Thank you to everyone in Prairiewoods’ mycelial network for the outpouring of love and support and shared sadness in the aftermath of the Aug. 10 derecho, which decimated the tree canopy in Cedar Rapids. This poem was composed for love of our fallen arbor-elders in the wake of a devastating loss for this bio-region and beyond.…
You’re always welcome to pray the outdoor labyrinth at Prairiewoods. Walking the labyrinth is a powerful, embodied prayer experience. I love this particular prayer form and have had a unique experience each time I do it. I remember years ago, the first time I walked the labyrinth at Prairiewoods, I actually felt some discomfort. Am…
This probably sounds like an odd combination, but I’ve been pondering beans, butterflies and cosmos these days. All are abundant in my garden and yard. The vegetable garden is in full harvest mode—beans, peppers, tomatoes, kale, dill, basil. And then there are all the herbs just outside my back door—sage, oregano, thyme, garlic chives, mint…
Relating with Our Creature-Kin, Part 2 On last Sunday’s blog, we began exploring the wild world of our creature-kin. (https://prairiewoods.org/wild-thing-you-make-my-heart-sing/) We looked at our perception of other-than-human kin in their own integrity, rather than who they are solely in relationship to us humans. Now we shift our attention to our ethics, our practical ways of relating…
Compelling energy—the thousands of activists who over fifty years ago in 1963 committed themselves to nonviolence and marched courageously in Birmingham for all. Spawning several grassroots movements, Dr. Martin Luther King’s candid “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” called people to pledge not only to march for justice, but also to make active nonviolence a way…
Twelve years ago, my husband and I had a somewhat untraditional wedding. We rented a large inn for the weekend and invited our close friends and family to come celebrate and help us create the perfect weekend. One friend helped me buy all the food, and my aunt cooked it. My mom made the flower…
“We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.” —Hildegard of Bingen For many, this…
Each day—sometimes two or three times a day—I go outside for a contemplative walk. Sometimes I walk far into the woods, sometimes to the edge of the river and sometimes I’ll just walk right outside my door to touch my bare feet to the Earth. Sometimes I find myself singing a prayerful song called “Hidden…
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” —Mark Twain Notable figures throughout human history have worked as changemakers, for good and ill. Was it easier to change the way things were 20 years ago? Unlikely. Change is, by its very nature, a stretching of the…
For Love of Our Creature-Kin, Part 1 In the Harry Potter world where magic’s power is felt most profoundly within the protection of love, Newt Scamander is a wizard for our times. He speaks, lives and breathes with the beasts. In the first film of the series, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Newt…