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…
My 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.…
When 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…
“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…
Note: 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…
“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” —Genesis 1:3 “The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides, and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered…
The family who lives on the corner is busy with their sidewalk chalk, writing friendly messages and drawing rainbows and smiley faces in pretty pastel colors of yellow, pink, light green, baby blue and lavender. They do this, even with rain in the forecast. As I walk along their sidewalk squares I read: We Are…
As you may know, we coined the phrase PanDeepening as we work to see this unique moment in history as an opportunity to go more deeply into all our relationships and interconnections. Each day, we post activities, reflections and thoughts intended to help our community thrive, find ways to hold hope and become our own calm center…
I must admit, I’m struggling. In this time of social distancing, I—like many of you—am feeling fearful. My anxiety is often taking precedence over my sense of hope and optimism. But I’m reminded of a story Mary Pipher wrote in her book Women Rowing North: My brother told a story about a tailor who wanted…
One day a young Buddhist on his journey home came to the banks of a wide river. Staring hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him, he pondered for hours on just how to cross such a wide barrier. Just as he was about to give up his pursuit to continue his journey, he…