As the world stirs so much contrasting energy these days, we offer this reflection as a “great welcome” into unity. The video was created by Sister Suzanne Rubenbauer, FSPA, to welcome encounter with I AM. She researched some of Prairiewoods’ foundress Betty Daugherty’s files for wisdom. See The Great Welcome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tVnW-5f0YA Neil Douglas-Klotz offers…
Two nights. Out of nowhere. The white dog appeared. Initial fangs bared. Hurt unintentionally. Roped paw released and allowed to run. Awaken to joy. Visit again, my strong companion. By my side. Walking lightly without fear. White glow big bang appears. To the portal. That white dog. Of. My. Soul. There have been more years in my life than not,…
At Prairiewoods, we are going through a time of great change. This transitional period can rock us or make us rock-strong. When your small staff of 16 is suddenly down three members, as ours is at Prairiewoods, it feels like a lot of change all at once. And that change can feel anxiety-inducing. However, it…
Humanity needs a break! Having endured the collective traumas of a protracted pandemic, geo-political discord, global upheaval from climate change, the Sixth Great Extinction, massive military conflicts that threaten fragile efforts at “peace,” terrorism, genocide, racism, sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, hate-driven crimes, eco-cide, and socio-cultural and religious melt-downs, we ALL need a break. We need a collective…
On a hot and deeply still July afternoon in 2015, I made my first exploration of the land at Prairiewoods. I didn’t know there were maps of the trails, so I just wandered. Stopping where the path overlooked a bend in Dry Creek I saw, many feet below where I stood, a single large blue-gray…
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it…
Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman asked this question in the first line of her now-famous national elegy: “When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?” Her question, posed in the context of generations of inherited cultural trauma, perpetuated in the name of manifest destiny, is one that gives us…
“Sarah laughed.” A brief lexicographical survey of biblical figures who were said to have laughed is a short list. Many are familiar with a famous matriarch from Genesis 18, Sarah (Abraham’s wife). When Sarah is told by a messenger of the Lord that she will conceive and bear a child in her old age, she…
One of my beloved spiritual friends emailed me a creative reflection template (pictured above) that invites an artistic way to reflect and journal about the past year 2021 flowing into our newly started year 2022. I love the flowy circular nature of this template and the gentle phrasing of the writing prompts. I find myself…
[Image: “A Sunday on the Island of La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat (1884)] “White. A blank canvas, his favorite, so many possibilities …” “Sunday, by the blue purple yellow red water!” So begins the entry to Steven Sondheim’s magnificent choral rendition from the musical “Sunday in the Park with George,” an exploration of the…