I don’t do a lot of sacred fire building these days. It’s a ritual that seems to belong to my California life, although, who knows, maybe having spoken these words, I can resurrect the tradition somewhere! I was never officially trained as a fire-keeper, but I’ve watched many a woman and man carry out their work. It’s a lovely and deliberate way to invoke the Directions and their strengths.

To invoke clarity, passion, visions and groundedness on a regular basis  is to invite ourselves to live deliberately in the midst of those things. It’s very powerful. But too often when we’re calling the Directions, we forget the importance of the places in between.

The more I do this work, the more I realize that it is in the places in between where the real work can and does happen. It’s where Peace happens. Few of us are completely this or that, we’re all soft and beautiful blends of many things. It’s there where things are less defined that it’s easier for us to meet one another in the in-between places. Our hard edges don’t fit together well, but our softnesses allow us to lean against and into one another.

The wonderful thing about writing the musings and then writing about them is the gradual opening of a topic. Here at the end of these few paragraphs, I realize there is far more to write about the in-between places than I have already. I suspect there will be many more references to the in-between places as we move through the Peace Year. It will be working me and teaching me.. as a teacher used to say. I’ll be exploring the grey spaces for the glimmers of Peace. What a privilege to be writing. Thank you.