Way of the Monk - Week Four

Vows

A labyrinth runs through my heart,
Winding slowly this way and that through my inner monastery,
Pondering the sacred whisper of my soul,
Knowing that obedience scares me.

Winding slowly this way and that through my inner monastery,
Conversion finds the path through the walls,
Knowing that obedience scares me,
Afraid to be true to myself.

Conversion finds the path through the walls,
Pondering the sacred whisper of my soul,
Afraid to be true to myself,
A labyrinth runs through my heart. * o

Way of the Monk - Week Four

The Next Chapter - Happy Friday!

From Random

The Happy Book for the Bliss circle has made it to Gina's in Sacramento!!!

The photo above is tonight's full moon, as seen from my backyard earlier this evening. Full moons make me happy - I love looking at them. And though I'm not a huge fan of winter, one of the benefits to darkness falling early is that you have more time too see the moon!

This is a cold winter moon - it was already -23 celsius when I took the picture, so moon gazing tonight will definitely be from inside the house, looking out the window!

Happy Friday!

From Random

* o

The Next Chapter - Happy Friday!

Way of the Monk - Week Three

Book of Hours

From Random

This week we explored rhythms, and wheels, and seasons and hours specifically the Divine Hours and their relationship to seasons and our own internal rhythms. It's been a wonderful creative week of pausing and noticing. The project for the week was to write some Haiku's expressing our feelings and reflections of the seasons and hours, and then to create our own Book of Hours (front of my book pictured above). Here are my Haiku's:

Dawn

purple fingers reach
over the mountain and sky
inhale the new day

Spring

ice cracks in the bay
as the sun's heat grows stronger
robin finds a worm

Day

fullness of day's breath
brings forth energy of creation
hold the momentum

Summer

days are longer still
and nights are warm and breezy
we play as children

Dusk

deep release of dusk
shedding of the old cracked skin
ripe as the full berry

Autumn

oak tree sheds its leaves
and geese fly south for winter
I mourn the wheel's turn

Dark

resting in the pause
contemplate the day's end
where was God in this?

Winter

darkness comes early
as bear sleeps deep in the ground
here dreams will bare fruit

In what ways do the seasons and the hours speak to you?

From Random

* o

Way of the Monk - Week Three

The Next Chapter - Happy Friday! (on Saturday)

The Next Chapter book for the Bliss group hasn't arrived at it's first destination yet, Gina's in California, but meanwhile over on the TNC blog everyone is sharing pieces of happiness for Happy Friday!

So I'm a day late posting, but last night I was staying off the computer and sharing some quality time with the hubby while we watched a few episodes of Season One of "Bones" - which is one of the things that makes me happy, and my favorite source of "down time"!

A busy week, but I have been doing some shedding of responsibilities and tasks that it is time to let go of. This shedding is also a source of happiness as I feel lighter and more focused on the things I want to do.

And tonight, another does of happy - visiting and sharing a meal with good friends!

And that's the Happy Post for this week! * o

The Next Chapter - Happy Friday! (on Saturday)

Way of the Monk - Week Two

What would it be like if we treated the every day, common objects that we touch a hundred times over again as sacred tools??

Bless These Hands

Bless these hands
that touch the computer keys
and file
and answer emails
and pick up the phone
over and over again each day.

Bless these hands
that touch the dishes
and towels and sheets
and fold laundry
and sweep the floors
over and over again each day.

Bless these hands
that touch the pen
and scribble words
and cut out images
and paint and glue
over and over again each day.

Bless these hands
that touch the chalice
and wash the vessels
and polish the brass
and clean the linens
over and over again each day.

Bless these hands
that caress a lover
and soothe a child
and hug a friend
and greet a stranger
over and over again each day.

Bless these hands
for all that they touch
is holy and sacred
and common and ordinary
over and over again each day.

(copyright January 2010 - Eveline Maedel) * o

Way of the Monk - Week Two

The Next Chapter - Happy Book and Friday Happy

Today is the official launch of Jamie Ridler's, The Next Chapter - Happy Book Mail Around and I'm really excited that I'm going to be a part of this fun!

This is the first time I've taken part in a mail-swap or round robin creative project like this. Four copies of "The Happy Book" were put in the mail today to start off the mail around. There are 104 of us taking part in this, and we've been divided up into 4 groups. I'm part of the "Bliss" group. When you get the book, you have a week to look at what others have put in the book and then add your own bit of "happy" to it. Then you mail it on to the next person on the list. Since I'm #18 on the list, I figure it'll be a few months before it arrives here! But every Friday, I'll be checking the blog to see where the book is at, and sharing here a little of what made me happy this week.

So, here's my first Friday Happy post:

One of the things that made me really happy this week, also ties into "Way of the Monk - Week Two"! In my gazebo, I created a snow spiral - a small winding path that I can walk and pray with. My gazebo is one of my favorite spots in the yard, and since it is winter it has not been getting a lot of use. Now I have the spiral!

From Random

From Random

And that's a little piece of happiness from me this Friday! * o

The Next Chapter - Happy Book and Friday Happy

Way of the Monk - Week One

It's near the end of the first week of the online course I'm taking - "Way of the Monk - Path of the Artist". It's been a week of trying to carve out time for myself, for my creativity and for my sanity! This week has been about exploring the monk and the artist, where they converge and where they split apart. I've spent a lot of time thinking about what draws me to the contemplative life, why I need to be creative, and how come I make myself too busy to enjoy either. I'm also coming to understand that my "inner monk" needs periods of down time to replenish, and so does the "inner artist". I'm coming to terms with the fact that the reason I like to spend a lot of time alone is because I need to build up that inner monk/artist. Not that I want to be a hermit, I just enjoy my solitude. Always have.

One of the assignments this week was to write a poem about what it would mean to start living like a monk and an artist:

I Am Going to Start Living

I am going to start living like a monk,
turning the rhythm of my days
into a prayer to the divine.
Pausing amidst the paper work
and ringing phones,
to stare at the mountains out the window
and soak in silence
with each breath,
until my office becomes a cloister
that shuts out distraction.

I am going to start living like an artist,
turning the rhythm of my days
into a poem of worship.
Pausing to notice the sunrise
painted by a divine hand upon the sky.
Soaking in the creative spirit
with each breath,
until my life becomes a canvas
painted over and over again.

I am going to start living like a mystic,
turning the rhythm of my days
into a cosmic dance.
Pausing between yoga asanas
to notice the breath of spirit,
making each movement a prayer,
until even my simple yoga mat,
becomes holy ground.

(January 2010, copyright Eveline Maedel)

* o

Way of the Monk - Week One

Mark Your Calendars!!

The fabulous Comfort Queen's (Jennifer Louden) Virtual Retreat is back for 2010 - coming to a computer near you Febraury 12-14th!

I'm really thrilled about this year's teachers/presenters and topics, like exploring sacred sound with Fabeku Fatunmise and Hiro Boga, "Life is a Verb" author Patti Digh and journal guru Christina Baldwin.

Wondering what a "virtual retreat" is all about. Basically, all the benefits of attending a retreat or workshop without having to travel. You can do the whole weekend in the comfort of your PJ's if you so choose! You can join in on the actual phone calls or download recordings and listen to them at your leisure. Take part in all of the sessions or just the ones that catch your fancy.

Details and registration info can be found here:







Register soon - it promises to be a good one! * o

Mark Your Calendars!!

Wicked Come Winter......

From Random

Oh, it gets wicked here

Such an evil time of year

So cold it brings you tears

Come wintertime

I'll come back for you my dear

When it gets wicked here

Come wintertime

("Wicked Come Winter" - lyrics by Matt Mayes)

Yup folks - January, she is cold!

* o

Wicked Come Winter......

Happy 2010 - Radiant!

The New Year has rung in, cold, clear and crisp!

I'm not usually all that great at making resolutions or writing up big goal plans for the year. But I have, over the last couple of days been working on and filling out this really cool, creative workbook/planner from the sparkly, bubbly and lovely Goddess Leonie!

What I love about this planner is it's so colorful and it feels more like "play" than "working on goals". Lots of prompts, lots of room to write or collage in. And it's reasonably priced too - check it out!

One of the exercises in the workbook is to come up with your "word for the year." The word that keeps coming up, the one that I would like to play with this year is "Radiant." I want 2010 to be Radiant in all sorts of areas - health, spirituality, work wise. There's a lot I'm happy to let go of from 2009, and a lot I'm looking forward to in the next year.

In the next few weeks, along with 20 or so others spread out all over the world, I'll be taking part in Christine Valters-Painter's online course "Way of the Monk - Path of the Artist." I can't think of a better way to start the new year off and am hoping it will be just the right mix of creative and contemplative that I need right now!

Here's to 2010 - may it be RADIANT!! * o

Happy 2010 - Radiant!

Please Excuse the Mess......

From Random

I've been playing in my new journal all afternoon!! Feels good to do something creative. * o

Please Excuse the Mess......

Angels in the Snow

Some photos from my walk today - mild temps and light snow falling......

From Random

From Random

From Random

* o

Angels in the Snow

Advent

From Random

(one frosty November morning)

I haven't been blogging much. In fact, I haven't been creative at all much of late. Bit of a slump, or down cycle. It's partly, I think, part of the grieving process. This past July my father died, and I have been sitting with this for awhile. Although I am an avid fan of journaling, art journaling and collage and all sorts of "creative' stuff, for some reason this is not how I've processed my grief. Instead, in the summer I sat a lot in my gazebo and rested and daydreamed. In the fall, I walked a lot, listening to music on the iPod.

And now the days are shorter, darkness comes quickly and the weather has slowly turned winter like. No sitting outside, no long evening walks. I have been busy - busy at work, busy with my spiritual direction course. The spiritual side of my life has been fed with music, and reading and the beginnings and excitement of actually doing spiritual direction work with some wonderful people - while the creative side of my life lies dormant, waiting.

In the liturgical year it is Advent. A time of preparation, waiting, expectation. I sit, pregnant with the possibilities that the birth of a new year can bring. There will be creative times again, there will be new projects, new dreams, and new hopes. And there will be new losses, changes and struggles. And while we wait with hope and joy, there is also sadness and missing those who won't be at the Christmas table this year. Both sides of the coin, the yin and the yang.

Seasons and cycles, the turning of the wheel. I sit in the dusky evening quiet and wait for the light to return again. Advent. * o

Advent

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving weekend and snow on the ground! * o

Happy Thanksgiving

Poetry Moment

All My Body Calls

All my body calls
for something in this sleeping
earth
we call the spirit.

But how
from lifted arms
where stars run through fingers
and the night is like sand
do I breathe a fragrance of its wisdom
do I call its name
or listen to the drops
that trickle down to earth
and hear
life being given
not only through the moving hands of the forest
but through the hand that reaches in
the dark unmoving regions of the chest
and uncovers slowly
the enormous
indistinct
shape of the ocean.

~ David Whyte ~

(Songs for Coming Home)

(photo is of my favorite spot to sit on my walks)

* o

Poetry Moment

Another Tuesday Evening

It's been a beautiful warm and sunny day. The first week of September has provided splendid weather - much better than the entire summer. A cacophony of shrills greet me after work. The cedar waxwings are back, feasting on the berries of the ash tree next door and our hedge.

The Teen Man-Child and I feast on a supper of cold ham, sweet potatoes and a tossed salad. I eat slowly, clean up the dishes and then head out the door for an evening walk.

"Buffy", my iPod, plays the melodious strains of J. Phillip Newell's, "Sounds of the Eternal" as I head down towards the cemetery. Once there, I sit at my favorite spot, the small wooden plank between two trees that overlooks the bay and Doghead mountain. The wind is rustling through tree leaves and there's a haze
covering the town across the bay. The air is scented with that woodsy, damp leafy smell that signals autumn is around the corner.

I listen. I pray. I read from Caitlin Matthew's "Celtic Devotional". I stare out over the bay and watch leaves fall from the trees.

Audio Divinia. Lectio Divinia. Visio Divinia. Sensory Divinia?

Returning home I shower, light a candle and settle down to write. Another Tuesday evening slips away. * o

Another Tuesday Evening

Pondering Sacred Sound

The past couple of weeks I’ve been exploring “sacred sound”. The awesome Fabeku Fatunmise describes sacred sound as a combination of sound and intention, or in his words: “Sacred sound wraps itself around what you want and feeds it. It nourishes it and gives it presence. It energizes your focus so fully that your focus starts to shake with excitement, knowing it’s just about ready to take the stage and rock out.”

Fabeku has a pretty cool free download of ten minutes of sacred sound – singing bowl and drum - that is really worth checking out. I’ve been playing it once or twice a day, taking time to slow down my breathing, and soak in a few minutes of peace. And I’ve been finding myself a lot calmer, focused and enjoying some spurts of creativity.

I’ve also been playing around with my own hoop drum, a djembe and an amazing little singing bowl I got from Fabeku.

The concept of “sacred sound” appeals to me. I’ve often used music to relax with or shift my energy level higher when I’ve needed it. I’ve used music to pray with. Hymns, Taize chants, and classical pieces are often a part of my prayer and worship time. These are things I think of as “sacred sound” too – maybe in not quite the same stuck-shifting way as what Fabeku works with, but in the sense that it is sound that transports, uplifts and has some pretty groovy positive energy with it.

And that got me pondering this morning about what other sounds I would label as sacred. I started listing them in my journal and so far have come up with:

• listening to the heart beat of my beloved while snuggling close
• a cat's purr
• a baby laughing (or a bunch of babies laughing! - dare you to watch this and not giggle)
• birds singing in my backyard
• a small child's soft breathing while sleeping
• the fountains gurgling in my ponds
• leaves rustling
• loon calling
• waves lapping on shore
• snow crunching underfoot
• windchimes (when the breeze blows gently, when it's really windy, windchimes are just annoying!)

I’ve noticed that quite a few in my list are nature sounds. I am blessed to live in a small town surrounded by mountains, lakes and trees and I wonder what a city dweller’s list would look like?

I think the point is that there is so much noise around us, we’ve tuned out. We miss the truly beautiful notes in our day. Some of this constant noise may actually be pretty harmful to us - to our health, to our energy levels.

Grab your journal and make a quick list of sounds you would call sacred. Sounds that uplift and heal you. Don’t over think it, just jot things down. (Why not download Fabeku’s free sacred sound clip while you’re doing that…). Become aware of the noise around you. What sounds are you missing or tuning out? How can you bring more of these sacred sounds into your life?

* o

Pondering Sacred Sound

Sunday Bliss

Spent the better part of the evening here in the gazebo, drinking my tea, reading and journaling. It was finally warm enough to enjoy it!!!

Worked this afternoon on making a hoop drum, part of the sacred art portion of Module One in the spiritual direction training. I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to figure out the instructions, but it turned out not too bad. The drum is drying now, and then I will paint a design on it (haven't decided what yet).

Here's a slideshow of the drum making process:

* o

Sunday Bliss

Happy Feet!

Got an email today from my friend Zura who has a great new course offering - here's the details:

"I am announcing a brand new e-Course called Happy Feet. It is a three week course that teaches you exactly how to paint any pair of shoes. The course will begin May 9th, so if you’re interested, check it out soon.

You can find information about the course at http://creativeclown.com/happy-feet. The cost is $20.00 and you probably already have all the supplies needed. You can paint shoes you already have or get some at a thrift store for around $5."

Zura's courses are always well worth the money, so if you've got a craving to paint yourself some wicked shoes, check it out! * o

Happy Feet!

Cardinals

Cardinals have always been a very special, symbolic bird for me. And since they are more common in the southern parts of this province than here, when I went on my retreat at Easter I was really hoping I might catch a glimpse of one.

Saturday afternoon of the retreat I had quite a bit of spare time, and went for a walk on the hospital grounds next to the convent. There is a shrine garden there - a really nice spot for quiet meditation and reflection. After sitting there for some time, I started to head back. I had been listening to the birds singing, and thought "gee, it sure would be nice if I could just see one cardinal, it would make this retreat time so special". Ask, and ye shall receive. At that very moment, a cardinal flew up into the tree in front of me, looking straight at me. As I breathed prayers of "thank you, thank you", the cardinal flew back into the shrine garden, landing at the base of the cross. I sat back down and stared at it. Then it flew into the tree beside me, and sang to me. We spent at least ten minutes there in that garden, bird and I, before he flew off again. I literally bounced back to the convent, wanting to shout out "I saw a cardinal! I saw a cardinal!" but fortunately remembered this was a silent retreat. Shouting would have been frowned upon.

The next afternoon I returned to the shrine garden to do some writing in my journal. I shared the space with a chipmunk who kept darting back and forth amongst the rocks and bushes. I was naturally hoping to see the cardinal again, just one more time. I hard barely breathed that prayer when he appeared in the tree in front of me. He didn't stay as long this time, but I was just as pleased to see him.

The cardinal affirmed to me that I was in the right place, and that God was with me. That was all I needed.

(image - cardinal - watercolor crayons - April 2009) * o

Cardinals