Mar/Apr 2022 Newsletter

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Photo by Susmita Saha on Unsplash
Wisdom
for the Second Half of Life
by Patricia Roberts
 
The Way 

When we think
we have found the way, we lose it.

Life cannot be trapped. 
It changes constantly.
 
Without a name and in innocence
the Mother gives birth to her creation.
 
Passionately we live
its manifestations.
Both are one. 

When we are only growing old we feel like prisoners
of our fears and frustrations.
In everything we see darkness, illness and death.
 
When we age in wisdom
we live fully the Mystery of not knowing. 
We learn to wait in darkness,
without fear. 
Upcoming Events
Longing for spiritual connection in these troubling times?

We invite you to join us every Sunday for this online, interfaith Worship Experience. We are growing a strong, nurturing community and want you to be part! As we enter a new season, we are looking at the secret life of trees, composting and green burial, the value of soil, mycelia and insects!

In case you are unable to attend in person, all who register will receive a link to be able to view the CSIWE after the event happens. So be sure to Register!

Every Sunday 7:00p/6:00p/5:00p/4:00p
Eastern/Central/Mountain/Pacific

Please register in advance for this meeting

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
You can catch up on the previous webinars on our YouTube channel.  CiC Playlist
CREATION IN CRISIS INVITES YOU INTO

Deep Listening to the 
Allurement of Evolution 
in this Time of Crisis

with

Margie Abbott
Cosmologist, Earth Ritualist, Mystic, Educator, Author

April 7, 2022 at 4:00 EST
1:00 PST, 2:00 MT, 3:00 CT, 4:00 EST
April 9, 2022 

10:00am-12:00pm PT and 2:00pm-4:00pm PT 

Integration Session April 23 10:00am-12:00pm PT 

For details and registration click HERE 

As longtime spiritual friends, both of these master teachers welcome this unique opportunity to merge their interconnected visions of how to meet our global dark night with joy, resolution and passion: to put love into action, to preserve both our planet and the democratic institutions and practices that can still effect vibrant solutions and birth transformative possibilities.

An invitation from Andrew Harvey: 

On April 9, 2022, Matthew Fox and I plan to share our visions on how to put love, joy and hope into radical action to protect the Earth and global democracy.

Our workshop is a unique opportunity to merge our interconnected visions. Don’t miss this exceptional opportunity to come together with like minded people concerned with humanity during this volatile time. 
With all my love, Andrew 

For details and registration click HERE
For more news of Matthew Fox's events, visit https://www.matthewfox.org
The Great Mother Love Way
Immersing into Mother’s Love to Cultivate the 
Spiritual Tools to Birth the New Earth!
 
There is a New Earth coming forward in the midst of the chaos at this time. Beyond the human realms of drama and trauma, this New Earth is already crystalizing in the multi-dimensional planes of our planet.
 
You are invited to join Gaia Mystic & High Priestess Mare Cromwell in a year-long course to learn a way of Being supporting Mother, as the Tao is a way of Being. It is based on a set of teachings that helps bring us back into the Quantum Divine Love field that we have forgotten from which we source. 
 
Mother Gaia is calling for more grounded, resilient Ground Crew deeply connected with her heart to make manifest this New World. This training offers a path to live here on this gloriously Sacred planet in a way that honors the divinity of all to ensure that the future generations of all beings can flourish.
 
We are being collectively called to learn how to Love this New Earth in. Come join us!
 
Mare Cromwell has surrendered to serve the Great Mother. She is an internationally known Gaia Mystic & High Priestess, Author, Healer & Visionary. Her award-winning books include: “Messages from Mother…. Earth Mother” and "The Great Mother Bible". She has studied with Native American teachers for 26 years along with other gifted mentors and is the Visionary & Co-Webweaver of the 1000 Goddesses Gathering Global Grid. Mare also leads the “Great Mother Love Way” year-long course. She is a Mid-Wife of the New Earth devoted to the Divine Mother in all of her manifestations.  www.marecromwell.com
Be part of this powerful and joyous journey...

In this webinar, journeying through the work of St. Hildegard, you will: 

✅ Connect to your inner light and the guidance of what is calling you, even if you haven't heard it for a while.

✅  Embody a connection to awe and wonder and create a practice to keep your creativity flowing.

✅  Release any fear and blocks and step into the courage to say yes to what's calling you and take steps forward.

✅   Discover the wisdom of your heart for your life and our world.
Creation Spirituality on the Labyrinth:
A Dance of Four Powerful Paths
with Veriditas Advanced Accredited Facilitators and member of the CSIWE Worship Team, Mary Ann Wamhoff

This is ONLINE workshop is offered through Unity of Charlottesville, VA.

Tuesday evenings at 7:00 pm for one hour
April 26 Introduction and Via Positiva—surrounding the labyrinth
May 3             Via Negativa—entering the labyrinth
May 10           Via Creativa—being in the center of the labyrinth
May 17           Via Transformativa—returning--and virtual hand-held walk
This will include some writing exercises and breakout room discussions.
You’ll want to have a hand-held or paper labyrinth nearby.

Go to www.unitycharlottesville.org to register. The suggested donation is $50.00, but no one will be turned away. 100% of the proceeds will go to The Shalom Labyrinth fund for its resealing.

Contact [email protected] if you have questions.
Mary Ann Wamhoff

After training with Lauren Artress in Chartres, Mary Ann became a Veriditas Advanced Accredited Labyrinth Facilitator. She has walked labyrinths since at least 1995, has studied with Caroline Myss, Andrew Harvey, Mirabai Starr, and Matt Fox among others, and is a Reiki Master. She regularly facilitated public walks sponsored by the Labyrinth Resource Group of Santa Fe, and spearheaded and helped build a 48-foot Chartres-style labyrinth. She is presently introducing her new Virginian community to the joys of labyrinth walking! As a Veriditas Council member, she supports facilitators in listening to what people need and is excited about being part of the Veriditas Inclusion Initiative. Coming from a tradition that believes in the unseen, she has both felt and seen the labyrinth's amazing power!
Dr. Margie Schneider, Course Instructor

The purpose of this course is to explore, and awaken, one’s natural creativity, through the participation in seven Eco-Art activities, performed within nature, and seen through the eyes of Creation Spirituality, and its’ four paths. This can bring about a newly discovered deep, and lasting, set of values, once a deep sense of sacredness, and oneness, with all things develops, which, in turn, can result in a passionate desire to address the sacred connection one should have with the Earth, all her creatures, and especially with the Creator. As a result, one will evolve into a desire to care for it. It is simply about realizing that if all of what we have is a gift from the Creator, then it is our obligation to live a life that protects, and reveres, all that exists, which can also bring about a more joyful, and peaceful, existence for all.

The course is scheduled to begin on May 10 and run through June 14. It will meet via Zoom for 6 weeks, and each in-depth class will run 90 minutes long. The cost is only $100 (plus $25 application fee) for this full immersion experience.
News
For the months of March and April at Spiritwind we will be studying, "Spirituality in Everyday Life." We will cover intimate relationships, the family, children and their rites of passage from childhood to Crone and Sage. Then we will look at Work (as in The Reinvention of Work) and science and technology and then finally end with with Social Activism and Earth Stewardship.
 
Spiritwind is a Creation Spirituality Community in the tradition of ONE RIVER, MANY WELLS facilitated by Rev. Dr. Rick Reich-Kuykendall (530) 823-8610
Available Now on Amazon
This book is a rewriting of all of the books attributed to Solomon–whether he wrote them in reality or not: Song of Solomon, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom of Solomon, The Greater Key of Solomon, and The Lesser Key of Solomon (the last two being medieval occult forgeries...) 
Poetry Zooms In: On the Sacred in Persons and World

Poetry Zooms In: On the Sacred in Persons and World [Arkema, Carroll E.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Poetry Zooms In: On the Sacred in Persons and World

Read more
www.amazon.com
Carroll Arkema, M.Div., LMFT, LP is an ordained Presbyterian minister, licensed and functioning as a Psychoanalyst and Marriage and Family Therapist for over forty years. He taught Spirituality and Psychotherapy and supervising Therapists-in-training at the Blanton-Peale Institute for sixteen years. This is his fourth book to be published.
Creative Offerings
Shall We Start Anew or Return to "normal"?
by Arthur Mitchell

Shall we start anew or return to "normal"? That is the question and theme of this newsletter. But, first let’s step back in time. It is the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, Virginia Tech (VPI): On this day, fifty-two years ago, about 20 million people attended inaugural Earth Day events at tens of thousands of schools, universities, and community venues and other sites across the United States. I was 18 and a freshman. A group of friends and I, organized by a favorite biology professor, created a chicken wire and papier-mâché globe with all continents covered with magazine cutout faces – to emphasize overpopulation of the planet and finite resources. A book, The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich, had recently been published and had a great impact on us; it advocated urgent action to address population growth. At my birth, world population was 2.7 billion; 70 years later it now stands at 8 billion. Heavily influenced during this time, I later became a conservation ecologist and worked in 18 countries over more than 40 years on biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation projects.

Then, on May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard massacred four students and wounded nine others at Kent State during a peace rally that opposed the US expanding Vietnam War involvement into neutral Cambodia. Nine days later, on 13 May, I and 106 fellow VPI students were arrested for protesting the war in Vietnam and the war by police and military troops on antiwar student protesters. Two days later, National Guardsmen killed two students and injured twelve at Jackson State. The anti-war, environmental, and social justice movements and other elements of the “counterculture” were linked in the eyes of government and resulted in a crackdown. Having been suspended from VPI for engaging in peaceful protest, I went on to a more enriching experience at the University of California at Berkeley.

Since then, our generation has acted very poorly and irresponsibly, buying into the American promise of continual growth and prosperity; many of us gave up on our earlier ideals and turned a blind eye to the inconvenience of obvious injustice and environmental degradation. It is now our children and grandchildren, and their grandchildren, who will bear the brunt of our behavior. A man in his mid-70’s here in Tucson once said to me, “Yes, I guess climate change is real, and it just sucks for the younger people. But I’ll be dead soon.” I refrained from telling him what he could do to speed up that process.

Much of what was “normal” prior to the pandemic is not coming back; there is no return. You can try, if you so choose, residing in a comfortably numb state of denial. But we are altered, changed, by circumstances; we have had time to reflect on the inescapable truth that nothing lasts, a truth that signifies our maturity. We recognize the inevitability of our own mortality; some of us recognize the inevitability of environmental and societal upheaval or collapse, if not mortality. It is time to start anew, comfortable with uncertainty as we look forward not back. But many of us have returned to an earlier activism in a variety of peaceful means, trying in our own ways to reverse trends set in motion by us and working towards a better future for the current and coming generations. Personally, to this end, I organize two Meetup groups, Elders Action Network Arizona Chapter and Entheogenic Elders of Southern Arizona, and coordinate with the work of Elders Climate Action, Elders for Sound Democracy, and the Third Act, recently created by Bill McKibben, an environmentalist and author, who has written extensively on impacts of global warming, climate breakdown, species extinction, and ecosystem collapse. You may want to consider joining us or linking up with another organization or group with which you resonate. In my book, “Grateful, Not Dead: Rewire, Not Retire. Refire Your Purpose,” a chapter is devoted to activism or engagement with community.

For more information on how to get involved with these organizations and to learn about coaching and activism, contact Art Mitchell in Tucson, AZ: [email protected] (703) 347-3313.
The Open Secret
by Claire Savage

There is light
at the end of the tunnel.
Always
waiting patiently
as seen from the inside
of our hearts.
So whatever the world outside
is doing
or not,
there is this light to return to
from which all lights
emanate and with whom
we can call home.
Photo by Isaac Quesada on Unsplash
Wayfinding
by Tim Cronley

               Our first journey is the one we are forced to make
                when we come forth from the warm security of the womb
                compelled by a force that tolerates no resistance, and we
                find ourselves in a cold new world – alone and vulnerable. 
 
                We are forced to find our way across the border of the womb
                 in the same bewildered and fearful way that the vulnerable   
                victims of injustice and intolerance must also find their way
                 across the armed borders of rejection and prejudice.

                Happy are the newborn wayfarers who find the courage
                to cross the fortified borders of all their fears, and move
                forward with confidence into a new world of opportunity
                where hope is made tangible in waiting hands of welcome.
Called Forth
by Rev. Mary Ellen Lucas

Tablets, once carved in stone, cracked.
A covenant severed,
shattered.
Crumbled into dust.
 
The God of our ancestors 
still bears witness
to a growing affliction of hardened hearts.
Minds enslaved by greed, anger and fear.   
  
Remember once, ages ago,
Moses stood on holy ground
startled by a fiery bush.  
Branches on fire yet not consumed.
 
God’s Power revealed.     
The bush blazed
with an unvanquishable Light.
Moses quaked in his sandals.
 
The I AM called to Moses.
Moses argued with the I AM.
Why him and not his brother?  
Bargaining to no avail. 
 
Moses was called forth to loosen the shackles,
set the captives free.  
Lead the people out of darkness,
impoverished thoughts no more!
 
You…Vessel of Light…
do you possess the courage of Moses?   
Would you, could you be that brave?
Do what is asked, what must be done. 
 
Whether you are ready or not,
the time has come.
Darkness is upon us. 
There is no time to waste.
 
The I AM beckons. 
Calls you forth.
There is no reason to fear.  
You will not be sent empty-handed.   
 
The I AM, ever-present in our midst,
ordained you. 
God’s Light infuses your heart,
guides your every step. 
 
You are called forth 
to create a new covenant.
Birth a new earth,
powered and sustained by God’s Light. 
 
The I AM beckons. 
Calls you forth.
Now!
Go!
Mary Ellen Lucas is an Interfaith/Interspiritual minister, an author of a series of children’s books called Life on Little Puddle Pond, a contributing author to Mayhem to Miracles: Sacred Stories of Transformational Hope, and a spiritual companion for those seeking to be grounded, open-hearted and purposeful in life. Connect with her via her website thelovingway.me.  
Photo by Migsar Navarro on Unsplash
Rebirth
by James Irving Mann

What will become of me when I die?
 
I could become a grain of sand;
If so,
I will delight in my essence
  as the rains fall upon me
  and the cool winds blow me across the sky….
 
I might become a dolphin;
If so,
I will jump in jubilation
  as I glide through the waters
  and dance in the air above the ripples….
 
I may become an angel;
If so,
I will shout “Hallelujah”
  as I embrace the Spirit of Creation
  and marvel at the wonders of Heaven….
 
(A sudden thought!)
  Why should I have to die
  to receive such blessings?
For, as a child of Gaia,
  I have been given a life to live,
  people to love, praises to sing,
  and poetry to write….
 
JOY TO THE WORLD!!!
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
A Spiritual Quest
by Evan Mecham

Some years ago, I walked over the Pyrenees Mountains from France and then across Northern Spain to the city of Santiago. Within this city, Christian legend relates, the bones of Saint James the Apostle of Yeshua were brought upon his death in Jerusalem. Returning Saint James to the country, he first evangelized post the ascension of the resurrected Christ.

I followed the ninth-century pilgrimage route called the Camino de Santiago. I had planned this undertaking for nearly two years. This was to be my spiritual Hajj, a walking meditation upon sacred ground trod by millions of fellow seekers over the last thousand years.

I would continue my daily meditations and prayers on my journey. I vowed to remain awake, my inner ears and eyes open to messages and synchronicities of spirit. I would make this passage alone, interacting with fellow pilgrims encountered along the Camino with kindness, compassion, and warmth yet remain mindfully focused upon my spiritual ambitions.

I understood my exposure and immersion to Catholicism were inevitable. This would be frowned upon by my family’s religion and certainly a departure from my embrace of Hindu and Buddhist practices. Accepting the potentialities, I committed to appreciatively and genuinely engage with the rituals of the local populace and with proper Catholic decorum, applying the formalities of ceremony heartfully, with meaningful intention.

Stepping onto the Camino pulls the monk from his cave. One quite literally lives the journey as authentically as life. In most instances, you walk from one village or city to the next. The responsibility of finding your way, enduring the distance, or making oneself understood falls upon the pilgrim’s shoulders. Maintaining the sacredness of the journey must be observed in the interactions between an exhausted body and mind, the pain of blistered feet, the compassion shown fellow travelers, and impatient villagers. 

The pilgrim or “peregrino,” as the locals call the walkers, awakens quickly to the ancientness of the land we cross, history is alive and stands before you in all its glory. One kneels to satisfy their thirst on stone steps of a pool carved by Muslim craftsmen in the eighth century. Village churches dot the green and verdant countryside. Their stone mausoleums, common in Galatia, date back to the middle ages. Templar Castles and fortifications, Cathedrals that touch the clouds beckon the peregrino to remember their past and participate in ritual and prayer.

Approximately four hundred kilometers into my journey, I reached the city of Leon, Spain. I had given myself an extra day to recuperate and visit the Templar Cathedral and the Santa Maria de Regla de Leon Cathedral. I am sensitive to energies, and often the old churches and cathedrals feel very heavy and dark to me. Sometimes it’s even difficult to enter some structures, and once inside, I feel oppressed with a heaviness that presses my head and shoulders down toward the ground.

As I walked up the steps to the thirteenth-century gothic-style Cathedral de Leon, I stopped for a moment. The beautiful stone edifice seemed to be bathed in light. I felt lifted as if I floated into the cathedral. Unlike other churches and cathedrals I had visited, this holy place was full of people. As I walked through this beautiful building, time ceased to exist. The magnificence of the windows, the play of sunlight were entrancing. I stumbled into a small chapel area where people may gather to pray and meditate. There were leaded crystal windows on both sides of the room. Sunshine poured into the area. Hours flew by. Tears ran down my cheeks as I prayed. I opened my eyes, and the room was radiant. Luminous beams streamed into the room, settling on the people praying in the pews. A mantel of light embraced every soul in the chapel. There was complete stillness in the room. Not a soul spoke a word or made a sound. It was a perfect moment of unity, of oneness.

I will never forget how my heart felt during those moments in the cathedral’s chapel. The connection to the Sacred in that timeless space was palpable. Using Smith’s words, it affirms, “God’s great goodness.” It allowed me to glimpse what it is “to live within time, the life of eternity” (p. 303).

Walking the Camino, one is rarely lonely. Each day you share the trail with many peregrinos. Soon, if you walk steadily, the faces become familiar, and friends are soon made. There is often only one Refugio (similar to a hostel) in the vicinity, and if you are late coming into the village, your bed is made upon a floor of concrete or stone. The quarters are tight and uncomfortable. However, it takes only a few nights sharing the floor with a fellow traveler before people begin helping each other and groups form, walking together in a loose confederation.

Our small group walked into the small city of Belorado in the province of Castilla de Leon late one afternoon. The town was over eight hundred years old, and the houses were tiny and timeworn. An older woman standing outside her front door waved at our group, beckoning us closer as we walked. She had prepared a small lemon drink to share with us. She was small and bent but kind, and the liquid refreshment was welcome on a hot afternoon. When we had been served, she spoke to us in Spanish. Since she was a little girl, she had stood outside this same cottage, first helping her mother serve the pilgrims, then as an adult and mother continuing to serve and honor those making the holy journey. Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes as she spoke. It had been nearly ninety years, she said, the world had changed in so many ways, yet still, the people come on the walk of Christ.

I often remember this petite angel who offered kindness to strangers walking the Camino. It aligns with a story Smith includes in his autobiography. Smith is discussing his friendship with Aldous Huxley. Huxley’s fame often drew crowds of people when out and about; this embarrassed him. Smith (2009) quotes Huxley as saying, “If I live to be a hundred, I shall be like Stonehenge—to have given one’s entire life to pondering the human predicament and to find that in the end, one has little more to say than, try to be a little kinder” (p.46- 47). It seems if you are a wee Spanish woman in her last years of life or Aldous Huxley, the message is the same; we are all sparks of God sharing this walk through a material world. We should remember our beginnings and be gentle with each other.

The Vedanta (1990) nudges us further, saying, “What is in the intellect, or reason? It goes a few steps, and there it stops. But through the heart comes inspiration. Love opens the most impossible gates. Love is the gate to all the secrets of the universe” (p. 160). I’m sure Huxley knew this, and I believe those who flood the world with kindness without expectation feel this, and the tears flow as they did with my aged Spanish friend.

Turning again to the Vedanta, we are reminded our heart carries the wisdom from our beginnings, “this knowledge, again is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside; it is all inside. What we say a man knows should—be what he discovers or unveils. What a man learns is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul” (p. 148).

As one leaves the Pyrenees mountains behind, the Camino winds down through the dryer lowlands of Spain. The small city of San Juan de Ortega is situated in beautiful rolling hills covered in deciduous trees. The Refugio in this city is staffed with Catholic volunteers from all over the world. The church is Romanesque and has a large gallery above the chapel where church leaders could assemble in times past, or large choirs could be accommodated. The chapel was said to be acoustically perfect.

Later in the evening, the pilgrims were invited to assemble in the gallery area. The director of the Refugio was from Brazil. She told us to sit quietly while all of the lights were turned off in the building. The gallery and chapel instantly became black; no ambient light tempered the darkness. Not a sound could be heard. Then the voice of an angel began to sing an ancient aria. A single voice, strong, powerful, filled the entire building. The singing was a cappella. It was glorious, and tears filled my eyes. I tried not to sniff. When the singing concluded, one candle was lighted. Our eyes, after 30 minutes, were accustomed to the darkness. The candlelight hurt our eyes. Once again, my sleeve caught the tears streaming over my cheeks. Looking up, I saw my fellow travelers were weeping as well. The singer was the director of the Refugio and sang opera professionally in Brazil when not cleaning up after a meal and washing dishes with a peregrino from Colorado.

This experience plays over and over in my head. It pricks me like a needle. A single voice can be heard from inside the deepest darkness crying out to the Father. The music calls to all who have ears to hear. The Spirit is not concealed. The children are not lost. Our hearts are pierced, and we are not afraid. The connection is sure and constant. Our tears unify the oneness of every soul. A single candle shatters the depths of darkness, like the sun chasing night shadows from the day, offering hope and balance to the dance of life. 

The Ba’al Ha-Zohar (2002) tells the story of creation and the “spark of impenetrable darkness” (p. xii-xiii). It also speaks of the absolute need for balance and calls it the “Sacred Marriage, the constant fusion of male and female, good and evil, light and dark, through which Ein Sof creates and goes on creating the universe—a dance of balance is not confined to Jewish mysticism. It is found in ancient Egypt, in folklore of many tribes, in the Hindu vision of Shiva and Shakti, in the Taoist unfolding of Yin and Yang” (p. xiii). So there it is hidden away in the mystical properties of our world’s religions a thread of commonality. Kabbalist’s take the idea of balance even further. They suggest, “the marriage of opposites work on every level of the self, consciousness, and matter. Kabbalists believe that no human being can be completely divine, unless, like the original Adam, he or she fuses within himself masculine power and feminine sensitivity on every level of being and in every activity” (p. xiii).

I would think that Gandhiji knew this when he waved off what was a simple actuality to him. All religions are primarily true. All have their problems. I would add the seed of every religion may be the issue of an ineffable tumble with the Numinous. The profundity of such an embrace is soon corrupted by the density of our human existence. Unable to conceive of an Infinite Spirit a Creator of All Things. God is reduced slowly to human form, becoming an anthropomorphic god replete with emotions and behaviors easily recognized. Causal in our corruption, suffering, pain, and anger. A god made human can be assailed, questioned, accused, even blamed for what other humans unleash upon the world. If the earth lays tattered and broken and religion septic and corrupt, blame must be laid before the feet of men.

Huston Smith (2009) discusses the premature death of his daughter Karen from cancer. An interviewer asked Smith, “Can you believe in a God’s perfection now?” Smith answers, “No, when Karen lay dying, I could not see any justice or perfection. Or maybe perhaps I did feel it, through my tears, in the heroic way our daughter met her end. On her last day—the—cancer had spread to her organs, causing excruciating pain, she told me, “I have no complaints” and “I am at peace.” Her last words were about the sea, which symbolized life to her: how she could even smell it, it was so near. Her death, so unbittered and brave, increases, if not my sense of perfection, my awe. Only Karen or someone upon whom the worst has fallen has the right to absolve life of our possible grievances against it. “The father (Smith) learned nobility of spirit from the daughter” (p. 183-184).  

It was a beautiful sunlit morning. My feet felt as light as feathers upon the sand and rock of the Camino. The low grassy hills outside the fabled City of Santiago beckoned me. It had been six weeks and over 800 kilometers since I had left Saint Jean Pied de Port in France and climbed over the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles, the ancient monastery on the Spanish side of the mountains.

Few times in our modern world do we take the opportunity to dedicate a prolonged piece of our lives to God. To make a commitment, an offering to Spirit requiring devotion, strength to overcome adversity, and perseverance to endure till the end.

Pilgrims traverse the Camino performing a holy quest. Meaning mingles with painful blisters, sprained ankles, and knees resentfully protesting each step. The monument of Cruz de Ferro is a literal mountain of prayer stones. Many carried from homes halfway around the world. These stones, conveyed by hand 555 kilometers from the border of France to their final resting place, grow this stone mount with the passing of each peregrino and peregrina, steadied by the pilgrims’ earnest prayers for love’s sake and ten thousand reasons requiring God’s compassion.

I walked into Santiago and directly to the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela. I entered a line of other pilgrims waiting to approach the Portico de la Gloria, the column beneath the statue of Saint James. There, on the column, is a well-worn handprint where millions of pilgrims have placed their right hand for over a thousand years. Then moved my head to the right to bump my forehead to the stone forehead of the statue of Santo dos Croques. I gave the traditional three bumps and waited for a moment to see if Santo dos Croques' would indeed transmit some of his great wisdom to me. I smiled when the pilgrim behind me nudged me to hurry up. I did not feel any wiser, which perfectly matched my feelings about the bruise I sported on my forehead for the next few days.

I love the explanation given by John Shelby Spong (2013) of the first verses of Saint John Chapter Fourteen. Thomas is complaining that Jesus is departing. He explains to Jesus, “for we do not know where you are going.” You cannot know the way unless you know the destination (John 14:5). To this, Jesus responds: You do not yet understand, Thomas: “I am the way the truth and the life” (John 14:6). The journey is not an outward one, Thomas, but an inward one. God is not up there; God is in here. The only way into the reality of God is to live into the meaning of the Christ life, to discover the freedom to give yourself away. That alone, is the pathway to the Father” (p. 186).

As Spong suggests above, I did not find the Father in the cathedrals, churches, or holy places along the Camino. God instead haunted the hearts of every human player, villager, or pilgrim “who gave themselves away” to each other upon the path of Christ. And though far from home and weary, my “pathway to the Father” opened before me, unveiling God within my soul.

References

De Leon, M. (2002). Zohar: Annotated and explained (D. Matt, Trans.). Jewish Lights. (Original work published 1280).
Smith, H., Paine, J. (2009). Tales of wonder: Adventures chasing the divine. HarperOne.
Smith, H. (1991). The world’s religions. HarperOne.
Spong, S. J. (2013). The fourth gospel: Tales of a Jewish mystic. HarperOne.
Steinsaltz, A. (2006). The thirteen petalled rose: A discourse on the essence of Jewish existence and belief. Basic Books.
Vivekananda, S. (1990). Vedanta: Voice of freedom. Vedanta Society of Saint Louis.
God's Names
by Lori Crockett

You may address me as
God, Allah, HP,
Goddess, Father,
Elohim, Adonai, Jehovah,
Almighty, Creator, Father Sky,
El Shaddai, Yahweh, Grace,
Mother Earth, Great Spirit,
Infinite Wisdom, Never-ending Source,
Ruler of the Universe

Feel free to use any of the following pronouns
when referring to my entity…
he, him, his
she, her, hers
they, them, theirs
one, many, we
me, you, us
all, anyone, everyone

Sincerely,
Your Eternal Isness
Photo by Omer Salom on Unsplash
To Move to the Beat
by Om Prakash Gilmore

This is not the time or place to spill out pearls of Great Mystery, or songs of myths and stories that coddle hopes and dreams of a race caught in the throes of time and space.

This is not the time to look into the Beloved's eyes to see the reflection of yourself decked in gold and diamonds, rubies and sapphires.

The Beloved is asking you to dance--to move to the beat of two hearts intertwined as one and nestled between time and space, your wants, desires and needs.

Drop all of the finery you have acquired in this world, for they are nothing but rags compared to the beauty of your naked soul as you stand before the Beloved and dance.

Let the beauty of your spirit shine like the morning star as the motion and movement of your shimmering hips, flowing arms, and scintillating charm help you remember, as you, like all the awakened souls before you, dance new worlds into being.
In Praise of Creation Spirituality
by Lori Crockett

One of the things I love about Creation Spirituality is its reverence for Nature, the Earth, the planets, the universe, the stars, the wind, and the sunshine. I love the Calling to the Directions, where the sun, the sky, the earth, the wind, and even the dirt under my feet is honored. During my childhood I could stay outside all day every day and all those aspects of Nature and the universe were my sustenance…the air, the wind, the sun, the dirt, the leaves, the creeks, the rivers. Although I am now 65, little has changed in my love and reverence and joy in every aspect of nature, from earthworms to eagles, from dolphins and whales to the starfish I once found washed up on a beach. I was always in awe and I still am. I love that the questions for Via Positiva ask me to share what has recently elicited awe in me. I believe that worship is awe and awe is worship.

When I was a child, I lived near a woods and felt safest there among the trees and the soft green mosses. Nearby there was a small cabin where, it was said, a hermit lived. The yard was a riot of plants and flowers and colors and trees and mystery and I loved it from afar. As I grew up, we moved many times, and my fondest and most vivid memories are of what plants and trees and flowers grew at each new home…blue hydrangeas at my grandmother’s house, bright orange Tiger Lilies lining a driveway. Crepe Myrtle trees in a side yard, where I tasted the peeling paper thin bark from the slender trunks, a huge climbing yellow Peace Rose growing up the side of another house, and lilies of the valley growing in a backyard that had a neat border where the grass ended and a lovely shady world started. 

I agree with Creation Spirituality’s First Essential Statement that all of life is a blessing. This is exactly how I feel when out in the woods, or in a garden, or swimming in the ocean. It is how I feel when I see the Woodpeckers hopping up the trees in my yard, or when I encounter a lovely green snake on my path while I am hiking in the mountains. It is how I feel when in the early morning deer wander through my campground silently, when a soft fog hangs over the lake in the still cool morning. It is how I feel when I see the steam rise off the asphalt on a summer day after a brief downpour. It is how I feel when I see my children or kiss my lover. It is how I feel picking black raspberries in the brambles behind my church, heedless of the scratches and welts forming on my arms. It is how I feel at the farmer’s market when gazing over the colorful bounty and variety of produce available to me. It is how I feel when I hear the Geese call as they fly away in the Fall and I run out my back door to see them go. It is how I feel when I see the red Maple in its flashiest orange for a brief week in the fall. It is how I feel when seeds I have planted finally break through the earth.

All of this is awe, transformation, grieving and loss, birth, death, creating and consuming, acting and honoring, in one big endless circle we call life.
Photo by Mateusz Bajdak on Unsplash
What is Creation Spirituality Communities?
Creation Spirituality Communities, Inc. (CSC) is a network of individuals and communities who are grounded in the sacredness of all creation and seek to connect to the spirituality of creation through mysticism, creativity, and cultural transformation.

CSC includes people from many spiritual traditions, cultures, races, sexual identities, and ages. They come to Creation Spirituality through the writing and speeches of Matthew Fox, through articles and videos, through conversations with friends, and through study at one of the Creation Spirituality universities – now the Fox Institute of Creation Spirituality.

Creation Spirituality Communities provides avenues for gathering together, being inspired, and embodying the CS message of compassion, co-creation, and transformation. We are led by a nine member board of directors and supported by our members.
Below are the Creation Spirituality Communities that we are aware are meeting on a regular basis. If you are participating in a community or CS circle that is not included on this list, please let us know by writing to [email protected].

LIST OF CREATION SPIRITUALITY COMMUNITIES:
Creation Spirituality Communities
[email protected] | www.cscommunities.org