What makes a "Feminine Mystic?" This is the question that writer Carl McColman asked Mirabai Starr, author, speaker, mystic, and translator of the mystics, in a Patheos interview. This is an excerpt from Starr's reply. "Mysticism is about a direct... Continue Reading →
I wrote recently on the 'power word' benediction, and today it's blessing and welcoming hospitality that arise, deliciously, for reflection. In the February message from Friends of Silence, the reflection theme was friendship, but moreso a quality of blessing and... Continue Reading →
“While our culture is all gloss and pace on the outside, within it is too often haunted and lost." "The commercial edge of so-called ‘progress’ has cut away a huge region of human tissue and webbing that held us in... Continue Reading →
It's a rich and wonderful contemplative and spiritual practice to invite a word or theme for reflection. Each word has a frequency or a power or a 'mood' of its own, which is why certain words and themes are more... Continue Reading →
"In a dark time, the eye begins to see." ~ Theodore Roethke In the pitch-black nadir of my own journey through the Underworld -- the dark night, the forest I knew not -- 0ne of the many sparks of light... Continue Reading →
Continuing on the very Venusian-Taurean theme of coming to our senses... The Garden has long been a metaphor for wholeness, for the mystical Heart, and for the Divine Feminine. In a mechanized, techno-distracted age, the Garden (and all that comes... 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 →
"One of the characteristics of "mass society" is precisely that it tends to keep man from fully achieving his identity ..." "To have identity is not merely to have a face and a name, a recognizable physical presence." "Identity in... 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 →
"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 →
This lovely snippet arrived in my email box yesterday, thanks to J.R.R. Tolkien and Elaine at Blue Moon Astrology. Tolkien's musing is perfectly aligned with the watery essence of the Piscean-Neptunian new moon and other imaginative, dream-visiony, experimentation-friendly energies of now. "Still round the... Continue Reading →
Because it's always a fine time for Crazy, Holy Grace, here is a resurfaced gem from the Sophia's Children cave (aka archives): 'Sacred Scrabble' and Crazy, Holy Grace. Big Love, Jamie
"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 →
e·piph·a·ny To reveal. Shine. Manifest Revelation. An Illuminating Realization or Discovery Resulting in Elation, Awe, Wonder. “So many people are frightened by the wonder of their own presence. They are dying to tie themselves into a system, a role, or... Continue Reading →
“The older I become, the more I sense, the less I speak, the more I pray — in ever so many ways.” I included this wonderful reflection from Clarissa Pinkola-Estes' book Untie the Strong Woman in a previous Sophia's Children post... Continue Reading →
This is one of my favorite Muse Foods for my morning reflections, though it seems a lovely reflection for any time, doesn't it? "Let my song give blessing and insight to those who can’t see for themselves. And let your... Continue Reading →
Things have a way of arriving or arising in batches. Ask a genuine question, and watch (if you're observant) various answers or clues popping up in different ways as you go through a given day or week. That's Spirit's fascinating way... Continue Reading →
This gem about seeing with our other eyes arrived in my email inbox this morning from Transfiguration Monastery, a contemplative Benedictine community not far from where I currently dwell. This poem by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Lisel Mueller (b. February 8, 1924),... Continue Reading →
As many of us know (whether we'd wish to or not!), holy disorder and not knowing are familiars on the mystica and shamanica Way (by whatever name we might call it). Even if we've been meandering the path for some... Continue Reading →
"In your Anam-cara you discovered the Other with whom your heart could be at home." ~ John O'Donohue, The Confessions of St. Patrick (Introduction) On this notion of our soul-deep yearning for our anam cara, our true soul friends and believing mirrors, Carla... Continue Reading →
Speaking of Imagination (in recent posts) ... "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” ― Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
"As Way Opens" is a reference to the old Quaker saying that we should "proceed as way opens" after patient, prayerful waiting for Spirit to move in the world, and open or reveal the way forward." This saying popped up... Continue Reading →
I must have been a mermaid. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living. ~ Anais Nin I've found myself resonating more and more with this musing from Anais Nin, as the blueprint for my... Continue Reading →
Yes, crazy, holy Grace. Like crazy, wild Wisdom; or radical presence; or holy listening -- like a weird-in-a-good-way kind of Sacred Scrabble game that beckons us into a full-sensory exploration, adventure, and living-into of the Words. My kind of words... Continue Reading →
I love this time of the year, with its juxtaposition of light and yinny dark and lots of little sparkly lights and candles everywhere. The sparkly lights shining into the dark of night make me happy, and pretty well symbolize... Continue Reading →
Since my last post - amazingly, about a month ago - we've had the stunning force of 'Frankenstorm' Sandy in this region of the U.S., followed by the presidential election, the aftermath of both, a solar eclipse, and then Thanksgiving.... Continue Reading →
From Celestial Tarot by