“What makes a place sacred? Is it some hallowed action? Is it the siting of a shrine or temple? Is it the occupation by people who have honoured the spirit of that place? Although there is no part of the earth that is not intrinsically sacred in its own right, our recognition of a place’s sacredness tends to rest upon what other human beings have done at that spot, what they have erected by way of memorial, what holy actions and rites they have conducted to hallow it.

Certain spots draw us to them, there is no doubt. Even if they harbour no ancient monument, if there is no story associated with their borders, we feel somehow at peace or exalted when there. It must be through just that intangible process that our ancestors discovered their own sacred places – places of natural beauty whose potency drew them again and again to spiritual exploration. Some places act as natural thresholds, junctions between this world and the other where we feel in communion with the unseen world and its inhabitants.

Some sacred places can be lost through neglect and forgetfulness; others are lost by a gross act of desacralization. But a place can be rediscovered and resacralized if we attend to the spirit of the place and learn what it is that makes that place sacred. The prospect of the resacralization of the earth is just a lofty idea for many people, but it is one that all of us can foster, in cooperation with the spirits of the earth itself.

Call to mind a place – it need not be recognized by others as a sacred place – where you have felt empowered and uplifted. Dwell upon the qualities and gifts that you associate with that site and how they make connection with your own spiritual path. Take the first opportunity you can to verify your meditation by visiting this place in person. Sense again the spirit of the place.”

Caitlin Matthews

“If there is anything
I still long for
I know nothing of it
Prisoner as I am
Now and forever
In the abyss of unknowing.

The human spirit can never understand
Or its words translate
What is found
When all is lost
In the darkness of God.”

Hadewijch of Antwerp

“Notice the inner places where you’re holding your breath, walking on eggshells around the living room of your self.
Notice the contraction of your muscles, the hump of your shoulders, the pitch of your pelvis, the way you sip air instead of taking it in freely and fully as a gift of divine grace.
Notice the quality of your being when you scrunch down to be less than the radiant, miraculous, multidimensional human that you are.
How do you feel?
Now, ask yourself this question: Who profits from my diminution? Who – in my life, in my circle of family and friends, in my work, my ancestry, in the historical, political, cultural, social, economic life of my world – profits, when I act from this diminished self? When I become less than all that I am?
Ask yourself a further question: In what ways do I benefit, from this stance? Are the costs of truncating myself in these ways worth the benefits?
Be truthful, with your responses. Take your time. There’s no shame or blame involved here, just playful curiosity and willingness to know your truth.
Now, choose. Choose to stand up tall. Choose to open your chest, widen your shoulders, let the weight of your torso rest in the bowl of your pelvis. Choose to entrust the upright wand of your body to the miraculous stability of the soles of your feet.
Declare your sovereignty. Banish the profiteers from your kingdom. Bring those of your inner selves who have grown accustomed to a hunched-over life, back into your heart, back into the safety of your love and belonging, back into a clear-eyed orientation to your world.
Choose your power. Choose the power of your full presence. Choose to be the light of your world.
Be radiant. Then, radiate.”

Hiro Boga

“In the first reading of the Eucharist today I heard: “I am offering you life or death. . . . Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live in the love of Yahweh, your God, obeying his voice, holding fast to him” (Deuteronomy 30:19–20).

How do I choose life? I am becoming aware that there are few moments without the opportunity to choose, since death and life are always before me. One aspect of choosing life is choosing joy. Joy is life-giving but sadness brings death. A sad heart is a heart in which something is dying. A joyful heart is a heart in which something new is being born.

I think that joy is much more than a mood. A mood invades us. We do not choose a mood. We often find ourselves in a happy or depressed mood without knowing where it comes from. The spiritual life is a life beyond moods. It is a life in which we choose joy and do not allow ourselves to become victims of passing feelings of happiness or depression.”

Henri Nouwen

“I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –

Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of eye –
And for an everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –

Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –”

Emily Dickinson, born on this day in 1830

“There is nothing that makes men rich and strong but that which they carry inside of them. True wealth is of the heart, not of the hand.”

John Milton, born on this day in 1608

“He was born of the ocean and the earth; his father was Poseidon and his mother was Gaia. He was unrivalled in strength as long as he maintained contact with the earth, his mother. But when a challenger had the wit to lift him off the ground and crush his ribs in mid air, he finally met his death.

He was Antaeus, a little-remembered figure from the story of Hercules. How distanced are you from the planet, and how does that distance weaken you? Like Antaeus, you were born at the intersection of water and earth, and you draw your strength from the land.

If you feel you’re at less than your prime, what can you do to reconnect with your roots?”

Brian Nelson

“Unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours.”

Noam Chomsky, born on this day in 1928

“What you contemplate, you touch. What you enter into in imagination, you make yourself one with.”

Dion Fortune, born on this day in 1890

“As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself… Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, and humility.”

Nelson Mandela, who died on this day in 2013