The Peace of Candlemas Light, LLVL

It’s fitting that the new Moon starts building on Candlemas, a season dedicating our Light to its Purpose. Let there be more LIght and may I be one who bears it, one who is it.

It is at Candlemas, historically, or Imbolc, that people took their vows of service.

Here’s an opportunity, my dears, everyday a new chance to say what do I want to BE, what do I want to DO, not when I grow up, but next. Not like do I want to go to the movies, but like do i want to change the world, even my small corner of it. I hope so.

People here in my little town are doing a polar bear plunge (what are they crazy?) for charity… that’ll change their lives. But it’s a dedication. and hopefully no one will slip on the ice going into the river. People may not be thinking about the symbolism, but it’s hard to ignore…

I’m skipping the icy bath, but will spend some time thinking about my light and what it’s dedicated toward…

That focus was deepened last night as I sat in a tavern laughing with friends, stepped in on a little harmony, and just reveled in a little town enjoying itself. It gives me hope that we can make a huge difference by building on that camaraderie, building Peace on Love and Laughter.

This little light of yours… what are you going to do with it? Let it shine? Let it shine for Peace? oh, i hope so. Altogether now…

New New Year New Moon Peace, LLVL

I’ll take it. I’ll take the restart. Rebooting 2014.

Am I the only person for whom things seem to linger like this? Where the new year begins with the old year spilling over. In my case there was still letting go to finish. And for aching hearts there’s a journey between doing what needs to be doing, standing firm and present, and beginning to heal. First you sleep and then you can face what’s ahead.

So, it’s a wonderful gift of a month for sorrowing hearts, and slow ones, and even sloppy ones.

An auspicious new Moon… and the second in a month, a phenomenon called the Black Moon. I love the Dark of the Moon… a time of reflection, time to consider what seed will take root in your heart for the month, and in this case, the year, ahead.

And tomorrow? Candlemas and more dawning. Hooray! May Peace take root in your heart and grow in your neighborhood. And Love. and what the heck, why not, and Understanding!

Moon Peace, LLVL

The Moon is so very constant. And She offers a soft light for us to look at our world. Her gentleness can hide some of the biggest blemishes and give us courage to go to work — before we know how daunting the task before us. She silvers those with whom we are in conflict and those whom we love. If she can love us both, can’t we, in her soft light?

Sometimes when I have a quiet moment, I think back to my pagan roots or the Farmers’ Almanac, whichever is closer or seems more appropriate, and wonder why I don’t pay more attention to the waxing and waning of this beauty. True, she’s outside and I often try not to be. (I know, what a lousy vida localist! maybe this year will change me!) But if the Earth has a rhythm and nature responds to it, it would seem to make sense to work with it rather than against it.

Can I live deliberately enough to know when to rise and when to fall? When the Earth and the Moon have my back? I have no idea. Can you? Can we find the Peace that living rhythmically offers? Can we offer that Peace. Can we envision the Moon rising on war-torn, natural catastrophe-wrecked land and push Peace into her gaze… Can we?

Can we even just appreciate how beautiful the Moon is on our river and hills, simply being present to her Beauty? It’s an ancient call. Can we hear it? Can we want the Peace enough? If Herman could hear it… yah — I don’t think I want to finish that sentence. Moon Peace, my dearlings, Moon Peace to you. Let me count my blessings by the light of the Moon and see them silvered and so beautiful.

Winter Morning Peace, LLVL

My internal alarm clock isn’t working very well these days. It’s regular, seems to awaken me at the same general time, but that time has nothing to do with sunrise. A shame because I like it.

I’m not sure why I’m so nocturnal these days, but I seem to be. There’s no real need to fix that, at the moment, so… i’m exploring the night hours and sleeping in until 8 whole oclock some days. Ah well, the ground hog is coming, and he’ll be shaken awake by the same light that will begin to pull at my body clock. Sunrise I’ll be happy to see you. (remind me to go the heck to bed!)

But some of my friends, Deb among them, have dogs… Dogs get up. And if your life says you need to be somewhere at a certain time as opposed to needing to spend a certain number of hours in front of your computer, pecking away, then you get up with the dogs.

And looks what’s outside waiting for you. Deb caught this beautiful waning crescent pulling her recalcitrant brother out of bed. Follow me, she hollers!

There are Natives in the Northwest who start their stories with: I don’t know if this story is true, but I know that it happened this way… I’ve always loved the notion, pushing at true and Truth and how both matter. I’m hoping it’s ok, that I’ve used this phrase, you may read their stories, but you may not tell them. You may only tell the stories of your own clan.

Isn’t that what la vida local is trying to do? to determine what our own clan is and then to tell the stories. Now tomorrow’s moon will get up later. Soon enough it will be full Moon time and that lazy jade will be rising with the sunset to flirt with us and call us into the full lunacy of Peace right along with her. Tomorrow is the black moon (a second dark moon in a month, oh, so rare!). And as much as I love her, if the temps stay as cold, I may enjoy her rising from my back porch. Wussy Witch that I am. But observing the sweet Moon’s coming and going, the way she silvers the landscapes I love, that is living la vida local and making Peace with where I live.

Maybe tonight I’ll go to bed early, and try and catch the Sun on the rise tomorrow. Unlike his sister he rises a few minutes earlier every day. Winter dawns don’t happen all year long… and there’s such beauty to behold. Nature’s outrageous Peace. The blessings of Mother Earth.

Little Local Peace Stories, LLVL

It’s silly, really. They’re only earrings. My mom’s earrings. She never got her ears pierced so she had a cache of earrings, all “better costume jewelry.” I’m sure I contributed to her stash.

Obviously neither Deb nor I could get rid of them. I had some. She had some. They were mom’s. Neither of us wore them. But couldn’t quite let them go. But when Deb died, there I was, with more screw earrings than I was ever going to wear. Time to let go. It’s not hard to figure that my mantra is only open hands open heart because I have such a hard time letting go… but Abundance is meant to be shared and marveled at.

So, I found my friend Ann, realized that she had unpierced ears. Asked her if she wanted more earrings. (and who doesn’t?) Ann took them asking lots of questions about Betty, she wanted to know the woman who’s earrings she was wearing. I liked knowing a stylish musician was wearing a stylish artist’s earrings. Ann decided to share her new treasure trove: “Warren’s sister Janice (and her only daughter Marie) also lack pierced ears. Janice lives in Reynoldsville, but she and her husband Art are building a retirement home near Newville. In the meantime, they bought a Newville house that is across the street from eldest son Brian and his wife and 4 children. (The house they are building is within sight, but probably a mile’s drive from their “camp” house.) Janice and Art get to Newville when they can to meet with contractors about house construction choices and progress. They typically stay for the weekend so they can see all 8 grandchildren; the grandchildren’s parents all go to the same church. After church, Janice and Art go home to Reynoldsville ville so Art can visit his mother in a Titusville nursing home. Janice saves time and packing by having Betty’s earrings at their Newville camp house, wearing them to church and then to their Reynoldsville house. I suspect Betty would chuckle.” I suspect she would as well.

I love the stories of stuff. Did I say this yesterday? If only history hadn’t always been wars. I’d have immersed myself in the history of daily lives and been willing to hear how government, weather and wars changed lives. I might even have learned more about wars and why they happened if you’d have given me an earring story now and again…

Stories connect us. It may not be earrings for you, but something has traveled from hand to hand and heart to heart. It’s surprising how deeply those gifts and those stories can touch and pleasure us. Now I’m connected by a screw back earring to women across the country that I’ll never meet. But they know stories of Betty and her daughters through a sweet friend and some earrings. Building small communities of Peace happens in the weirdest and simplest of ways. Peace. Pass it on.

Peace with the Past, LLVL

I’ve been batting clean-up at home. It’s been coming in waves. I do some things, get back on my feet and sink into my life. Which is busy and demanding and beloved. But tiring.

So when I get a moment again, I get rested and then I can consider what I want to do next to normalize what feels vastly un-normal. I am now the keeper of so much family goodness. But not all of it has yet found its way into final homes on my walls or in closets or…

But Saturday was one of those days to attack a pile. I had the time, I was in a good place. As did many of Deb’s friends, I brought home a bunch of clothes. Deb was much taller than I (to my eternal chagrin). So wearing her pants demands intervention. There I was intervening. zip, zip, zip. fix. fix. fix. complete assignment. moving through the pile and BAM. oh, right. these were Deb’s favorites. She wore them all the time. My sister. My sweet, sweet, no-longer-here sister.

So I had a decision to make. I could let them drag me down, tuck them on a shelf and never wear them again. I could throw them out. And forget recycling. Somethings the trash is the answer. And if I couldn’t wear them I didn’t want to see them on somebody else who bought them at the church yard sale. Or, I could take strength from wearing her favorite pants — put on the whole armor of Deb, if you’ll excuse the bad remake of a Bible verse. So, I chose. I’d wear them in pride. I’d step up and step out. They’re teal, after all. New memories to be made. New ways to count blessings.

So crisis averted i plowed on. Remember I put out a plea for coats for a friend. The woman who leads the yard sale obliged. As I was tucking them into the car I realized. They were Deb’s. I was going to have to learn this lesson. Let go. And really, deb would have been thrilled to know her stuff was headed to SD to keep people warm. And I reclaimed that very warm sweater I’d given away because really, it never gets that cold here. So there we are. Getting brave. Making Peace. Wearing the pants in the family.

Quiet Sabbath Peace, LLVL

The living la vida local part of sabbath for me is being present to where I am, being right here. It’s also about being deliberate and making space for sabbath, the calm, the quiet observation of it, in my life right here.

I’m trying to balance the quiet calm and moments of reflection with the digging out from under, steadily whittling away at what nags at me. I did some of that yesterday. I’ll do some more today.

I’m not always good at making space to really see the Beauty in where I am. I’m so lucky. My house is filled with beauty some of it inherited from my friends and family. Some of it chosen by the keen eye for line and color I inherited from my parents.

And often I let the clutter of my life and my mind obscure the Peace and the Beauty. Perhaps the sabbath is about re-membering, putting back together the Beauty of my life. That means allowing the dead to dance and the future to sparkle. It means being present, sinking into its peace and quiet. Peace and Quiet. Blessed Sabbath. Love. Peace. Beauty. and maybe popcorn. You decide. As for me, I always like popcorn and a good cup of tea… and Quiet. I like the quiet of the sabbath as well.

Talking about Peace, LLVL

One of the biggest barriers to Peace is isolation. How can we make Peace if we don’t know one another? or even acknowledge one another?

Locally, for me, that’s a fairly easy problem to address. I need to start saying hello to people on the street. I can own it. Become the mayor in the spiritual sense of it. (hmmm, maybe we should all be mayors of where we live, noticing what’s going on, doing what we can to address it.)

Maybe it’s more difficult in a large city, where people are forced to make their living on their wits and some folks take advantage of openness. But if there’s nothing they can take, because it’s being given away, maybe we won’t be so vulnerable. I knew a woman when i lived in NY, who always had a smile. She made Peace at the doors to shops, holding the doors for everyone, smiling at them, exchanging a kind word, even with the grumps of the universe.

But acknowledging someone’s humanity to their face predisposes them to less crankiness and who knows what…

maybe Peace. or the start of Peace. Maybe hellos are just the first light caress, blessing, of Love which leads to Peace. My little town is quaint with lovely architecture. It’s often recognized as one of the most beautiful towns… but what if it were beautiful because it was friendly, because people said hello and talked about what mattered, and what didn’t?

Baby, It’s Peace Out There, LLVL

or it could be. If we decided to make it so.

We not only need to dress for the weather (because it IS cold out there.), we also need to begin working for climate change. There have been other winters with cold weather no doubt about it, but when you put our chilly temps next to Australia’s boiling ones, you have to look pretty hard in the other direction to ignore that the world is changing. The news as always is this: We are the Ones we’ve been waiting for. (dammit.)

And Mother Earth needs us. Nature just responds to the cues it gets. We’re sending the wrong cues. Bottom line the Government, Big Business, the people in power are not going disrupt their plans unless we make it very clear what’s needed. I don’t know what that means; I don’t know what that looks like; but it’s not something we can just forget when it finally gets warm. Or warmer. Peace is our calling — it doesn’t break out on its own.

Has Mama’s thermostat broken? Does that mean cool summer or warm. Either. Both. Who knows. Probably.

Lots of things in this world, weather, hunger, war that need our support. Is life different now, harsher? Are we just better able to see it. Am I just old enough to be horrified? Or have we just gotten better information with a quicker spread… hard to say. But here we are.

And yes, in addition to everything else, you have to wear your warm clothes. It’s too darned cold for a fleece. And there’s work to be done. Time to step up; better wear your no-skid boots.

This Peace or That One? LLVL

It’s hard to know sometimes where to go to work. There’s so much work to be done.

Peace is a multi-faceted creature. It is gentle, but firm It is silent, but outspoken. It is beautiful, but stark. It deals with power and hunger and justice at all levels. It is hopeful, but it is inexorable in its demands.

We can go to work and pull any little tendril that needs tending and start there. Some people can contemplate the tangle of possibilities in its entirety. I love to listen and watch those people think, but I’m more a nudger toward the tendril kinda person myself.

What is your relationship to Peace? What work do you do for it? How does it change your life?

I love this picture taken by my friend Deb. It captures a moment of indecision, a moment in-between. If you’re going to be present to life, you’ve got to notice and appreciate those moments. In the case of the weather it will go where the weather goes — the temperature will go up or down. You are invited to watch in amazement (and of course make sure you’re doing your part to care for the earth). In other moments of in-betweenness, you are needed, you are invited to step up and take responsibility. So, watch for the beauty, and step up when it’s your turn. Start local, it’s where Peace grows and starts to propagate. It’s where you grow best, as well. So, this one or that one? Why, yes, or course!

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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