A Warning, with Questions
Slow down and stretch, sweethearts
Blessed Spring, everyone! We are now five days into the new season, and I have a warning for all of us:
Slow down and stretch, sweethearts.
There is a lot of energy moving right now: spring brings a quickening, and you can see the buds and bulbs stretching out, reaching for the sunshine. Even up here on the land in New Mexico at 7200 feet, where our last freeze day is May 30th, there are grasses pushing through the snow and little plants sprouting up everywhere.
While it is a potent time for clearing out winter’s closed-in-ness by opening the windows and doors of our houses and our minds, it is also a time to be mindful and not make haste.
The warning is a reminder: as things quicken and there is more energy available we need to be cautious to not to let the extra energy scatter us.
Spring is connected to the element of air: spring winds, new beginnings blowing in, breezes scented with warmth.
Air can help us focus and get clear of our intent and direction by clearing away the smoke of distractions; it can also cause us to become disheveled and diffused, buffeted by the winds of other people’s opinions.
Take time to stretch your mind and explore options and possibilities before you make choices. Get clear on your intent through journaling or ritual or talking with a trusted friend. Ask the winds to help you clear out old stagnant thoughts and fears, and to blow inspiration and creativity your way.
I’m working with a small group right now to expand what we are offering through our spiritual nonprofit, the Center for Creative Intent. We currently offer Sanctuary & Song, a bi-monthly celebratory circle (open to everyone, join this list to get invites and reminders or fill at the bottom of the page for prayer requests: centerforcreativeintent.org).
We are currently exploring several types of offerings, including expanding Sanctuary & Song, engaging consciously in social justice, land-based retreats and hermitage, and online healing offerings.
Earlier this week our facilitator, Marjorie, asked us to break into groups on zoom and brainstorm what questions we needed to be asking about the area we were interested in exploring more.
I think this is the perfect medicine for all of us right now as we step into spring:
What questions do you need to be asking yourself before you make decisions or set things into motion?
Here are some ideas:
- What do I really want to be doing
-Is this in alignment with where I want be going in my life?
-What would create more ease?
-How am I distracting myself?
-What would help me have more focus?
-How can I bring in more clarity?
In our brainstorming last week for the Center for Creative Intent I chose to go into the healing zoom room. Here are the questions we came up with, just so you can see our process in action:
Questions:
What is healing?
Who is the healing for?
Why / how is this different?
How do we create a space for healing? What does that look like?
Why don’t people heal?
How is healing more of an attitude rather than outcome?
How do we keep the space open and uplifting rather than heavy and dark.
How do we take care of our healers?
How do we help people heal from cults / dogmatic religions?
How do we heal each other?
What boundaries do we have in healings?
How do we empower healing rather than creating crutches?
How do we help people take responsibility for their own healing?
How do we help people receive and accept healing?
I’ll share more about what we end up offering. I love that we are taking our time to ask good questions, listen to each other, and lean into what healing truly is.
I’m currently living part-time in this little house (which is our community kitchen) on our land outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Today my chores are to continue to trim tree limbs before it gets too warm and the sap start moving, to plan how to put in a floor in the kitchen (it is currently gravel) and to organize the next round of seed ball making to help restore the grasses and flowers. I’ll also spend some time tomorrow creating a map of spring projects so I can bring focus and clarity to the coming days.
Sending blessings from the wilds of New Mexico!
Ash
I have felt that too. So many questions resonate with the ones I have been asking myself throughout the past several weeks or months, wanting to turn heavy decisions into light decisions. Maybe it’s the parts of my wild, willing and wise self that are urging me not to hurry and instead use every situation to get clear on what I want to create and what I no longer want or need to keep in my life. My relationship to time and the seasons changed incredibly in the last decade and feel like healing is happening through the deep process of clearing out I am in. Thank you once again for your words 🤍
I have felt exactly this Heather, the push to take action in so many directions now that the first draft of my book is done, and a deep knowing to pause and rest and move slowly. The winds are swirling.