On Reaching Out...
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Hello friends, Every day, we get to choose what is important to us. What we spend time and attention on. Is that creativity? Research? Helping others? Family? Work? Friends? Social media? Television? The past? The future? Our health? The health of our communities? Reading books? Going for walks? Whatever we spend the most time and attention on is, by default, the thing we are making most important. Sometimes it isn’t one thing itself, it is a thread running through several things. For myself, the most important thread is connection. I connect to the world. I connect through my words—in novels and essays and poems—and my photographs. I connect through this newsletter. I connect through mutual aid. As soon as I notice something taking me away from these attempts at connection for too long, I must alter my behavior. We’re in the midst of a season that can foster either connection or a sense of alienation. And we rapidly approach a time when many people make new plans. For me, my plans have to include new ways to connect. New ways to reach others and to keep my own sense of connection to my readers, to the cosmos, to this planet, and to myself. Is a sense of connection important to you, too? How do you reach out? And how many ways are you open to being reached for yourself? We’re all we’ve got, friends. I hope we keep making that important. Thank you for being here. Best wishes - Thorn I'm leading Holy Well and Sacred Flame again, as a way to connect with the Goddess Brigid and help navigate these times. There are benefactor, basic, and scholarship payment tiers available. You can also gift the class to a friend at checkout.
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, While out running errands the other day, I paused to snap a photo of a sticker on a concrete barrier. The sticker read, in bold print, Realize You’re Alive. It seems like a simple injunction, doesn’t it? Too obvious to say out loud. Of course we realize we’re alive! We’re breathing, aren’t we? We’re thinking. Moving through the world… But do we actually pause long enough to feel this? This thing called us, on this planet, rotating in space, living. How often are we sleepwalking...
Hello friends, Since the solstice, I've been starting every morning by lighting candles and stating my intentions. Then I meditate and make a cup of tea. I'm really enjoying this pattern, and am using it to carry me through to the next calendar year. As a matter of fact, I just ordered a Moleskin daily diary as a gift to myself. I plan to write three daily intentions down each morning, plus my writing plans and business tasks for the day as a way to focus both my attention and my intention. I...
Hello friends, Last night, I lit candles in the darkness. This morning, long before sunrise, I did the same. Out loud, I spoke these words, “May we forever be light for each other.” I repeated that phrase three times. A prayer. An incantation. A spell. A call for hope. Today is the Solstice. For me, it is winter. For those in the southern hemisphere, summer. The ancients thought that on solstice, the sun stood still in the sky before changing direction. That is literally what solstice means....