These times are inviting us to share our stories. I keep getting that message over and over again. This past weekend, Sharon Blackie, our Spirituality in the 21st Century presenter, spoke about myth and story. Her storytelling of “The Handless Maiden” felt divinely timed, gently inviting us through story into exploration of these crazy, enchanting times we are living in. The archetype of the trickster, holding a mirror before us. What is within is also with-out. The unseen dimension of the imaginal realm, a different layer of reality. Sharon asked us in her quiet, English accent, What conversation does the story of “The Handless Maiden” invite us into? Personally, I want to be in conversation with people about story, authenticity and belonging, specifically, their own stories. (If you haven’t read it, check out If Women Rose Rooted: A Journey to Authenticity and Belonging by Sharon Blackie.)
This week I have been nearly desperate for inspiration with my weekly blog post. I trusted that Spirit would guide, and today, as I was running over my lunch hour, inspiration stopped me in my tracks. A dilapidated, abandoned home with the most beautiful, flowered, unkempt yard. The scene was such a juxtaposition, a paradox. It brought to mind the reflection questions from our morning staff meeting that my co-worker Laura offered us. What image captures for you the holy in Creation? How might we move beyond the sorrow and loneliness of separation into the oneness of Creation? This house and this yard answer those questions for me. Here was the image, right in front of me. The whole, the all, the beauty, the sorrow and everything in between—all are Holy. In our sorrow, our loneliness and our separation, we are with the oneness of Creation, we are always in oneness.
From my heart to yours,
—Emelia Sautter, Prairiewoods ecospirituality coordinator