This past weekend, Prairiewoods held our annual conference, Spirituality in the 21st Century. Our facilitator, mythologist Sharon Blackie, used a fairytale as a focal point for the themes we discussed. The tale, “The Handless Maiden,” tells the story of an innocent young woman whose hands are cut off to protect her frightened father, who has…
DetailsMy neighbors are wild. They are often up half the night. They sing at the top of their lungs in the wee hours of the morning. They tear my hostas right out of the ground. One neighbor walked the perimeter of my yard and then proceeded to matter-of-factly pee on the side of my house.…
Details“Spring has returned. The earth resembles a child who has memorized many poems … For all the trouble of her long learning she wins the prize. Her teacher was strict. We loved the white in the old man’s beard and shaggy eyebrows. Now, whatever we ask about the blue and the green … she knows,…
DetailsWhen King Arthur first meets Lancelot duLac in the musical, “Camelot,” he wishes to introduce the French aristocrat Lancelot to Queen Guinivere, who has gone out with the court “a-Maying.” Lancelot is thoroughly baffled by this term … “A-Maying?” he asks. “It’s a sort of picnic,” Arthur explains. “A time for gathering flowers, for eating…
DetailsHello, Prairiewoods friends! Last Saturday I was out at Palisades-Kepler State Park. It is a place I feel at home with, a land of love, wisdom and magic. The Spring Beauty wildflowers are in bloom, carpeting the land in utter delight. They are so abundant, so joyful in their dancing, that I could not help but…
DetailsA great blessing, among many, of Prairiewoods is the honor of walking with people in discovering nature as threshold into deeper awareness of God. In these days of pandemic—a.k.a. pan-deepening at Prairiewoods—we witness young and old of all faiths, race, economic status drawn to the intriguing woods, wetland and prairie. As John Muir, father of…
Details“We are pregnant with a new earth. All of us. The virus is beginning the contractions. Shedding light on our fears as we get closer to the birth. What we are in the process of letting go of What we will take with us. What we will leave behind.” —Kali Quinn, “Learning about the process…
DetailsNote: The post below was shared on May 11, 2017, on my personal blog (no longer being published). I share it here today because the idea of Ubuntu is so important in the midst of this global pandemic. Also, it feels appropriate as we are mere days away from welcoming Sara Thomsen back as music…
Details“Conversation is perhaps our greatest hope not only for healing the rifts in human understanding but also for restoring and reinspiring our relationship with the natural world, which is our first and most profound home. Care of the world is always essential, and care arises from conversation.” —Thomas Dean, Introduction, Tallgrass Conversations: In Search of…
Details10 years ago, I attended a panel talk at UNI. The stage was set for inviting a discussion-style offering between esteemed community voices and … the Dalai Lama. My initial disappointment around attending the panel vs. his keynote quickly faded as I watched. I had so wanted to focus on listening to what this world-renowned…
DetailsIn uncertain times, we look to the wisdom of our elders, our sages and our most cherished teachers to help us understand or at least cope with what frightens or bewilders us. For many years, I cherished the wisdom of Wolfie, the magnificent Siberian Husky named for my Grandma, who blessed me with her wisdom…
DetailsGood morning, Prairiewoods family, The first line of Wild Geese by Mary Oliver came to me on Tuesday evening. “You do not have to be good.” David Whyte, in his Poetry of Self Compassion, shares that the whole poem IS good, but you really only need the first line. “You do not have to be good … You do not…
DetailsSynchronicity, isn’t it, that we celebrate spring amid this pandemic—pan-deepening? All around we observe creation in the midst of birth pains. The slow, sure greening is generative hope. New birth is not only happening around us, it’s within us. The Spirit is arousing within us, praying us. With Earth, we too experience birth pangs as…
DetailsYou’ve likely seen them, but do you know what mandalas actually are? Mandala is the Sanskrit word for “circle” and represents any circular work of sacred art. Mandalas start in the center and build outward, and all of their beauty and energy are contained within the circle. They include organic or geometric shapes that are…
DetailsI vaguely remember the first Earth Day in 1970. (I was only 9.) Like many things pre-internet, it took a while for Earth Day to enter the midwestern consciousness. However, four years later my junior high school newspaper was publishing a special Earth Day edition. My assignment? To write a book review of Rachel Carson’s…
DetailsI’ve been slowly reading a lovely book called Lectio Divina—The Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images into Heart-Centered Prayer by Christine Valters Paintner. Lectio divina, which means divine reading, involves experiencing sacred text and then listening with the heart for a word or phrase that calls out to you. It is a process that Valters…
DetailsThere is a story of four friends who met in school where they studied meditation. One day, they made a pact to observe absolute silence for seven days. On the first day all were silent. Their meditation had begun auspiciously, but when night came and the oil lamps were growing dim one of the pupils…
DetailsLosses and the Coronavirus, and Grieving: The ways in which our lives have changed and are changing in reaction to the coronavirus involve many losses and the normal, healthy response of grieving. The sense of certainty and predictability that helps us feel safe and secure has, in so many ways, dissolved into the experience of…
DetailsDreams grow holy put in action, Work grows fair through starry dreaming; But where each flows on unmingling, Both are fruitless and in vain. May the stars within this gleaming, Cause my dreams to be unchained. —Caitlin Matthews, Celtic Devotional The daily reading goes on to say: “We live in a world where the divorce…
DetailsAcross the country, caring people of every faith tradition are coming together to respond to the climate crisis. As we approach the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, we are grateful for Prairiewoods’ partnerships with many different faith traditions. In collaboration with Interfaith Power & Light, we invite everyone to a…
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