Category Archives: Uncategorized

At the Winter Solstice

At the Winter Solstice

(By Hanna Lange)

I believe that darkness ultimately gives way to light, and so at the Solstice, I affirm these things for myself, at the turning of the year. I believe that compassion and wisdom are sown in the fields of suffering, although not exclusively there. I believe that the pain born of my mistakes and those of others can serve a greater purpose. I believe that I must fight not to rush into gratification without pausing for gratitude. I believe that I am constantly called to move toward my best self. I believe I have a responsibility to seek and speak my truth. And I believe, no matter how long or dark the road before me looks, if it leads me to my highest self, the birthright promised to us all by the divine, then no matter how tired or frightened or lonely or angry or confused I may be, I can do no less than take up a torch and follow it, because it is the right road, even when it is not an easy one.

Crow Disses Snow

Earlier there was

talk of snow, but we’ve been left

with cold rain instead.

A slight shift in temperature

could have turned this bleak

day white. Still, crow has let me

know that bleak has a

beauty too and from its plate

other creatures can

dine with far greater ease than

snow’s loveliness can provide.

                                                                                         JDG

A Different Tack

Instead of demanding things be

other than they

are, perhaps I’ll

spend some time with

what is and get to know it well.

What will come of

this, I do not

know, but one thing

I know for sure: this is a much

different tack

than any I

have tried before.

                                                 JDG

Thurber’s Tanka

When Thurber asks us

to consider what we are

running from, to, and

why, he’s not being funny

anymore. He’s serious.

                                                          JDG

Summer Blanket

I want to throw off this summer

blanket of heat

and haze which lies

so heavily

across these hills. I want to run

cool and free in

morning’s first light.

I want to hear

the clear call of other early

birds. I’d even

welcome the caw

of crow if it

could pierce this heat.

                                                          JDG

Animal Wisdom Explained

janehwilson's avatargratefullyyourstoday

“But ask the animals,

And they will teach you;

The birds of the air,

And they will tell you;

The plants of the earth,

And they will teach you;

And the fish of the sea will declare to you.”

Job 12: 7-8

Years ago I was sitting in with a wise woman and dear friend pouring out my soul when a cicada began flinging itself into her sixth floor downtown window.  Now, I must tell you that this friend was a well-respected scholar of symbolism.  She turned to skeptical me, and declared that this was clearly a sign.  She grabbed her copy of Animal-Wise, by Ted Andrews and read, of cicada – a symbol of happiness from the past and coming positive and necessary change.  It turned out that this little cicada was absolutely right – a skeptic cured.

This began my ever expanding understanding that the Divine speaks…

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Animal Wisdom – Herons Speak 1

I wanted to share this post and one other from gratefullyyourstoday. I think you will enjoy them and her blog itself.

janehwilson's avatargratefullyyourstoday

In the fall off 2013, I found the courage (or it found me) to make some pretty big career and family life changes.  It was unsettling at best.  As that time came into its own, noisy Herons began appearing everywhere.  I turned to Ted Andrews’s Animal-Speak for understanding, and learned that Heron medicine is for people who appear to dabble in various occupations and ways of living life; that this can seem unsettling to most people, but for heron people there is great security in this flexible approach to life.  Here began the heron poem.

Must it be Heron?

 Though I look to the sky longingly

For eagle,

Or owl,

Or hawk at least,

They are not the totem of this time.

Except on occasion

When dear hawk provides her traveling mercies.

It is heron who continues to find Star and me,

Here on the bridge

As we learn of…

View original post 12 more words

Who Am I Now?

Who am I now, I ask, thanks to

the soft guidance

of my mentor

and friend. Such a

question lets me pause and look. Who

is it that is

thinking angry

thoughts, whose heart grows

full hearing her granddaughters sing?

Who am I now

as I sit and

write these poems?

                                                         JDG

Tell Me

Three horses, tethered to a heavy

load, eyes weary

and downcast, plod

through washed out hills

of gray. Across their path a bronze

horse dashes – free.

No saddle. No

bridle. Tell me:

is there a way, as the poet says,

to move easy

in harness and

also be free?

                                                            JDG

Now The Holly Trees

The birds and now the bees dart in

and out among

these holly trees

now two stories

tall. They’ve provided resting space,

nesting space and

food from bloom and

berry. They hold and

 nurture squirrels, birds, bees, and all

who visit them

through ever shifting

 seasons of the year.

                                                                   JDG