different cultures. Yesterday, September 28th, was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the holiest day, the day of atonement, is coming soon.
September 28th was also the first day of Maha Navaratri in the Hindu tradition, the beginning of a nine-day festival honoring the Goddess Durga, the manifestation of the Divine Shakti. Durga is often pictured with many arms carrying the implements of her powers, riding a great Bengal tiger. She is the goddess known particularly for slaying the biggest demon of all, Mahisha, the demon of self-deception. The Navaratri festival or 'Nine Nights Festival' becomes a 'ten days festival' with the addition of the last day, Vijayadashami which is its culmination. On all these ten days, ending October 6th, the various forms of Durga Ma are worshipped with fervor and devotion.
Durga Ma is very special to me as I was given her name as my spiritual name 14 years ago at the beginning of the most difficult journey of demon-slaying in my life. Yesterday was, for me, the last of 9 days (a novena) of devotion, meditation, self-inquiry, and conversations with Durga, as well as the first of nine more days with Her, as I continue my Durga novena through Navaratri.
If you are needing strength, courage, and the willingness to face your fear or look at your shadow, see your obscurations, obstacles, or self-deception, Durga Ma is your Goddess!
Also, last week, the week of the Fall Equinox, was always the time in ancient Greece of the Thesmophoria, the commemoration of gratitude to the grain goddess Demeter, and the remembrance of her daughter Persephone's descent into the Underworld. This most important festival of the ancient Greeks was held in Eleusis, and called the Eleusinian Mysteries where there was a highly secret re-enactment for initiates of Persephone's abduction into the Underworld, Demeter's grief-stricken search for her daughter, the encounter with the goddess Hekate, the Crone who stood at the crossroads, and finally Demeter's reclamation of her goddess powers and Persephone's ascent back to the upper world and reunion with her mother. After a time of darkness, grief, and deprivation, fertility was restored to the land by Demeter when her daughter returned in spring.
The Ancient Ones, our own Ancestors, recognized the importance of this time of year and they are with us and can be called upon for help, strength, support. The veil between the worlds if very thin now, our Ancestors want to help us and some need help from us. We can invite them in, honor them, return to them any burdens of suffering that we may be carrying for them, and take what is our own.
In the Mystery of It All,
Sheila
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Awake in Your Own Extra/Ordinary Life
A Year-Long Women's Novena Journey Teleconference Begins January 2012
flyer
WE and the Planet are radically changing! We can struggle, resist, and fight with what is happening, or we can learn to flow with what is, be the change so that we can, simply by be-ing, help to midwife the collective change as it is unfolding. Share the RIDE into 2012 with a group of women deeply devoted to Being Love and Consciousness.
Borrow the Beloved's eyes. Look through them and you'll see the Beloved's face everywhere... things you have hated will become helpers. ~Rumi flyer |
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 The Extravagant Gesture:
Making Art at the Edge
October 10, 17. 24, 31 - $150
The extravagant gesture is the very stuff of creation.
~ Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
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To see some of the art made in the last year by participants, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheilafoster/
flyer
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Meditation MP3 & Others
 Vol. 2: Always at the Beginning Samyama Meditations for Grief, Fear, andIntense Emotions ~ mp3 download
Vol. 1, Always at the Beginning
Introduction to Samyama Meditation
~~~ Guided Meditation Journeys by Sheila Foster & Gusty Christensen on Didgeridoo
to listen to samples and purchase
click here |
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Your Mythic Eyes:
Seeing & Re-Writing Your Life as a Myth
Upcoming Teleconference ~ January 2012 ~ Dates TBA
When we shift the paradigm of our ordinary life events to a mythic paradigm, where we see our challenges as Gatekeepers, profound un-doings as initiations, and the various cast of characters in our families and our world as Kings, Dark Queens, kind Witches, Fairy Goddess Mothers, Knights to the rescue, Gnomes who give clues to where the Treasure lies, and Dragons who seem fierce but we find are really like puppies, we can get a new perspective, solve an apparent problem, magically find a door in what we thought was a 20 foot stone wall. Not only does our perspective change and we see what we could not see from the ordinary view, but solutions that appear magical can actually make changes in our lives. As we change, life changes.
This is not a writing course and there will be no feedback or critique on your writing. This is about fun, stepping over the edge to see beyond the known, discovery, limitless possibilities, and the alchemy of a new way of seeing what you can only see through Mythic Eyes. This is an opportunity to lift the veil and see through your own Mythic Eyes.
Flyer will be coming... |
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