In Mysticism, Evelyn Underhill gives another perspective on the Withdrawal and Return stages of the Hero's Journey through which all heroines and heroes, all spiritual initiates and sages, must trek. We've just forgotten what many of our ancestors and the... Continue Reading →
Now that we're in retrospective mode, seeing 2020 in the rearview mirror while integrating all of the many experiences and perspective-shifters (or at least, perspective challengers) that the last year included, The Hero/Heroine's Journey yet again renews its relevance. The... Continue Reading →
"We are living in an age of radical discontinuity. The lessons come faster and faster as our souls and the universe push us into new growth. Familiar waters seem suddenly perilous, alive with uncharted shoals and shifting sandbars. The old... Continue Reading →
“You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying... Continue Reading →
“If you have these two things - the willingness to change, and the acceptance of everything as it comes, you will have all you need to work with.” –Charlotte Selver (1901 - 2003), grand dame of 'experience through the senses'... Continue Reading →
"The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds and makes of all political and social life a mass illness. Without this housecleaning, we cannot begin to... Continue Reading →
What's up with men? That's what Jackson Katz asks, and shares a few perspectives on why these so-called "women's issues" are also men's issues -- and an opportunity for courageous men's leadership. Have a look (and listen): If you missed... Continue Reading →
"When we use language that fits into the established framework of the culture, when we try to make our ideas respectable, we limit what we can say and think." "But when we use a term like "magic," when we leap... Continue Reading →
"We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see." - Taoist Proverb I've always found calm, and sometimes clarity, too, in these very Taoist, natural-element bits of wisdom, especially water-related ones.... Continue Reading →
Happy May Day. Happy Beltane. We're mid-way between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice, and the theme of Now is fertility and emerging growth. With the arrival of Spring, we see, hear, and sense the spirit of greening (and thus fertile... Continue Reading →
"Listen and attend with the ear of your heart." ~ St. Benedict Who doesn't want to step out of the perpetual spin-cycle of fear, dread, and anxiety? Heart- and Spirit centering practices come in many shapes and sizes, and have... Continue Reading →
"The forces of love and greed are contesting with one another, and both are immensely strong -- so strong that almost anything could tip the balance. Everything we do now is vitally important. Each act of healing is a weight... Continue Reading →
"When I was a younger man, art was a lonely thing. No galleries, no collectors, no critics, no money, yet it was a golden age for we all had nothing to lose and a vision to gain. Today it is... Continue Reading →
"Along with the Great Turning, the Great Unraveling is happening too, and there is no way to tell how the larger story will end. So we learn again that hardest and most rewarding of lessons: how to make friends with... Continue Reading →
[I wrote and published the original post way back on August 28, 2012, and have updated it several times a year since, including late-September 2015 ... because yes, it's a timeless "new normal" topic in our wild-energy times!] The energies... Continue Reading →
Happy Spring Equinox, to those in the Northern hemisphere (and Autumn Equinox, to those in the Southern 'sphere). Here's a little Spring-time reflection food for you, to help tap into or attune with the essence of Spring, wherever you may... Continue Reading →
Perhaps you're one of many who feels called to greater authenticity, purpose, and heart-and-soul-aligned meaning for your own life and for the collective dream? What clues might be find about our Big Purpose, our dharma, if we clue-hunt and pattern-track in... Continue Reading →
Sometimes it's good to shake up stuck notions, when they get so calcified they become toxic. That's when we need to 'go all Hafiz', and turn it upside down to shake the nonsense out and reveal the original Wisdom of it.... Continue Reading →
"Women cannot simply retrieve or re-appropriate tradition. They must find a deeper spirituality, a new mysticism." ~ Beverly Lanzetta, Radical Wisdom That's just one of the things I've learned on my own journey, once Mother Wisdom had grown impatient with... Continue Reading →
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." -... Continue Reading →
There is a concentrated energy of new beginnings at the moment, with the five-element theme making a big shift from water to fire. Regeneration is one of several key 'fire themes' of this coming year -- think 'Phoenix', the beautiful... Continue Reading →
[This is Part 3 of the ongoing 'Wisdom for Empaths & Sensitives' series. If you haven't already, you'll want to read the intro article first - you'll find it here. The second post in this series shared more on these types of dynamics... Continue Reading →
“What I am suggesting is that each of us turn from the negativism that permeates our society and look for the remarkable good among those with whom we associate, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak... Continue Reading →
"Trees have their sap from water. Water fecundates all things made that are called "creature". We see by means of water. Water gives many souls a splendour not to be outshone by the Angels." ~ Wolfram von Eschenbach (c. 1170... Continue Reading →
"History became legend. Legend became myth. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost." Galadriel, in Lord of the Rings We live in a time of deep remembering, perhaps made both necessary and more urgent by the ... Continue Reading →
"Now I become myself. It's taken time, many years and places. I have been dissolved and shaken, Worn other people's faces. ..." May Sarton, Now I Become Myself* Over the years, I've noticed a pattern: A lot of astrologers, intuitives, and... Continue Reading →
I came across Ken Wilber's book, One Taste, more than a decade ago, and his "A Spirituality That Transforms" (What Is Enlightenment), among other writings. The following excerpt resonated strongly with me then -- I found it both a compelling invitation... Continue Reading →
"Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity, is the only security." ~ John Allen Paulos I've been hearing from a new wave of people in the throes of kundalini (Lifeforce) or spiritual... Continue Reading →
"If we, as leaders, are to cast less shadow and more light, we need to ride certain monsters all the way down, explore the shadows they create, and experience the transformation that can come as we "get into" our own... Continue Reading →