minutes from 2012

we gathered around the light,

with love and gratitude we released 2011

with hope and wonder we welcome 2012

for all of the women in my life

"Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman.
A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.
Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman who trusts and respects herself.
A woman who listens to her needs and desires.
Who meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman who acknowledges the past's influence on the present.
A woman who has walked through her past.
Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life.
A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf.
Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and wisest voice.

Imagine a woman who names her own gods.
A woman who imagines the divine in her image and likeness.
Who designs a personal spirituality to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman in love with her own body.
A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is.
Who celebrates its rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her changing body.
A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom.
Who refuses to use her life-energy disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman who values the women in her life.
A woman who sits in circles of women.
Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine yourself as this woman."

“Imagine a Woman” © Patricia Lynn Reilly, 1995

sacred circle

As the music started, the sun began to blush while the wind continued to breathe. One by one, they slowly emerged from the depths of the earth. Moving with rhythms of nature, the goddesses created a sacred circle and danced in beauty and dreams.

mariposa del chaman




Butterfly, you are my Third Eye.

You are the one who gives me the power of flight.

I belong to you...

Did I even exist before you flew into my life?

excerpt from a short story begun in 2007

dance in beauty, love, poetry & light

“In your light I learn how to love.

In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest,

where no one sees you.”
 
- RUMI

fairy princess

ribbons in her hair

a flower tucked behind an ear

rubber bands as bracelets

mother’s pearls - what pleasure

a crown of paper and a feather

oh nymph - oh fairy princess !

Christmas Day

Christmas arrived with a New Moon...

blessings of peace, love and wonder...


IMAGE: 2007 mixed media

Noche Buena

vintage photo from Grandparents' home, circa 1970s or 1960s
Tonight families gather to celebrate each other and to honor the Eve of Christ’s birth.

Those who are far away are missed more than ever.

Those who have passed away are always remembered.

A feast is prepared and enjoyed amidst laughter and song.

At midnight, bells ring to announce La Misa del Gallo, midnight mass with choir and candlelight.

Esta noche es Noche-Buena
Y no es noche de dormir.
– old Spanish verse

love love & more love

A relaxed and peaceful state of being is more appreciated than a tired, stressed out state.

Take a nap instead of wrapping those last gifts.

Sip a cup of tea and contemplate the true meaning of the season...

His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidananda

Sri Gurudev playing with me, circa 1973
The circle calls to me.

The sun has not risen, but I have.

His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidananda was born
on December 22nd in 1914.

The sun stands still.

I celebrate beloved Gurudev, today and always...

on the eve of winter solstice, I light candles and pray

The wheel has been set in motion again for the New Year.

I am entering a new phase of my life...and it is time to celebrate the light.

festival of lights

"May the light within you help dispel the darkness."

- R.L. Shep

mariposas en granada

White butterflies danced in her hair. Her eyes glowed with child-like joy and innocence. As she carved out her dreams, she sang songs of love...

excerpt from journal entry

life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday

"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

...You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable."

- Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)

PHOTOGRAPH, copyright CASIMIRA

writing on wings of dragons

To attract good fortune, spend a new penny on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend and lift up the heart of a true friend by writing her/his name on the wings of a dragon. - Proverb

...writing on wings of dragons...it is what I am called to do...

nos encontramos en mis sueños

recordando a Guillermo Sevilla-Sacasa:
mi bello "Popo" de colonias y cuentos


Popo quien me enseño a dibujar
a jugar con palabras
a platicar con seguridad


a ser una verdadera pavo-real-la
de plumas blancas y plateadas como las de las hadas


Popo, siempre impecable y notable
un genio genial y jovial
de medallas y honores
Popo de mis amores


siento su mirada noche y día
escucho sus consejos
segura que nos encontramos en mis sueños..

remembering my beloved grandfather, truly a Grand Father

gitana

soy guerrera de otros siglos,

soy reina desde antes,

soy gitana bailando,

soy esa que grita su verdad en silencio,

soy mujer

taking a deep breath

"Patience is the companion of wisdom."
- Saint Augustine (354-430)

root of the root

"Come return to the root of the root of your own Self.” – Rumi

dancing cheek to cheek

“Heaven, I'm in heaven and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak and I seem to find the happiness I seek when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek…”

- Irving Berlin (1888 – 1989)