Truthfully I don’t know where to begin – what a week it’s been. But in deference to my weekly practice of inviting you in for a peek as I review, let me simply start…
internal landscape:
It hasn’t been a week of a lot of activity. On the contrary, it’s been a week of pausing, of holding, of waiting. I’ve followed my guidance about this and tried not to push, but I can’t say it’s been easy. Everyone around me seems filled with the momentum of the new year, flinging open new doors and moving on with things, and I felt a bit disappointed, a bit left out, a bit sad because it all seemed so EXCITING. And most of all I was worried – what if my mojo left, my muses gave up on me, and all I had to show for it all were grains of sand slipping away in the hourglass of my life?
Oh my mind can be quite the drama queen can’t it? I thought about that as I woke up today. And I remembered what I apparently was working so hard to forget. I remembered one of my super powers is listening to my rhythms and honoring them. And my body is full out in winter mode. I wake up slower in the morning – not at 6AM but closer to 7AM and then it’s a more gradual gathering of myself into my day, as opposed to the bouncing out of bed fully energized that comes with Spring. I laughed last night when a friend said “just feed me Thanksgiving dinner and let me sleep until the Spring Equinox.” Amen sister – and especially on these days where the low last night was 7 below, the winds were howling, and the snow was blowing. Move over bear, your cave of hibernation is calling me.
My inspiration hasn’t abandoned me. I’m playing in Lori-Lyn Hurley’s 3-month journey Write Your Passion and I’m busy gathering endless bits of things I want to write about. My latest Idea Reliquary journal is bulging in a delightfully satisfactory manner. I have piles of books tempting me to dig in, and I’m choosing to consider these as delicious invitations and not disapproving reminders of things not done.
epicurean adventure: Fettuccine with Mushroom Alfredo feels like the perfect winter comfort food to kick off a bit of celebration I’m feeling that there-is-hope-despite-a-slow-start-to-my-new-year-and-in-truth-all-is-well.
good things:
- January 8-14 is dedicated to Universal Letter Writing week and so I’ve been sending out a daily letter. I also have a stash of fabulous postcards I’ve collected over the years and have been sending some of those as well. A little squib of love.
- I love singing the praises of Amy Palko and participating in her Goddess Guidance program is one of the delights of my life. This month I’m dancing with the Norse goddess Erda, who lived in a cave deep within the Earth next to the roots of Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life. It was Erda’s ever-flowing fountain of wisdom that kept the tree watered. It amused me that I was caught off-guard by another reference to caves (hibernating bear was apparently not enough). But Erda also appeared in a dream to me and was pointing out all the treasures hidden in the roots of the Tree of Life. So much goodness there for me to unravel.
- Dream sharing of the nocturnal variety. To know me is to know I love my dreams in all their Theatre of the Night fabulosity. And that I believe we are all our own best interpreters of the messages. But I do love when someone else shares a fabulous dream image or a cryptic message, and my husband loves to delight me with his. This week’s winner: someone in his dream told him “people used to worry that Chinese noodles were poisoned, but nowadays it doesn’t get a dread mention.” I have no idea what I’m going to do with that, but now that it’s planted in my brain I’m not going to let it go.
- I won a giveaway over at The Paper Chronicles – a fabulous print from the J Faulkner line! Thank you! It’s a Jack Kerouac quote that reads “Be in love with your life. Every minute of it.” Isn’t that a fabulous touchstone for the year?
turning the pages:
Whew, I finished SoulSpace: Transform your Home, Transform your Life – Creating a Home that is Free of Clutter, Full of Beauty, and Inspired by You which will be the object of discussion for the online book club being hosted by Amy Putkonen. Also making it to my pile is another book that feels related and seems to be getting a lot of online attention lately: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. I’ve only cracked it open, so more about it later.
on the playlist:
I really love Zoe Keating’s Into the Trees album, and I’ve been inexplicably drawn to playing it over and over again this week. At first I thought perhaps it was one of those energy strings connecting me with Erda my beloved goddess with the tree connection, but I think perhaps it’s a bit more than that as well. Poking around on Zoe’s website I discovered her husband has stage IV lung cancer. We have a family member dealing with that as well. And so I’m sending love and light and blessings to everyone navigating this path.
on the screen:
I was introduced to the work of outsider artist Judith Scott many years ago and instantly fell in love – her cocoons of wrapped treasures speak to me so deeply. She had an extraordinarily challenging life and yet left us with such magic. This short clip is about a retrospective of her work that was presented in 2011.
favorite word of the week:
- Well no doubt “dread mention” from my husband’s dream is my hands-down favorite.
- But if we’re going with an actual in-the-dictionary word, this week I learned a new non-citrusy meaning for Mandarin. Mandarin: adj.: marked by refined or ornate language.
what I’m loving to support:
I love Katherine Dunn – she’s a fabulous artist AND she and her husband live on Apifera Farm where they support “Misfits of Love” – elderly, crippled or special needs goats, donkeys, ducks, geese, pig, blind ponies and old llama. She’s got a current gofundme campaign going to raise funds to help support the care of these precious creatures. Donate at a certain level and you can receive a set of postcards when they’re ready. I’m thinking this is a perfect way to keep our love-letters-in-the-post project going all year long.
fabulosities, curiosities, and brain igniters:
- Jude Hill is always up to something wonderful at Spirit Cloth and I’m swooning over her Across Stars piece. And this feels like a little hedz up – stars feel like an important motif to me this year. I’ll be keeping my eyes (and heart) open to see how this unfolds.
- One of my beautiful friends, a kindergarten teacher in CA, has appropriated a giant empty cardboard box and is working with her kids to construct a puppet theater. My heart leaps with joy at the very idea. And so, too, with this fun project from the Finnish artist Maija Ukko on her blog Ukkonooa. Don’t you want some finger puppets?!
- In the spirit of letter writing week here’s an easy way to write a letter to your future you. I kind of like writing physical letters to my future self and mailing them to be opened at a later date, but I think this would be fun as well.
- I’m pretty sure I need to be creating some manifestos this year. I think we all do. The world needs more heart-felt passionate manifestos! But in the meantime, here’s one by Andrea Balt that rocks and feels like a good one to carry with us into 2015.
- While I don’t really condone gutting perfectly good books, sometimes a volume actually has moved beyond its original purpose. And then perhaps it’s time to make it into a purse!
And there we have it – a peek into my week. Now what about yours? What’s been up for you? Feeling more like hibernating or are you entering your new year with passion blazing? Written any letters this week? Had any fabulous dream messages? What book would you like to be carrying? Do tell – you know I love to hear.
Another lovely look. Very excited to see what you come up with for your home in SoulSpace! You were one of the ones that I dreamed of sharing this book with so I am so glad that you decided to join us. “Tidying Up” is a great read. Good for Phase II in the SoulSpace book (the chapter on Clearing). I read it in just a few hours, but it has stuck with me.
Oh, have you checked out Dirty Footprints Studio? She has some great free online courses. I was looking at those earlier today and thought of you.
Funny enough, no one has commented yet on my post about the art giveaway! Hilarious. I know at least how much I hesitated to comment on it. I felt pretty bold doing it, but now that I’ve signed up for it I am excited for both the giving and the receiving. I can tell you that you get a freebie because you’ve already done it! Ha! So come on over and comment so I can send you something lovely.
I am indeed looking forward to the SoulSpace adventure – and how fun such a large group has gathered!
I’ll certainly come by and claim a spot in your PayItForward giveaway. But, like you, I don’t have a full cadre of players yet. Perhaps announcing our intentions at the beginning of the year wasn’t the best timing. I think we’ll have to do re-mentions later. But in any case I know we’ll have fun!
You know, I do not know where to start commenting first! There is just so much deliciousness here! I’m listening to Zoe Keating right now and have her up on iTunes as I am going to purchase her album. It has to be the tree thing there. I’m all about trees. Always. 😉
I do hope you are feeling better regarding the start of the new year and all the things you hope to do and want to do. I was feeling the same way a wee bit this week. I had some productive days and not so productive days and was sort of chastising myself over it. But I reminded myself that it is a process and I’m thinking of my downtime as a building up of energies that will burst forth with a boon of creativity. 🙂 And by the reading of your wonderful words here, I would hardly say you are not inspired. I’m incredibly inspired each time I read your posts.
Now that Fettuccine dish is something I will have to make. I love mushrooms – anything with mushrooms and that dish looks divine.
I need to get on the ball and write some letters! I shall carve out some time today to do just that!
I have been so tired this week. My body still feels like it is fighting something. I may have to go back to the doctor on Monday. 🙁 I know I am tired of being sick and tired! 😉
I’m sorry if I’m writing too much in my responses. I hope you have a spectacular weekend! 🙂
I love your understanding of the fallow downtimes as simply part of the rhythm Tracy – and the building of energies that will henceforth burst out in blossomy goodness. I’m with you on all things trees and mushrooms too.
And there’s no such thing as writing too much responses – banish that thought. I love to hear what you think, and I am more than grateful that you take time to visit and respond.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend as well – and hope you start to feel up to snuff soon. I always think it takes long to recuperate when you get sick in winter because you have to overcome the natural lethargy of the season to boot. Be well!
Thank you for this look at your “fabulosity” week (I loved that word!).
This morning as I walked through the woods, thinking about the order of my days, looking for unforced rhythms, I thought about how this winter season rhythm will be different than the summer. I make it out to the woods later in the morning whereas as time turns, it will be an earlier walk. There is a blogpost lingering in my mind about this …
I have added soulspace to my reading list. It fits perfectly with my word and intention of the year.
Love Zoe Keating as well. and thanks for introducing me to spiritcloth. swoon.
Wishing you all manner of magic in all the rhythms of your life Cynthia.