New Ideas on Peace

It’s funny how one comment can change the way you think. There it is— something you’d never thought of before.

And now, because of that, all the possibilities are different.

Ideas sneak their way in, and then boom, there they are — little boxes filled with different colors and shades. One little thing and your life is revolutionized.

And then you need to weave it in. It’s not always easy; it can have implications for the way you see the past as well as the present… It’s not a huge idea in the way the world works. It’s just a huge idea for the way my life might work.

I happened to be “present” when this one wandered by me. You wonder how often you’re not present and other wonderful life changing events slither by…

But I’ll take this one, and widen my notion of Peace… Keep your eyes and ears out for wonder to shake your life… Because Peace is where we’re headed… (even I couldn’t work snow or the Moon into this… but whew, that full Moon pulled all the heat away from this little corner of the earth. Winter is indeed in full sway, and yet, the season like the Moon, changes…)

Snow Moon, Peace and Beauty

All hail the beauty of a full Snow Moon. From the time it came up until it rode high in the sky dragging those stars in a rope of diamonds after it, it was simply beautiful.

And before it disappeared into the clouds, it peered down at us surrounded by a rainbow… warning of the skiff of snow we got.

Beauty, it’s interesting to note, unites us. Lots of people posted about the Moon last night. And everyone was in complete agreement. It stopped us in our tracks. It made us talk to one another and share our joy. We should let that happen more often. We should find more reasons to encounter beauty and share rather than hoard it.

That beauty shone across the world last night… and all was not well, because horrible things were happening — but still, maybe we can find a way to capture the little moments and build on them… When I see moments like this, I remember, my friend Lorraine and all my friends saw this beauty and smiled. People I don’t know, people all over this world, saw this beauty and smiled. Sharing those smiles turns the mundane into the sacred. Let us make it safe for Beauty to be celebrated… Let us make it possible for Beauty to promote Peace.

Blessing Candles of Peace

Candlemas — I love the notion of the blessing of the lights that will help us to see clearly.

Consider how important and meaningful this was at a time when all your light was manufactured by you…

Imagine the entire village coming to have their lights blessed or the Elders processing from house to house to bless the lights…

This was a time that light was precious. Without the candles, you lived long periods in the dark or with only a fire to provide light. It’s hard to think of the dark as sacred when the rhythm feels so inescapable…

What if we thought of light as precious? What if we thought of the dark as sacred? What if, in this time of the Snow Moon, we longed for Peace and lit candles in its honor… What if?

Snow Moon, Groundhog Lunacy, Peace Anniversaries

Well big surprise, Phil saw his shadow. But since we found out it was just Phil looking for love, once he figured out which doors to knock on, it’s no big surprise that we’ll have to burrow in for another six weeks. Boy’s gotta build up his strength…

Once again I have been deceived by the snow Moon who promised big snow Love, but delivered rain instead. Ah well, I got a workout in shoveling out my steps… Some wonderful person blew the rest of the (not as much as promised) snow away. Hurrah for neighbors. And good for me. I have to build up my strength as well so I get to keep having a fabulous life.

This is my day of days. It’s a day of great memories. It’s a day when I’ve made important promises and today I get to celebrate keeping them. I committed to being a Priestess. I have kept that vow. I came home to be with and care for my parents. I kept that promise and did the same for my sister. I made my promises to Steve and I have kept those vow.s Makes me very happy. Yesterday I celebrated Priestess stuff. I remember my family every day and since Steve plays tonight then we’ll celebrate with his music and tomorrow have a more private hurrah.

I’ve been building Peace in my life. I thank the many of you who hold me to those expectations of creating the Peace in my own life and working in the community to center our work on creating space for people to experience Peace and get on board the Peace Train.

But I invite you to join me in the happy dance for Peace… Celebrate, celebrate! dance to the music! (it’s hard work, but someone has to do it!)

Soft Sabbath Snow Peace

Here where I live, the snow is gathering itself to fall. Hopefully there will be a bunch so the full Moon has something to sparkle on!

I love the silence of the snow. I love the way it makes the world slow, especially if it’s falling hard. On a Sunday afternoon, that means I’m free to snuggle in… or wander around in the beauty. Ah, that’s a Sabbath I have to like!

Pretty fun!

Winter… everyone’s been trying to get rid of it — far too prematurely if you ask me — but in ancient Northern European calendars spring begins today on Candlemas. You have to have noticed that the sun changed, right? I’m dreaming in the morning… this is the only time of the year I dream, as the light begins to infiltrate my morning snoozing.

We’re halfway between deepest Winter and lightest Spring. And out here close to Punxsutawney, we know it! We’re about to haul Phil’s butt out of bed to prognostigate. In preparation for Monday, Here are a Phew Phun Phil Phacts (sorry, I couldn’t help myself.): They hibernate about 150 days. Their temperature drops from 99 to 37, their heartbeat slows from 80 beats per minute to 5, and their breathing drops from 16 breaths per minute to as little as two. I got the gender wrong on this musing. The males awaken about now to visit all the females in their territory, so that when their very small window of opportunity for whistle-pig love opens (about 4-6 weeks later in March). Thus the time period… (it must have been much the same for hedgehogs, because that’s who all the original myths are built on!) The females are obviously still working on their beauty sleep. So they don’t care about the weather, just their hormones!

The Peace of Snow Moon Community

Shoulder to shoulder around the fire. Or at a restaurant. Or at the theater.

The weather’s totally impossible right now. So it’s a good time to snuggle up and get to know you neighbors. Take a chance on finding new people to know and connect with.

Someone just wrote on her facebook page: What to do when it is 7 degrees outside? Have a warm breakfast with good friends and then it goes up to 12….whoo hoo! I responded, see, friendship works miracles. (thanks Benita, you little community builder, weather magician, you!).

It’s not always easy to make connections, and yet it’s so important. And in this season of the cold and frosty Snow Moon, we can use some heart-warming encounters.

Yesterday, I went with a bunch of people to see Art at the local ensemble theater. Oh, we’re so lucky; we have a fabulous theater group in Bloomsburg. But if you don’t live around here, there’s someplace else wonderful to gather; something to spark an interesting conversation.

These small acts of community are beginning acts of Peace. There is great strength in Community. People say it’s Lunacy to go out in this weather. Ah but that’s just their thinking of lunacy as crazyness and not as sacred inspiration! Lunacy has a leading role to play in Peace.

Peace and Lunacy at the Snow Moon

Big Foot. Yeti. Coming to town.

What is it about humans and their myths?

No really, we saw him. Boston. Well, we didn’t see him. Someone did. Pictures!

I once sat next to a guy in a waiting room, when Deb was getting cancer treatments, who was devoting what was left of his life to seeing Big Foot. (he’s all over PA, don’t you know). If that isn’t a metaphor for miracles, I don’t know what is. (and people only see one… never a family, how do they come into being?)

Now don’t get me wrong, I write poems about Faeries… I adore the notion. It was easy to see in the Swedish woods where the stories come from. (I’m not sure that I started out to write a Yeti-denier post)

But what if we kept our Lunacy for working on things like Peace? Wouldn’t the world be better for that?

And let the poor guy with big feet get himself a beer and a hamburger on a cold and wintry day?

Because I’m not really sure what Bigfoot’s going to do to change the world. But I’m pretty sure that Peace is a wild and wonderful idea under the Snow Moon. Let’s hear it for Peace.

Cold Snow Moon Lunacy and Peace

What is it about bright, cold, sunshiny days that spark us to flurries of good work?

I don’t know, but i’ll take it!

I tend to work on many projects which is a mixed blessing. I love it, but whoo, sometimes i get a bit confused and a bit distracted!

But then there’s a day like yesterday and I’m off!

Hard sometimes to keep all the plates spinning at once, or in the image i used in the musing, to keep the right spices in the right soups and to keep them on simmer rather than boil!

And yet, who knows what magic can happen in the midst of the luncacy…

You have to be open. But you also need to be deliberate and occasionally careful… you need some structure to support the wildness.

So… Play to your strengths. Plan. Get your ingredients laid out in their appropriate groups. Then turn on some great chants or a loud and defiant aria; and go wild. Lunacy and Magic are not happenstantial occurrences! They’re very hard work

Create! It’s what you were born to do… It can lead to astonishing feats of Peace. what more could you ask?

Lunacy, Laughter, Snow Moon Peace

Oh, it was a fun and silly thing. Missing imprints in the snow and that was all it took to have a moment of family laughter… even though most of the people laughing were (oh, the temptation to say… beyond the veil… in a sepulchral tone of voice is large) dead and the others not present.

But you know your family well enough that pesky little things like death don’t really bother you. Mine loved to laugh. And yesterday on the bridge, I could hear them all, hear their snorts and snickers, hear them adding to the ridiculousness.

So you laugh. And then you cry. And it all happens on a bridge on the way to breakfast when snowy footprints are obliterated. I’m blaming it on Snow Moon Lunacy and the strength of Love.

Hope Peace ambushes you with laughter and Love. Life really is Magic, isn’t it?

The Lovely Lunacy of Snow Moon Peace

Oh, it was a gorgeous day yesterday; light snow fell and fell and fell!

It kept us busy shoveling, which got me outside enjoying Winter. Where were the children? It was such a lovely snow!

I have nothing deep and meaningful to say about this Beauty. But oh, i enjoy the beauty.

And there’s everything good to be said about going outside and being overcome with delight. I had a fairly relaxed day, Mondays are often down time for me, more about house chores than work. And indeed laundry was done, things put away, sidewalks were shoveled. (And the snow was so light, very little strength was needed to push it around!) The Moon was not admired, the snow had elbowed its way to the front!

But friendships were renewed with visits, chats were had and a gloriously indulgent Hotel Budapest was watched. It was a slow day, dotted with pauses to gasp in wonder.

Lunacy to stand outside in the snow? Perhaps, but what a thing of Peace!

And while I reveled in the Beauty, I was mindful of the danger that many people will be facing today and tomorrow… May all be well.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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