A spacious Friday to keep... An early morning meditation, grey urban landscape, coffee at my favourite haunt, lifting weights for power, a walk with the dog and probably a late afternoon nap, dinner to be made. And always music and imagined choreography a click away... Here is one for you. May I suggest that your heart dance! https://open.spotify.com/track/2nDqDJ5sEbFMSNodxXxgJL?si=b4726142759b4496
As Venus and this crescent moon punctuate the Western horizon, I sit down to reflect on this day of Well Keeping. After sitting watch at the well back in March, and being so moved by the consistent outpouring of tender care from each keeper throughout the year, I chose to sit another day.
My back nestled in the crook between two roots of a Ponderosa Pine, I spent the better part of today’s sun-shiny hours overlooking Horsetooth Reservoir above Fort Collins, Colorado. Chattering Jays and Magpies accompanied the afternoon, along with screeching Hawks overhead and munching Mule Deer down in the valley.
My meditations today circled around the literal act of tending a well. But first, an exploration of the well itself - this access point to primordial depths of our shared life-source: water. When the well is clean and clear, nourishment is easily sought and received, replenishing our bodies…
Your words are a sweet watering for my soul, Joining you at the well in envisioning a world where forgiveness dances with self and others, creating a spaceousness where what you speak to has room to thrive.
"Restoring union where there is division. Bringing love to the lost and forgotten parts of us. Welcoming those disparate pieces back into the quilt, stitching them into wholeness.
Person to person. People to people. Man to woman. Child to adult. Body to soul. Left to right. Heart to head."
As I get ready to pass the mantle of well keeping on to Carolyn Seavey I wanted to post my appreciation for this vessel, this circle of well keepers and its simple yet bold request to ask us each to slow down and deeply listen to what is. It has been an honor to hold a piece of it, and to witness the whole of it. Today was made sweeter by the gift of carrying this precious mantle.
Blending silence with song, and then layering in poetry . . . what magic, what depth, and what a powerful day of tending it has been. Sitting in the stillness of fresh Vermont snow on an under carpet of crisp fall leaves. In the centering that comes with stopping and settling into the silence, the words of a Ma Muse song came into my bones —“It is time we take ourselves…
Beautiful sweet Nancy - such reverence and depth of feeling and compassion for our dear mother earth and the wellsprings that flow from her depths
On my well keeping day yesterday, I went to see a man who is in charge of the Contemplative Society who was, it turned out, a spokesperson for their spiritual community. He is an Anglican priest. He asked me what my interests were, and I said, "Supporting our young people in finding solid ground from which to live and serve in this time of planetary crisis." He replied that their board had just had a meeting last night to consider one of the goals in their mission statement, which was to support a new generation of young men and women who want to ground in spiritual practice." He reported to me that they dropped the goal because they found that the young people were not interested.
All my gentle, loving kindness reformed up into a direct and clear confrontation with him, asking him to look at what they were offering,…
So eloquently stated through silence & wow in the execution-
Wow!
What an uplifting and timely song!
Thank you! And for sharing details how you so richly tended the well.🙏🏻