CASTING OFF...

Sometimes a person just needs to get into a round boat with no oars and cast off...

When the ancient Celtic monks felt God was calling them to something different, some new place to settle, to serve, and to await their next calling, they would undertake a peregrinatio, a Latin word meaning “pilgrimage." This type of pilgrimage was different than the usual practice of walking reflectively to a specific holy site or sacred destination for inspiration. 

Instead, the purpose of this pilgrimage was to choose to be adrift at sea; to get into a round boat called a Coracle, made of animal skins, pitch, and

wood to exercise complete trust and faith that God would use the natural elements of wind and current to guide them to their "place of resurrection." Many of the ancient Monasteries in England, Ireland and Scotland were established through the peregrination of a faithful monk. 

While our Coracle looks a bit different and, thankfully, does have a way to steer, our intention is the same as the Celtic saints who set out in anticipation.  In many ways Craig and I have already become "unmoored" from our lives here. For years we have both been in a state of liminality...a place where old ways of being don't fit anymore but a transition towards a new vision hasn't quite taken hold. A threshold uncrossed. Until now. So, we are casting off, both literally and figuratively, with no real direction in mind. We have planned very little, only to desire internal transformation and a resurrection to something different and meaningful. Our hearts are open wide to discover any and all the new places, people, or purposes God might reveal to us.

 

I know we will be out-of-sight-out-of-mind, but if you happen to pass a big, gold van, see a round boat, or meet a monk, think of us and ask God to continue to safely and sacredly guide our journey.

And who knows? We might be back in a week. 

THE YEAR OF LIVING DARINGLY: Week Two

When I started this adventure of living for nine months at Prairie Pond Woods...feeling a little like Thoreau (and a little guilty)...I said I was ready to be "inconvenienced by the things I love."  As mentioned in the Week One post, sometimes we can put parts of ourselves on hold or let them die altogether because we allow other things in life take over. 



For me, this meant finally putting all my loves in one basket and seeing where they take me...FOCUSING on the "businistry" of Heart by Nature, spending time outdoors, raising my own food (chickens!), getting a dog (after being dogless for 7 years), writing, reading and helping women connect with their own heart's desires through nature.  


Could I have done this in my life up North?  Maybe, if I was a different person.  But the advantage of years is that we learn who we truly are and accept it. I am not a highly disciplined person...and I am definitely not a multi-tasker.  I am motivated by passion, not productivity...and I do well focusing on a few things at a time with lots of time for reflection. It is who I am. In a book I read recently, The Artist's Rule, I recognized myself in the author's description of an "artist-monk," a person who is drawn to and more fruitful within a contemplative and creative lifestyle.  So when I finally realized I was being inconvenienced more by things I didn't love...it was time to make a change.



So, the change has begun...sort of.  Week Two was less about contemplation and nature immersion and more about business marketing.  For the upcoming retreat, Birdwatching as Meditation, I learned (was inconvenienced by, actually) a new Email Marketing program through Vertical Response.  Hopefully, you received a copy of my labors in your email Inbox or through Facebook.  And when I wasn't staring down cross-eyed at my computer...I watched snow flurries and resident birds out the window.



The other task...as boring to me as it is to you...was the sorting of paperwork into piles, then purging, then putting those piles somewhere that makes sense.  Piles for retreat ideas and hand-outs, piles of natural history resources, piles for writing piles of journals, piles of my life...all sorted and condensed.  And a pile of books, brought to finally read...  

I'll share my non-exhaustive Book List, which might be a bit less boring to you.  These are books I've read since I've been here, books I'm reading (or listening to) now, books I plan to re-read and new books waiting on the shelf.  Do they all look a bit similar?  They are...I call it focused.



The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren (and others not yet purchased)

Writing Down your Soul by Janet Conner

Listening to the Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality by J. Phillip Newell

Prayers from Iona by J. Phillip Newell

Nature as Spiritual Practice by Steven Chase

A Field Guide to Nature as Spiritual Practice by Steven Chase

The Artist's Rule by Christine Valter-Paintner

Anne of Green Gables by J.M. Montgomery (never read it as a child)

An Obsession with Butterflies by Sharman Apt Russell

On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs by James A. Schall

Spiritual Ecology by Rudolf Steiner

Holy Silence by J. Brent Bill

Newcomb's Wildflower Guide

Peterson Field Guide of Eastern Birds

Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds' Nests

Moth Field Guides, Insect Field Guides, Butterfly Field Guides, Etc.

AND...if I can get my hands on it anywhere:

Phytogeography of Unglaciated Eastern US and its Interpretation by E. Lucy Braun.