Wherever you live, however much Sunlight falls or doesn’t on your days, it’s always the right day to make it a day of Peace.
Night is so beautiful. Day is so beautiful. Winter is so beautiful. So are Spring, Summer and Fall. Peace adds its own incredible Beauty.
The Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Earth bring the days and nights and seasons. We bring the Peace. They’re doing their job. Are we? Now more than ever, we must Peace.
Fall has arrived and the temperatures and the leaves are both falling. The Full Hunter Moon, however is on the rise, glorious and huge.
It makes me think of bonfires and football games and digging out winter clothes for the first time. Why wool shorts were such a thing, when I was a kid, I’ll never know, but they were, and my mom made me a beautiful pair of rust plaid ones. (Remember when seams always matched?) I had a sweater set (purchased with money I’d made at the Fair) and knee highs to match. I was styling. (oh, my mom could sew!)
But the Moon is beautiful. Here‘s an article that tells you exactly why it will be so beautiful!
Tonight I’m going out on the river at dusk. I’ll watch the Sun set and the Moon rise and listen to our Riverkeeper talk as we eat dumplings and ride the Paddlewheeler, Hiawatha. I love when doing my work is a thing of beauty.
Enjoy the Moon, my friends. I wish you the Peace of its Beauty! May the glow of the Moon help to heal the world’s brokenness…
On cloudy mornings like this one, it’s hard to remember the Moon, until we do.
Close your eyes and let her rise in your mind, stately and beautiful, silvering everything in her path. Sometimes the Moon’s kindly light allows us to look directly at things that seem to harsh in the Sun.
But every land is beautiful. Every place, every face a treasure in the sight of God. God doesn’t work for you? Try Creation. Fanciful? Maybe. Can it be less for us? Who are we to make that decision?
I’ve been troubled by this article on American liberals. I always imagined that seeing more would enable us to do more. Liberals often ask how conservatives can make the choices they do that seem not to be in their favor. Not so comfortable when we read we just apply things differently and make the choices we do without considering that they hurt other people. Being informed isn’t enough. We need to be congruent and heaven knows people need us to be.
I think of the moon’s impartial generosity — generous impartiality — and think why can’t I be the same? Why can’t I offer Peace in the same way? When I vote, when I give, when I think. So much food for thought… So much Peace to shine on the world. I can only be like the Moon, but if i work very hard, I can be Peace.
Peace. It’s what we need.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m just naive or blind… beating just this drum… am I doing enough to make Peace happen or just dreaming about it.
But then I think, I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know another answer. Black lives matter — we must Peace. Let the Syrian refugees come — we must Peace. Hungry Children — Peace. The safety of our Muslim sisters and brothers — Peace. Women. LGBTQA People. Everyone imperiled. Every marginalized soul. Our sweet Earth. Peace.
So Peace, my friends. Let’s build at it. let’s make our little hometowns and Valleys and Plains sweet places to be. Let’s connect them. Pull a string of need, any string. And let’s Peace.
Thank you for the joy you gave me in 2015. Thanks for looking forward into 2016. I hope you have a happy, healthy, prosperous Year, filled with Peace and Peace making.
Thank you, my dear friend Lorraine Rantala, for your lovely lunar shots. I am sorry to leave them… I loved living with them… loved knowing where the Moon was and what it was up to. we’ll see tonight whether I can let go of that or not!
Love and Blessings, Ann
I don’t know about you, but I received some books for Christmas. Oh, how happy that makes me. (I don’t know about you, but I helped in the number of books coming in!)
And that’s what Sunday’s (my Sabbath) are for. Catching up on my reading. There’s been wonderful visiting and wonderful food. But oh a salad sounds appetizing. Longing for the low key…
I enjoy the time between these two holidays. There’s a little lull. Not a lot gets accomplished. Not a lot of requirements. Maybe some visits, but they’re very low key.
Plenty of time to contemplate the year gone by and consider the one coming.
Our weather adds to the feeling. Nothing but grey days and nights. Neither the Sun or the Moon makes it through haze.
Quiet. Peace. Contemplation.
Lovely.
However you celebrated, i hope it was happy and filled with Peace! the good news. Shopping is finished. Nothing but family and fun left on the agenda! (And did you see that full Moon? more tonight!)
Peace and Blessings, Ann
There is such beauty in the night. Too often we ignore it, brush by it, try and light it up.
What is most wonderful to do is to linger in it. To go out into its silence and breathe it in. To honor the Dark as well as the Light. To honor the traditions that celebrate this dark Beauty.
The night is also a gift. Particularly here in the country, where we don’t worry as much about the violence that hides in the night. But we cannot let them steal it from us. There is a movement dedicated to safety for women in the dark: Take Back the Night. Yes! Let us do that very thing. Honoring the very holy Dark. Honoring the Women and Men who have always honored the flow of time. Finding my place in that long river of souls that know that nature is a thing of balance and that balance is to respected.
And this night? this is a dark, dark night. No moon. The sun is late to rise and early to bed. Winternight. The Earth is getting ready for rebirth. But that’s a time away from now. Right now we have Beauty and Abundance and this Dark and Sacred Beauty.
Let us go out into the Dark in the winter and breathe in that crystalline air, rejoice in the stars. Let us simply be at Peace in the night.
Alternative Advent, December 11: 2¢ for every bar or dispenser of soap in your life. Don’t forget all the stuff under the sink, in your linen closet or in the laundry room… You thought, oh, two cents. Hah! it adds up.
I’m glad when Advent stops me in my tracks and demands a little bit of internal work.
And I love that Reflecting is a double sided word. It’s not simply what i take into me and consider; it’s also what I give out to the world.
So it’s something very precious and important. I must consider, who I am, what I do, how I love. And I must smile my best self back at the world. I must shine like the Moon and I want what I reflect to be beautiful. So I must do my internal work… I must shine back your beauty. It’s righteous work Good work.
And while we’re considering… Here’s the Alternative Advent for today: how many vehicles is your family lucky enough to have? Put 75 cents in the bucket for each one.
Peace, my friends. let’s work to fill our lives with Peace. And the lives of others.
My morning started in Beauty. I rolled over, and there was Miz Moon shining in my window. Hello, Thanks for dropping by. Thanks for watching over us.
I’ve had a busy week, so I’m happy to consider a day at home. It’s all been wonderful. But — enough. So today, Sabbath. Reclaiming my space from the detritus of travel and finding my rhythm at home.
Starting Advent. hmmm. not set up for that, but oh so ready… This afternoon the first candle will be lit:
Advent’s first candle is Hope. As we share the dreams we harbor for our lives, our families and for the world, let us reassure the world and one another: We are called to carry Hope in our hearts. Let us be those who offer visions of a better world and who work to make those visions reality. Blessed Be.
Today is a jumble of thoughts isn’t it? Moon? Reclaiming? Advent. (Hurrah, White Christmas!!!! Favorite Christmas Movie EVER!)
And lastly, I am so grateful to do the work I do. This week, in particular, I’m grateful for the celebrations of the cycle of life. I love it all. The brand new babies. The joining of lives. The new homes. The retirements. Even the memorials.
Such Peace as we begin my favorite season. I hope there’s Peace at your house and in your heart as well.
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.
