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, On one of my recent walks, I saw a sign stapled to the utility pole which read: “This is not a time for disbelief. This is a time for new beliefs, a time to remake the impossible.” Yes, indeed. It is also a time to take stock of what we do believe. What are our ethics? What are our core values? How do we wish to live? When we focus only on what we do not want, we tilt the world in that direction. Our thoughts and emotions become consumed, our bodies and actions dragged into the...
Hello friends, When I was a teen, one of my favorite films was Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi. With a score by Philip Glass, it portrayed a world that moved too quickly, a human made world that had become too mechanized, too out of control. The title was said to mean “life out of balance” from a compound Hopi word that roughly translates—or so my research shows—corrupted or chaotic life or existence. That film made a powerful impression on my young self. I sat in the dark theater as the...
Hello friends, As I write this, cold, hard rains have returned after a brief false spring. The tulip magnolia buds that were just beginning to bloom lay in husks on damp sidewalks. Pink camellias lay in slick heaps, a danger to those without sturdy shoes. There’s a lot of danger in the world right now, for far too many of us. One thing that is getting me through is gratitude. In the wash of bad news, I see people showing up for one another. I see communities rallying to protect themselves and...