How You Shine
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Hello friends, It’s a rainy summer solstice here in beautiful Portland, Oregon. The sun is hiding, but, as I move my way around the city, I still see all the ways in which things shine. There are roses in full bloom everywhere. People don’t call this Rose City for nothing. Some roses are fragrant, others, not so much. But each flower is gorgeous in its own way, whether pink, red, yellow, or white. What else is shining? The glint on a crow’s beak. Rain on the sidewalks. People. Yeah. People. Some people shine by showing up to protect their neighbors. Some people shine by making music. Some people shine by painting city walls. Some people shine through kindness. Some people shine by writing poetry, or telling stories. Whether the sun shines or not, so many things shine. I know many people are going through tough times right now. I know, for some of us, it may feel really hard to notice what is shining, let alone to shine ourselves. So, how can we polish some of what may be dulling our shine? Some of us can listen to our favorite song. Some of us can take our medications. Some of us can reach out to a trusted friend. Some of us can burrow into comfort for a while. No matter how you are feeling during this solstice-tide, I encourage you to remember all the ways you have shone in the past, and the ways you might shine today. Some of us have simply forgotten we’ve been shining all along. So, today, I ask two questions: What shines around you? and How do you shine? Best wishes — Thorn 50% of profit on my Witches of Portland bundle is still going to people fighting tyranny in the US. I also added 100% of profits from the Resistance Matters ebook to the pot. Thanks for your support.
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, These are tough days, aren’t they? At least, they are for anyone paying attention to the world. In Portland Oregon where I live, a dedicated group of activists have been holding it down outside the ICE facility. This is a privately owned building, and another group of activists is pressuring our city council to revoke the lease, so ICE does not have a holding and staging area in our sanctuary city. Especially not next to a school and apartment buildings. Last night, the...
Hello friends, Last week, I talked about encountering foxglove on a city sidewalk, and asked how your heart was. But the foxglove also got me thinking: Who first figured out it could be used to help with heart disease? I’m always amazed at the ancestors who figured these medicines out. Who would think that these lovely pink bells would be useful for more than their beauty? Who first figured out we could cure olives and eat them? Who was it that experimented enough to know that the bark of a...
Hello friends, I spotted some foxglove on a walk yesterday. It was a funny spot to find it, too, on a sidewalk just off a very busy street in a semi-industrial area of the city. The pink, spotted bells called me to come closer, to listen to their whispers as traffic rolled by. As a sometimes-writes-cozy-mysteries author, I know that foxglove can kill. But historically, it has been used to heal. It still is. Digitalis—foxglove—is used to treat many heart illnesses. This made me want to ask:...