Well, hello 2025 (and happy Lunar New Year!). How are you doing and feeling and being?
As I sit here, with my elder cat curled up on me and purring away while I’m typing, there is a part of me that has felt silent and unable to easily conjure up the words to speak to the churn of this time (hello Rx’s and delicious 12th House transits, as well as a fairly impressive bonk to the forehead a few months ago!!).
Some of us are feeling called to observe, to pay attention, even as I put feet on the ground for the daily contributions of work, community, and home and those beings with whom I share this life on the day to day.
Blurting things out is easy; pecking some thoughtless, or reactionary, or self-righteous text or social media post is easy (and happens a lot); but there’s a lot going on both on the surface, and even moreso beneath the surface and behind the proverbial curtain, so there’s also a call to pay attention, to discern, and then let it flow into expression.
So in other words, precisely the opposite of the more recent cultural norm of vomiting out every thought that enters our heads, without any filter, thought, or consideration at all.
No matter where we are in this world, chances are excellent that we’ve noticed the deepening fissures, the stirred-up divisiveness, and fear- and panic-p*rn (as it’s aptly called these days), along with whatever kindness, grace, generosity, and beauty comes to our attention.
They always co-exist, of course, but it can feel surreal, and disturbing, when the fissures, fear, unkindness and straight-up meanness, hostility, deep disappointment, divisiveness and more seem to eclipse things like kindness, collaboration, grace, and beauty.
I say this not because it’s new (it’s not; look at cycles and cycles of it through history, and pockets of it every single day no matter the year, place or time).
I say it, though, because it’s now, and I’ve witnessed a slew of interpersonal interactions (and of course I see them online and in the media) that span the emotional spectrum in a technicolor kind of way — sharp contrasts.
Some blame certain people or influences (or “influencers”); some blame the rise of social media and Smart Phones; some point to astrological omens of divide and deception (in which transcending those divides and deceptions is also woven in) like the U.S. Pluto Return (since 2021 … so yeah, there’s something to astrological wisdom if you actually study the themes and patterns). And so on. Most of that leads back to the behaviors, reactions or responses, and choices of individual humans and cliques of humans.
It’s helpful to be reflective, and to do thoughtful retrospectives to learn what can be useful in healing breaches, mending fissures, increasing skillfulness, and creating the greater possibilities and potentials rather than the lower, or lowest, expressions.
That might take a minute — to catch your breath, gather as if from a shock (or, as Rumi suggests, a type of drunkenness), allow some spaciousness to acknowledge grief if that feels appropriate (or to celebrate or be present with deep gratitude, if that seems appropriate for you), to tend and to mend, and to follow the sparks and nudges as they begin to arise and guide you rather than be swept along as if you’re caught up in a rushing river pulling you this way and that.
Because these needs co-exist with the needs of the day and the needs of our times — that Clarissa Pinkola Estes reminder that “we are born for these times” (whether we like it or not, or feel like it or not, is another story!).
So as I continue to muse, and meet my day to day callings and responsibilities, I’ll continue to sort through the thought-storms and feelings and observations that co-exist and sometimes also contradict or conflict, and offer out what might be useful or helpful.
Plus – itty bitty preview here: a dear Soul Sister and I have been conjuring up a collaboration that we hope to let ripple out into the world later this year.
In the meanwhile, here’s “Islands of Sanity and Uncommon Skills” — one of the many posts here at Sophia’s Children came back into my awareness, and it seems, once again, appropriate to the times (there are others in the archives, too, including some linked in the article and/or below).
Peruse if it calls to you, or follow the links if inspiration beckons you that way. In the meanwhile, drop a comment below to let me know how you’re feeling and what’s up for you
Wishing you very, very well.
Love and gratitude,
Jamie
Image Credit: One of my favorites from Rafael Levitsky – so evocative. What stirs in you as you look at his bridge in the woods painting? Share below if you’d like (or just observe, if you’re in that space too!). xoxo
February 4, 2025 at 5:45 pm
Eloquent and spot on. Thank you for sharing your insights and wisdom✨
February 4, 2025 at 5:49 pm
Thank you, Lisa, for stopping by and sharing a note. 🙂 I hope you’re well (and I look forward to stopping by Avalonastrology.net as well!).
February 4, 2025 at 7:09 pm
Sophias Children back in my inbox. Quite amazing, welcome back and thank you for coming back from who knows where?
I have read many of your posts and followed the links into so many wonderful places.
I discovered Thomas Merton and countless other writers and poets.
Thank you for all your inspiring words they have been priceless to me.
I wouldn’t have arrived at the me of today without your input.
In a world I still haven’t a clue about. It’s filled with so many contradictions and expectations, to be our authentic self becomes it’s own art form!
Fortunately I am a simpleton. I had to learn how there’s a twist in most things.
Now I’m so happy I didn’t recognise how cruel life has become to those who have suppressed their anger and resentments.
My belief in a higher power has been my saving grace.
I truly am grateful you offered to keep the faith and hope in all that is life too. Love defeats all and you Jamie, shine out to all of us who know we all need each other.
February 4, 2025 at 8:12 pm
Hello Carol (and welcome back to you, too!). Thank you, too, for the very lovely feedback about my muse-garden here! I’m so glad that you’ve found some respite and inspiration (god knows, we need that in plentiful supplies, but even one little candle in the dark sheds welcome light, yes?). I think many of us may feel somewhat clueless about all these goings on in the world (and trying to make sense of what can be very nonsensical could drive you to the edge, anyway!). We just do our best, follow the breadcrumbs, wander down who knows what side trails, and so on. I so agree with you — to be our own authentic self becomes its own art form! And not a bad focus for each of us as the artists of our own being and life (or at least expressing what Spirit may wish to express through us!). It’s an ongoing adventure. 🙂 Wishing you plentiful “saving grace” as the coming days and year unfold (and beyond, too).
Thanks for stopping by and sharing the inspiration — while these past couple of years (just before, during and since) found me in a women’s healthcare clinic, working directly with women and seeing so many stories and challenges day to day, face to face, I do look forward to bringing some of that freshly gathered wisdom, insight, perspective, and experience to share through new posts here (and, like I said, through a new collaboration, project, etc. that’s brewing) in the coming weeks and months.
We do, indeed, need each other! Love, Jamie