Lines of Peace this Sugar Moon Sabbath

Today is the 50th Commemoration, I can’t say anniversary, like it’s a happy thing, of Bloody Sunday.

It was a day about lines. Lines to keep people in boxes that they weren’t going to accept any more. Lines that people in power were clear should never be crossed. Lines that at last, at last, the media finally decided to cross to show what was going on. Lines that kept a nation of people comfortably allowing them to keep thinking of themselves as good people.

We should know our lines. What are the lines we believe never should be crossed? What are the lines that keep us from being fully who we are. Lines both protect and prohibit… it’s an odd thing, isn’t it? We ahve to consier if we’re willing to do the hard work to stand on those lines, to step up to those lines and stand in solidarity alongside others who believe and those who are unwilling to see or wake up.

So, looking at my latitude and longitude helps me consider lines. I live at 40.9˚N and 79.8˚W… What other intersection I live in I’ll need to consider. And meanwhile the Sugar Moon shines sweetly down on all of us, doesn’t it?

If you haven’t read the President’s speech from the bridge yesterday, you might want to. You might want to look up your own latitude and longitude. You might want to think about where your Peace Lines are, which ones you’ll never cross and which ones are holding you back… A blessed and lovely Sabbath to you, my friends!

Peace of the Slurpee, Sabbath Sugar Moon

it has been so cold lately that the ocean has frozen. The ocean freezes more slowly than sweet water because apparently the salt displaces the ice that would like to form.

This isn’t the first time the ocean has frozen, but it is believed that it is the first time anyone has recorded the phenomenon of the ocean being gelatinous with ice so that the waves still rose and fell (albeit soundlessly) but slowly.

A surfer/photographer took it, and no other pictures or videos have emerged. Scientists say they’ve never seen such a thing or heard of it. One guy in the right place at the right time. And he never turned on his cell phone.

New and wonderful things.

It’s a good thing to remember when the world seems out of control. It’s a good thing to take some time on this cold winter day to reflect and consider what it means that things are still happening that have never before been seen. That’s not all bad.

They say the cold is breaking. That would be a lovely thing. But in the meantime, make Peace with what is… you never know when you might see something new and wonderful under the Moon. Happy Sabbath. Happy Peace.

Sweet Sabbath for Sugar Moon Peace

An Anglo and a Palestinian woman walk into a doughnut shop: time to make the Peace.

Sometimes it’s that simple. Meeting up, in public places, so people get used to seeing women with and without headscarves sharing sweetness. Giggle for Peace. Share a pastry. Spend time with friends to build community.

It’s heartbreaking really, what’s going on in the world, all the places people were being killed. We named them, all the martyrs, all the ravaged lands, including our own.

Kindness, we need more kindness. Give up on your need to have others be wrong. Reflect on what you can do better. I’m not going to solve the problems in Africa or the Middle East. I can keep building community here. I can go out for a sweet slice of life in the name of friendship and wind up having it be Peacemaking.

If that’s not keeping a Sabbath holy, I don’t know what is. And every day is a holy day. This is the season for boiling our inclusive instincts down into kindness and compassion. Sugar Moon, indeed!

Looking Back at Lunacy & Sabbath Peace

Riding in the back seat of the car with siblings is/was a rite of passage for many of us.

For many people, back in the day (whichever day that was), it was a Sabbath occupation. Once services were over, whatever tradition you were, you got in the car and went to grandma’s… or auntie’s… or…

It wasn’t so funny then, especially if you were smushed on the hump because you just happened to be the third (and therefore the shortest) child, but what’s funny is how universal the complaints.

I suggest you throw your offspring (no matter their age) in the back of the car immediately and go off for a drive. Everyone should have such childhood torment and delight… it makes for a lot of fun when you’re grown up..

It’s going to be bitterly cold, so please be careful. Peace be with you all… The Snow Moon is bringing those arctic winds and icy drifts. brrrrrrrrr.

Icy Snow Moon Sabbath Peace

The first weekend of every February ice sculptures show up on the streets of my little town. (for a good cause, but I have to think of it as odd, folk also submerge themselves in a 35˚ Susquehanna, go figure!)

If the weather cooperates, they hang around. I missed some of them yesterday, so I’ll have to rush off to see them tomorrow before the rain starts.

It’s a lovely strolling day and a wonderful way to spend the day, out and about. For some amount of money, people can purchase tickets that entitles them to chocolate at a whole bunch o places… it’s a good thing.

So today, i wish you more strolling, more visiting with friends and family, more just having a good time. Quick, before the winter rains wash the beautiful ice away… Have a beautiful icy sabbath…

Peace is in the gathering of ice sculptures from different poles to seek detente and plot about how best to deal with the global climate change…

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!

Indulging in Snow Moon Sabbath Peace

All the beauty of winter was on display yesterday. And here’s it’s message: We have to get out in it while it’s here.

It’s a challenge, it seems to take advantage of the beauty of something as fleeting as snow. But part of snow’s Beauty is the temporary nature of it. Those sweet, beautiful flakes. those blanketing drifts.

It’s so easy to dash toward the cold and wet and the icy. But the Beauty is real.

If we don’t indulge the wonder, we lose so much of life. And the complications are real. You’re going to be late when it snows. There’s going to be extra work. You’re likely to have to pit your strength against its implacable presence. It’s slippery. It’s Winter. It’s snow. Yet another sacred manifestation of a sacred season…

But the slippery part leads to sledding and tobogganing and hot cocoa and laughter. Such different fun that any other season of the year.

And it’s unbelievably beautiful. So mind where you walk and get out there and be amazed and amused. Happy Sabbath! Happy Snow Moon! Happy Peace!

They’re all ours to enjoy and indulge. What are we waiting for?

Sabbath Peace and Lunacy

Often my message for Sundays is to relax, to take a break. Sundays are good days in most people’s lives to step outside the mania. Odd but wonderful that for very different reasons my husband and I often do our best work on Sundays! Our Sunday morning conversations are filled with joy and encouragement. Have a great day, we exhort one another.

And today is no exception. We’ll celebrate our work and the relationships we’re privileged to be in.

However this is also a day that dawns after a very cold night. Although it will warm up today as cloud cover has finally moved in. It’s frigid outside. It’s wonderful to celebrate the beauty of winter and dark skies through which the Moon sails. Yet this is not all there is. Too many are without adequate shelter during the winter.

I’m not sure how I most effectively respond to this, but I know that there must be some response. Let us consider how all of creation might be warmly received. Because we’re the only answer we have… Peace is so much more complex than we know — may we see it, may we know it, may we embody it… May we embrace the Lunacy of Peace and stand for Creation and all who live upon the earth…

Sabbath Full Moon Peace Lunacy

The tradition that introduced me to a life regulated by the turnings of the moon always held that the Dark, First and Last Quarters and the Full Moon were always celebrated for three days.

Particularly the Dark and the Full Moons exert the deepest pull on the tides — but it’s a gradual thing. So for three days apiece every month we will celebrate on those energies.

This is the first of those celebrations… the Full Wolf Moon. We may not see much of her, but she’s bringing the cold.

The Moon is celebrated for many things and one of them is for its draw on the littles of the world. I love this story of a little boy out to demand snow of the moon. May he be as daring as he ages in dancing for Peace. There is no greater (or more wonderful) Lunacy.

Enjoy the day, my dears. We’re having a rainy Sunday, a last chance to get the house in order before school starts again. So I wish you a joyous and beautiful Full Moon that includes dances for both snow and Peace.

A Film, An Afternoon, Some Peace, llvl

If you know me well, you know I’m not a movie person. If I do go to the movies, pretty much guaranteed to be light and fluffy. Mostly because I can tell myself “it’s just a movie,” all I want, but my brain’s still seeing whatever horrible thing (psychological or physical) that’s happening on screen. Sadly, it’s pretty true with books as well. I don’t have great boundaries, I guess.

And I work hard at those boundaries in my work. And it is work… so, that makes many movies unrelaxing… I know I miss a lot. But we cope the way we can…

And I’m working at keeping my eyes wide open where I am.

Profundity aside, there’s nothing like a great big fluffy, musical to make me happy. Meryl Streep AND Tracy Ullman. Bring it. It’s still a troubling line that Johnny Depp played, especially since they chose to make the child so young… add a younger wolf, and it wouldn’t have been quite so creepy. And they killed the Goddess… which has bothered me ever since I saw it on stage… Yes I know, I have to see that stuff…

But it sure was fun! Popcorn, a good friend who giggles and a bunch of people I know, and more I don’t, laughing in the audience. Some days, the Joy is all the Peace you need for a day. Everyone needs days to just fill up on silliness and laughter! (Keeping the Sabbath silly!) Peace, baby!

Sacred Village

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