Dear Bartender and Priestess,
My Uncle and I went to a pub the other night and had a great time. The beer and the food were great. We laughed a lot. I spent the night thinking, “yep, that’s my uncle.” Continue reading
Five-Finger Fallout
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Tag Archives: moments of self-reflection
Thanksgiving Peace
It’s a pretty miraculous thing. A whole day dedicated to giving thanks. A sacred holiday. A sacred season.
Which means being aware of just how lucky, how blessed we are.
It feels so luxurious, so delicious.
Which, I guess is part of the reason that I don’t get the whole shopping thing. Here’s a day to be dedicated to just being. MMMMMM. Well, being and being aware.
There’s a long and luxurious list of things and people for which I am grateful. For my love. For my family and friends — for each and every one of you. For music. For fun. For my work. Oh, I’m so grateful for my work. All of it.
Today, in particular, I’m grateful to be the family priestess, grateful I’ve honed this craft so that the wedding I’m about do will reflect the Love this couple feels for one another.
I’m a bit grateful that the mourning is far enough back that I can think about how happy i am that those people were part of my life. Grateful for the love of so many.
And so I give thanks. I hope you have a wonderful time doing the same thing. I hope you’re engaged in making many lovely memories! Happy Thanksgiving. Blessed Peace.
Oh, That Moon. What Peace!
I’m in love with the Moon’s Beauty. It’s not just that she changes with the cycle, she changes with the seasons as well.
I’ve spent a year looking at her, a year being blessed by her beauty. It’s been a year blessed by slowing down and being present to what is.
I keep thinking wherever we are, she smiles on us. Isn’t that a call to smile on everyone?
Isn’t it a call to smile. a call to Peace? May we offer Peace to the Moon so that she may shine that back on the world.
Goblins, Ghosties, Memories, Peace
For some it’s about the mad or the weird, for me it’s about remembering.
I have a pretty full altar, The past 20 years have been hard on my heart. A lot of beloved friends have gone on before.
In several traditions this is the time of year that the veil between this world and the next is seen to be the thinnest. Souls are thought to be able to slip back and forth, to visit those they loved with a touch.
For me, it’s an opportunity to commemorate those lives. And to just be present.
I’m a zoomy kinda woman, so it’s hard to give myself that space. It’s hard to give my loved ones that attention. So, today, I will just take this one Sacred Day.
The rest of you will be out being wee goblins and ghosties and looking for sweet loot. I hope you have a great time.
Peace , we need to remember, looks different for different folks! Hope you’re living into yours… Happy Halloween! Happy Peace.
Whose Wedding Is It, Anyways?
Dear Bartender and Priestess,
Please help me try and talk some sense into my son. He is 30 and recently got engaged to a wonderful young woman, who is 31. I want to make it clear that we are thrilled that she’s going to be a member of our family and welcome her with open arms. She’s a young professional, works as a buyer for a retail company, and has a good head on her shoulders. My son launched a landscaping business a few years ago and he works hard, so he’s had success building his business. Of course, they’re busy planning their wedding, spending their free time looking at catering halls and event menus. I keep trying to tell them they don’t need to do anything big. Honestly, I think they should just elope. Continue reading
The Peace of this Moment
We need to pay attention. Oh, we will, we assure ourselves when something happens…
And then life gets back to normal and we slowly become oblivious to the individual little moments that make life astonishing.
But life is fickle, fleeting. I was about to write momentous and then thought about what that meant… moment-ous… each moment.
And if we don’t pay very close attention we miss the moments that make life magic. We don’t make time to capture life with all those we love. We don’t notice the wonder of Mother Earth. or whatever.
We have to treasure what we have… because this moment is all that we know we have. Next year’s musings have been taking shape in my mind as Everyday Peace, watchword noticing…
It feels all the more pointed now when Ed Lund is gone from Selena and Grace’s life. He was an incredible gift. Always so present. He’ll be sorely missed. Ed, we loved you.
Peace be with those who loved him. Peace be with us all.
The Peace of the Red Moon
If this isn’t true, don’t tell me. Because it’s too wonderful! It makes me so happy.
To imagine the Moon catching all the sunsets and sunrises of the Earth and reflecting it back.
To imagine it capturing all that Beauty and casting it back to inspire us.
We, like the Moon, can reflect. We have a little more choice than the Moon. But hey. Let’s reflect Peace. Today. Tomorrow. Every day.
Because Peace is what the world needs. And we’re here able to do the work.
And you have a choice. There are (actually!!!) people walking around saying the Red Moon is a sign of the end times. Really, is that what you think? Well you go right ahead. I’m now seeing sunrises and sunsets. Thank you, scientist!
Peace. What if there were a Peace Eclipse. What if we allowed the world to see what it might look like if we were People at Peace? (and I guess I have tomorrow’s musing, don’t I?
The Peace of the Equinox
I have a predilection for the places in between. Which is sorta funny, if you consider how black and white I can be about things…
But the Equinox: the notion that there is balance in the world is a reminder to us to look for and even create balance.
The Equinox hustled in this morning when we were sleeping at 4:21.
For all who are fasting today, I wish you a sweet and easy fast.
And I invite us all to consider, standing still around the noon hour and consider occupying just that space and observe the world around you without the stain, or shadow, if you prefer, of all your thoughts about the world. Try for a moment to watch it just be what it is without any relation to you.
Relationship is a great thing, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it’s nice to try and see things for themselves. It may give us some ideas about how to move forward.
Forward, that is, into Peace, the ultimate Balance, the ultimate wonder. (and oh, ps, don’t forget to try balancing the egg on its fat end! Go on now, try it!)
Creek Peace. Gets Me Every Time.
There are just some places in the world that push that pause button for you. For me, and in fact, for anyone in my family, World’s End does that for me. Mother Nature got this one right!
The trees, which, I learned yesterday, were replanted by the CCC after the area was clear-cut in the early 1900s, keep the air so fresh, so clean.
This was a large inland sea at one long, long ago point. People still find fossils.
Me? I find Peace. Every time. I also connect to a deep treasure trove of familial memories, laced with favorite people, favorite small communities who were all part of this place. It is sacred to me for so many reasons.
There is Love here for me. Love for the land. Love for the amazing water which is so fragile. Love for the picnic food that has offered communion of the sweetest sort, time after time. And Peace. there is always Peace. Every. Single. Time.
I hope there is a place in the world where you can stand quietly, simply being present with your sibling or your beloved or alone and know that Peace is. Love is. Life is.
What Speed Is Your Peace?
I’ve always been a speedy person. I have, as a friend points out, a busy brain.
When I was in my 20s. New York was perfect for me. A whole world moving at warp speed. So many new things to explore, to do.
And then… after seminary, it seemed like California was on my agenda. It probably would have been anyway… I’d been dreaming about working for Apple. It almost gives you whip lash doesn’t it, to think about the roads you might have taken and how different your road is now.
And it was slower. Until of course it wasn’t. I guess I’m blessed with being complicated as well as speedy.
And then there was Pennsylvania. As my parents were aging and dying, my life had to be slow enough to accommodate them. It was a hard, joyful, sad and marvelous journey lived at the pace of my elders.
Now the pace is different; in some cases, it’s not yet known. Death discombobulates… you tumble heart over head over tin cups. I’ve been a bit dazed for a while, so it’s been good to meander.
So, as I sit here this morning thinking about taking life slowly, there’s now a flurry about whether or not we’re not going to try and get a grant proposal in by tomorrow. Luckily, I can still move at New York speed when I have to!
Slow Peace is great. And when it concerns whether or not there is money for backpack food for children, I’ll take any kind of Peace i can get, including money from strangers!
