The official start to winter in the northern hemisphere is today. Winter Solstice is an invitation to touch into the natural world, to reset ourselves to our own natural rhythm, and align with the larger natural cycles. With all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, and the demands of the external world, the solstice in its cover of darkness is a brief moment to move inward. This time of year often highlights for me the fragility of life. The year has moved too quickly even with all of its challenges and setbacks and I find myself grasping for a bit more time.
When the light first begins to fade in the fall we hunger for its return. That seeking light can hinder us from fully embracing the opportunity to sink into the rich depths of our being-ness. So much this year I have thought of the tenderness of life - the temporary-ness of those I love and care for and my own impermanence. Grief, in all its forms, is a part of living - and I want to honor this part - give it room at the table - with all the other states of life. The fragility of life feels so heightened with the trees naked and the earth bare. The natural world feels less chaotic and noisy than when everything is in full bloom – a stark contrast to our busy season of celebration. The natural world is more vulnerable and open and the question arises, “when do we strip down the way the earth does?” Truly exposed, tender, not for sex or cleansing, or the voyeuristic gaze but for the witness who sees us clearly and truly and looks in awe? Do we look at nature in her winter with awe? If not her - certainly we don’t look at each other in our winters. And if we do - then quickly we try to turn each other into spring or summer, rushing the cycle along. I realize this is an unconventional holiday message – and I really want to be the girl that only writes about rainbows and unicorns, but then I would be the naked tree with fake leaves instead of lights for decorations. I hope you will join me this holiday season to celebrate what makes you YOU. What are your true decorations? What is the Truth that resides in your heart at this moment of wintering? Honor it. So that we may witness its beauty. My solstice blessing for you is a bit of time to reconnect with your natural self, a remembering that darkness is fertile and healing when it is pure and calm, and companionship that can hold your spring and winters. Many Solstice Blessings!
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I woke up this morning to see our daffodils beginning to bloom and the first green on the honeysuckle. Spring is upon us. Many of us will celebrate Easter and Passover this weekend - both holidays that reflect the natural world's experience of renewal that is on display right now. I invite you to use renewal throughout your daily life to course correct whenever you find yourself losing faith and hope. These virtues help sustain us when reality requires us to take responsibility and do the courageous work that life asks of us. Hope and faith aren't pollyanna masks we wear. They are spiritual practices that sustain and renew us again and again. So many of us experience an ebb and flow of faith and hope - that is human and natural. They are trusty friends that understand the cycles of life - they have no expectation of you. Just come back to them when you are inspired to do so. Hope and faith are deep wells that beckon us back to re-enliven ourselves for our own benefit and for the benefit of our communities. May you be inspired by season of renewal to reclaim faith and hope as trusty allies in your daily life.
Love, Valerie
Thirty years ago this month I celebrated my Bat Mitzvah. When I was eleven my father asked me what I wanted to do for my bat mitzvah and I said “everything my brothers did.” While I am sure my parents thought this was a typical sass answer from their daughter - and it was - I was also sincere. I had studied Hebrew for years and there was no way that my dad was going to stand up and read prayers that I was fully equipped to read. The answer stemmed from an inner knowing that how women were treated in synagogue with limitations and at times not even counted as a person was not just. My parents took my sass answer, and went about changing the institution. My bat mitzvah on that Saturday morning in October was a place divided. Those that did not want to witness a woman reading from the Torah held a separate service downstairs. And those that were ready for the change and those that were willing to grow - witnessed me leading much of the service, reading from the Torah, and unknowingly observed a powerful change of heart from a congregational Elder. This ceremony is a powerful reminder to me that social justice is at the very heart of my being and that we can be champions of that change, or uphold the institutions that seek to divide.
But lately, when I think of that weekend, another story emerges as significant as changing an institution. It is a story that I have told countless times, but this year has taken on new insights for me. It is a seed planted 30 years ago. During my bat mitzvah weekend, at our house, my great Aunt Henrietta sat me down at my father’s turned leg writing desk, took out a regular deck of cards, and read my fortune. This is the moment something in my soul was given the words for what it knew was possible - the moment when something I had known deep inside me sparked alive, sprouted and started pushing through the darkness of the fertile soil to reach daylight. I loved everything about that experience with Aunt Henrietta - everything except it ending. She read my cards in the most elegant and fun way. I can’t recall details about the cards that emerged, but I do remember her talking to me about life and her mother reading cards. Here was my initiation into another part of my tradition. During my reading, I remember feeling seen and connected, and deep knowing that I belonged. I also had hope that good things were to come and that there was a tool out there to guide me when life got turbulent. This reading was a tremendous gift to me. It started me on a path that still unfolds today. I think about that moment and I wish I could go back in time and sit with Aunt Henrietta again at that desk with a note pad and a tape recorder. And I would thank her for inviting me into her world, our world. I miss that naturalness and innocence of reading cards as ordinary and belonging – the seamlessness of it intertwined with my Jewish rite of passage. Over the years I have had the great privilege to read for people. What started as fun and entertaining has become an offering of compassion and responsibility. The cards can be scary to people, the unknowing of what will turn up - the poignant truths that require actions of courage and grace as well as the signposts to joy and freedom. To me the table, the cards, the people sitting, are sacred space – sincerity and reverence with a hearty dose of laughter and meeting people where they are the foundation to an empowering reading know matter what outcome the cards reflect. This reflection of thirty years ago was met with a request from a friend to do readings in her shop. I couldn’t think of a better signpost to follow. I love the divine timing of this invitation to read. In spiritual life, patience is certainly a virtue – and one that many of us have a difficult time cultivating. But have hope. Seeds planted 30 years ago may just be the answer to your deep longing. And as the moon is new and the season turns to Spirit, I invite you to examine your own stories for new meaning and seeds that are ready to harvest. With gratitude, Valerie P.S. As I go to publish this, I got a flash remembering followed by a huge chuckle…I wrote my dissertation with Tarot cards framing my analysis. How could I forget that?! Why did I ever lose the thread of this powerful tool that has been with me since my childhood? ❤ Subscribe to my newsletter to receive spiritual inspiration & nourishment
Welcome to Fall (In the Northern Hemisphere)! Today we find the natural world balancing light and dark. And tomorrow the light will begin to wane. This time of year, this darkness, calls us to move inward. Inward to ourselves ,our communities, our homes, and loved ones. This is the time of calling home - the energy that we sent out but was never fully received, the parts of ourselves that we pushed away and are now longing for welcoming, the seeds that were planted that manifested into a bountiful harvest. All of it - this is the time to take stock and call the energy home so that it can nourish you through the fertile winter season that is coming. I invite you to spend some time over the next few days exploring the energy of change, welcoming the call inward, and honoring the waning light. These moments of honoring are what help us come into harmony with the world around us. The equinox is one moment of perfect balance in a sea of continual motion and yet we spend so much of our time in grasping for balance to be static, unchanged, immobile. But my dear ones, you were not made to be static and unchanged - you were made like the trees and the wind.
So what change can you begin to hold sacred today? If change is scary, spend some time in nature - calling on the trees, the sky, the wind to gently help you know kind and compassionate change. The lesson of change doesn’t need to be painful. Change can be welcomed like the rising of the sun or the cycles of the moon. What small inner voice is calling you to grow quiet and listen? What have you turned away from that you are afraid to hear? We don’t ask a question because we are afraid to hear the answer. Turn back to your question with compassion - turn back to the voice that wants to be heard but speaks in a whisper. What fertile darkness is calling you to grow in ways still unseen? Invite even the smallest glimpse of this calling in - invite it to land in the ground of your life and to take root. Suspend knowing - invite in the darkness - and then wait and see. What garden in your field of life needs to be turned and put to rest? Now is the time, take stock, and put to bed all that no longer feeds you. The reward for moving inward? Experiencing the mist between the worlds thinning which helps us move closer to Spirit and our Soul. And once we are closer to ourselves and our true nature, we can embrace welcoming our whole being back home. And then we may be source of welcoming for others. You will be hand in the darkness reaching out for others to know that they are not alone - never alone. With blessings of change and renewal, Valerie
We are gearing up for the New Moon and Solar Eclipse. I am writing to invite you to think about how you want to spend this sacred and powerful time. New Moons are wonderful moments to reflect on what the new possibilities are ahead and what the last month has held for you. This month's moon is in the sign of Leo, which is associated with the Sun. Leo calls us to be brave, courageous, heartfelt, action oriented, and generous. Coupled with a Solar eclipse - these qualities are amplified. Have you had experiences that are calling you to be brave, lead from the heart, and generous of spirit and elegance? If so, you have heard the Lion's roar.
The Solar Eclipse ties us to our ancestors that looked to the heavens for signs, the marking of time, and maps for travel. What does it mean when the sun's light ceases to shine during the day? Have there been times in your own life when the light appears to be sucked away? When you long for light but instead find yourself in the fertile darkness? In our culture, the absence of light is talked about as bad and evil. But that is just not so. Much grows in the dark. We need nighttime to rest and renew. And the solar eclipse gives us the experience of meditating on this cycle during the day. So how will you spend your time during the eclipse? I invited you to choose what your soul wants. For some of you, it maybe going out and witnessing (depending on location) the light, dark, light cycle. And as you stand in that energy - may you feel your own internal blockages to light be removed. May you feel the planets and stars mirroring for you the human experience of renewal after hardship and loss. Or maybe you feel called to stay inside - turning inward. A time to reflect on your changing self and the world around you. Reflecting on what you would like to let go of and where you hope your next steps and opportunities take you. You may want to reflect on what you keep hidden and why? Not everything that is tucked away for safe keeping is bad. Sacred ceremonies are often not spoken in public - what is your sacredness that you can uncover and witness as the Sun takes a rest? Whatever you decide and wherever you are - your desk, your yard, with friends, alone, or standing on a mountaintop, I invite you to feel into the energy of the day. Feel into the energy of our society looking up to the sky. Feel how you are part of this larger whole. Feel into it, reflect, and then emerge ready to take your next steps. My prayer is that we all take care of ourselves and each other during this time of changing energy. May you love your neighbor as yourself and that you love yourself as well as you love your neighbor. That you have the courage and compassion to follow the Lion's call. And that we find the goodness of our hearts mirrored back to us through every person we encounter. |
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