“In the darkness and the quiet, life thrums.
Deep under the earth, covered and fed by all that has been let go of, all that has been given up in offering, are the seeds, forming, rooting, dreaming.
Within the dark transformational matter, life begins.
In the death of the old, medicine is born.
All beginnings start in the darkness, in the fecund earth, in the pulsing womb.
It is not spring where life suddenly appears, but now, in these inward months.
Spring is not a saviour of winter days, it is birthed from winter, born because of winter.
And it is this winter story, that teaches me much about my own human journey.”
Brigid Anna McNeil

What the angel didn’t say by Lynn Ungar,

“I notice that when
the Mary spoke to Mary
she got news that God
was pleased with her,
and that she would bear a son
destined for greatness,
but no mention was made
of torture and early death
and the way her heart
would break completely and
irrevocably. The angel told her
not to be afraid, but didn’t mention
the need to take the baby
and run from Herod or even
giving birth in a stable.
If the heavenly being hinted
at a future seated at the right hand
of God, it never acknowledged
how different that feels than
having him seated at the
family table for supper,
and the ache of an empty chair.
Maybe she knew, and said yes anyway.
Maybe the big ask
is to open the door to suffering,
which is the door marked Love.”

“Some think life is all about doing good and keeping away from evil.
To them, struggle has no purpose of its own—to have struggled is to have failed. Success, they imagine, is a sweet candy with no trace of bitterness.
They are wrong, tragically wrong. Struggle is an opportunity to reach the ultimate, when darkness itself becomes light. In the midst of struggle, an inner light is awakened. Light profound enough to overwhelm the darkness, encasing it and winning it over.
But if darkness never fights back, how will it ever be conquered?”
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

“Inside of me there are two dogs. One is mean and evil and the other is good and they fight each other all the time. When asked which one wins I answer, the one I feed the most.”
Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull, shot by police on this day in 1890

Extravagant Stillness by Mirabai Starr,

“Be patient, my heart.
The time of the cave is coming.
The season of quiet.
The deep drink of stillness
you have been thirsting for.
Secret, luminous darkness.
Fruitful, radiant night.

Your access has been paid.
All year you have made
an offering of your life,
Flung your treasures into the
clamoring hands of the world.
You have lost yourself in the lyrics,
Recollected yourself in the silence,
Forgotten again and again
where you come from,
Where you are meant to return.

Return.

You have filled your belly
with the season’s harvest,
Grown robust on bowls of chile and beans,
Apple muffins spread with honey.
You have split and stacked your kindling,
patched your cloak.
There is nothing left undone.

Drop the distractions, now,
and head home.
The door is open. Go in.
Deeper and deeper inward.

Enter the womb of the world
and take refuge there.

This is not the season of sorrow,
but of gratitude.
The extravagant, fiery beauty of autumn
heralds the coming of the holy quiet.

Be still.
Be wildly, voluptuously quiet.
Embrace your solitude like the child
you never thought you could birth,
Like the lover
you thought had died in the war,
who parts the curtains
of your innermost chamber
in the middle of the night
and slips into bed beside you.”

“The shortening of the daily cycle gives rise to festivals of light around the world. Today is Saint Lucia’s Day, a traditional Swedish festival that combines pagan heritage with Christian legend. Lucia herself has little to do with light and winter; she was a Christian martyr beheaded in the days when Christians faced horrific persecutions [by the Romans]. But because her name is Latin for light, the Vikings who converted to Christianity infused their solstice service with the personage of this beloved saint.
The Scandinavian image of a young woman in a white robe and a wreath of burning candles is a compelling image. It is a day to let everyone’s light shine – and perhaps to wonder how we can bring light and sustenance into each other’s lives more often.”
From Earth Bound: Daily Meditations for All Seasons by Brian Nelson

“Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye… it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.”
Edvard Munch, born on this day in 1863

“We come to know the world as paradise when our hearts and souls are reborn through the arduous and tender task of living rightly with one another and the earth. Generosity, non-violence, and care for one another are the pathways into transformed awareness. Knowing that paradise is here and now is a gift that comes to those who practice the ethics of paradise. This way of living is not Utopian. It does not spring simply from the imagination of a better world but from a profound embrace of this world. It does not begin with knowledge or hope. It begins with love.”
From Saving Paradise by Rita Nakashimi Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.”
Emily Dickinson, born on this day in 1830

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.”
John Milton, born on this day in 1608