Tulips

Shell pink petals
Sunlight turns the tips creamy
Pollen beckons within cups
Feasts for the bees

SoulCollage® Committee Suit: Small and Mighty

I am one who is stronger than I appear. I am one who labors through time and perseveres. I am one who likes to be seen and feels seen for enduring, and who stands in light.

What is your gift or message for me?

There is power in small things and incremental movement.

What do you want me to do?

Do what needs doing that is in front of you, and remain open.

Why did you show up today?

As you listen to intuition, you are moving mountains of energy.

If you have a shadow, what would it be? Or, what light do you offer?

My shadow is hubris.

Let Go - Phealeh, Eva Marie

Time to let go
Passing fingertips on my hand
Can you prise yourself away from my eyes?
And head for warmer plains?
I’m so stagnant
With a fear of jumping in the water
The transitioning from hot to icy
It’s pleasant when you get in

Every little thing I try
Makes me realise
It’s hard to untie
Ever letting go
With grace
Every time I do
It falls back into place
Every little thing I try
Makes me realise
It’s hard to untie
Ever letting go
With grace
Every time I do
You have that look on your face

You float like a feather
It’s too good to be true
And you change like the weather
The storm has to break through

Moving closer
River flowing to the harbour
Flowers sway in nature’s ballet
Feeling everything
There’s no end game
But sometimes I am getting restless
And I think I need a place to call home
Finding it within

Every little thing
Makes me realise
Never letting go
Every time I do

Can you teach me how to be a nomad
I wanna be like
I wanna be like you
Can you teach me how to migrate
I wanna move like
I wanna move like you
To warmer weather
Next year
Take me with you
Take me with you

Take me with you
Take me with you
Take me with you
Take me with you

America Needs to Party More

"My point is that we are obligated to create the social world we want. Intimacy, togetherness—the opposite of the crushing loneliness so many people seem to feel—are what parties alchemize. Warm rooms on cold nights, so many people you love thumbtacked down in the same place, the musical clank of bottles in the recycling, someone staying late to help with the dishes—these are things anyone can have, but like everything worth having, they require effort. Fire trucks, after all, don’t come from nowhere—they come because we pay taxes.

This year, pay your taxes: Resolve to throw two parties—two because two feels manageable, and chain-letter math dictates that if every party has at least 10 guests (anything less is not a party!) and everyone observes host-guest reciprocity (anything else is sociopathic!), then everyone gets 20 party invitations a year—possibly many more. Bear in mind that parties can be whatever you want: a 15-person Super Bowl party; a casual picnic in the park with 20 of your pals; an overfull house party, guest count unknown. They do not need to be expensive, or formal, or in your own home. You don’t need a theme, unless you want one. You don’t even need to buy anything, or clean up beforehand, if you’re feeling particularly punk. All you have to do is invite people in."

-Ellen Cushing, America Needs to Party More 

The Choices That Create Isolation

"Those choices might seem minor, but they matter: To call a friend, or scroll on Instagram? To go to church, the weekly soccer game, or book club—or sleep in and scroll again? Today’s newsletter rounds up stories on the activities that bring us together, and the ones that keep us apart."

    -Isabel Fattal, The Choices That Create Isolation

Whistling in the Dark - Phaeleh, Augustus Ghost

 

You are in a wasteland
With your soul trapped between the tides
Running with wild horses and the wolves are on your track
Hiding from the secrets in your eyes
Hold my hand against the night
Show me all the demons left to fight
And I'll patch up the hole in your heart
And carry on whistling in the dark
And carry on whistling in the dark
Twilight
And the mud begins to crack
You cross your fingers twice behind your back
But your feet start to slip
You stumble and you trip
The sky breaks and the clouds are dripping black
Hold my hand against the night
Show me all the demons left to fight
And I'll patch up the hole in your heart
And carry on whistling in the dark
And carry on whistling in the dark
(Ahhh-ahhh-ahhhh-----ahhhhhh)
Go now
To the clear skies
Where the tears will wash the color
From your eyes
Oh-ahh ahh-ahhhh-----ahhhhhh
Ohh-ahh ah-ahhh ahh
Ahhhh-h-h-h-h
I will carry you home
You know I've done it alone
I will carry you home
You know I've done it alone
Hold my hand against the night
Show me all the demons left to fight
And I'll patch up the hole in your heart
And carry on whistling in the dark
In the dark
Carry on whistling in the dark

Pandemic Prayer

Pandemic Prayer

We are not all left standing when the war has ended.
It feels like the end times.
For many, it is.
Inhalation is our first act of embodiment.
Exhalation, our last.
One lifetime, millions of breaths
a conversation with all existence.
Where does the spirit go when we die?
Hail Mary, my gentle Momma,
You left; you gave up your breath
before the virus could steal it.
You waged a long campaign to stave off
cancer, old age, and death.
Emancipating your breath
you added the gift of your spirit to all.
Holy Mary, you released your body,
returned to Earth, our suffocated Mother,
in respiratory distress for decades.
Humanity is a virus choking
and drowning our source of life.
When the host dies,
the virus dies too.
Momma, you returned to our Mother
so you could garden with Her,
to try to heal us all.

–Kathryn Harper

On this day six years ago my mother, Mary Catherine Nicklas Petro, died. She was 86 and had two types of cancer. In 2017 she was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma -- her third experience with melanoma. She began Opdivo, an immunotherapy. It was her good fortune that she fell into the 30% for whom the treatment worked. It shrank her tumors to almost nothing. About a year ago, her breast cancer returned. She had a lot of arthritis, mobility issues, and pain. Yet she kept going as long as she could with the Opdivo, because she wanted to contribute to the research on the treatment for the sake of others. The breast cancer returned, though, and she knew she didn’t want aggressive treatment for it. Her body was struggling enough with side effects and ailments.

Mom was getting close to entering hospice. We had imagined more time, a gradual decline, a process where we could see her again and say good-bye. Something happened inside her that day that led to a swift end. She is no longer suffering. I had talked to her three days prior, and I am so glad I did. We lived 3,000 miles apart. I lived in an epicenter of Covid-19, was sheltering-in-place, and am in a vulnerable group. I didn’t want to get it, and I didn’t want to carry it to my siblings or my elderly father. I spent a lot of time saying good-bye to my mother over the years, connecting with her, resolving things between us. I grieved some. Yet nothing prepared me for how that felt. The finality. May we all be peace; may we all be free from suffering. 

SoulCollage® Committee Suit: Seeing Possibilities

I am one who likes form. I am one who looks into nothing and sees structures and creative possibilities. 

What is your gift or message for me?

The spark lives within you.

What do you want me to do?

Stoke the spark, brainstorm, tend the flame.

Why did you show up today?

Because I'm taking greater prominence in life.

If you have a shadow, what would it be? Or, what light do you offer?

The shadow is flightiness. 

Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant

Boy! Boy!

Now in the street, there is violence
And-and a lots of work to be done
No place to hang out our washing
And-and I can't blame all on the sun

Oh no, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

Workin' so hard like a soldier
Can't afford a thing on TV
Deep in my heart, I abhor ya
Can't get food for the kid

Good God, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Ho, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

Oh no
Oh no
Oh no
Oh no

Oh God, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Ho, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

Who is to blame in one country?
Never can get to the one
Dealin' in multiplication
And they still can't feed everyone

Oh no, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Ho no, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

Ho, out in the street
Out in the street
Out in the daytime
Out in the night

Oh, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Ho, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

Out in the street
Out in the street
Out in the playground
In the dark side of town

Ho, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Hey, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher

Ohh yeah
Rock it in the daytime
Rock it in the night
Rock it in my...

SoulCollage® Committee Suit: Reluctant Homemaker

I am one who would rather be reading than cleaning. I am one who is comfortable living with a certain level of dust and grime in order to attend to what interests me. I am one who would rather be somewhere else when cleaning.

What is your gift or message for me?

It's all right to ask for help at home from other family members. It's okay to let chores slide.

What do you want me to do?

Let go of guilt. Be present when you do these mundane chores. Teach Claire good habits.

Why did you show up today?

Because you are here at a SoulCollage® session instead of doing chores.

If you have a shadow, what would it be? Or, what light do you offer?

The shadow is slovenliness.