The Woman's Book of Spirit. Sue Patton Thoele
and care for the planet.
I see you from afar, and I am longing for your healing.
Learning from the Stones
GLEANING WISDOM FROM INDIGENOUS AND Eastern cultures who revere their elders, our heretofore youth-worshiping society is finally learning to let go of “age anxiety” and value the patina that aging can bring to the soul. Of course not all people magically become wise and wonderful as they age, but those who choose to look at what they gain from advancing years, rather than what they lose, generally have a lustrous heart and a gleam in their eyes.
Ideally, the experiences accrued throughout the years bring increased wisdom and instill an inner security that allows us to speak our truth fearlessly and act from an unshakable sense of integrity. I love the quote from Dorothy Sayers: “Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.” Yes. For the good of the whole, we need to be uncontrollable and untamed in our efforts to invite the spirit of love to quench the thirst of our souls and re-green our world.
I saw the beauty of aging exemplified by nature while on my trip to Arches National Park. In silent meditation, I sat in the protective shade of an eons-old rock that I came to think of as “Grandmother Rock.” Gazing through the unbelievably huge arch in her facing sister, I was awed by the beauty created as this stone adapted to the elements and, over the millennium, grew a window through which the pristine sky gleams.
In the face of her patient transformation from one kind of beauty to another, I found myself asking how I was being called to mature as I age. What sandy sediment within me needs to erode away? What window into my very soul is yearning to be revealed in my walled-in personal world? What must be transformed in me in order for my transparency to reveal a vast and changing sky? I have no answers, only the knowledge that they will come if I remain open to the questions.
I am thankful for the wisdom, experience, and acceptance gleaned through aging.
I am an outrageous and untamed champion of love and learning.
Filling the Well
A DRY WELL IRRIGATES NOTHING. IF WE ARE to be gloriously and outrageously alive, as Hildegaard of Bingen encourages us at the beginning of this section, we need to fill our inner wells regularly.
I love the metaphor, “God is an underground river, ever present and constantly flowing within and around us.” But, even if we believe in an eternal river, do we take the time to fill our wells from it, or do we allow them to go dry?
Although the source is the same, the ways in which we fill our wells are unique and individual. What fills your well of spirit? What fills your well of emotion and physical well-being?
Close your eyes for a moment and allow a picture of a well to come into your mind's eye. Without judgment, explore your well. Is it full? How do you feel about it? What, if anything, does it need from you? Cleaning? Rebuilding? Take a few minutes to recreate it in a way that appeals to you. Perhaps you want your well to be the focal point of a beautiful garden or to stand in the midst of a clearing of majestic redwoods. Trust the images that your wise subconscious presents.
When your well pleases you, allow it to open to receive the pure waters of the eternal underground river of God. At the same time, begin to fill it from the top with those things that you know will fill your reservoirs to overflowing, such as giving yourself permission to have a free day with no obligations or demands, either internal or external. Do this until your well is brimming with pristine water.
After you've filled your well, take a little time to list those things that you can do to tap into the river of God and to fill your well yourself. Make a life-enhancing promise to yourself to do the things that will fill your well. Although a dry well irrigates nothing, a full well irrigates effortlessly.
I deserve to be filled to the brim.
I allow God's energy to flow through me.
Embodying Heart Energy
The heart is the hub of all sacred places. Go there and roam in it.
—Sri Nityananda
OUR HEARTS ARE POWERFUL SAGES which embody the wisdom, intuition, and compassion of the ages. They know, on a soul level, what is loving and nurturing, and they also deeply understand what connects us to the Divine. Given the chance, our hearts have the ability not only to help us become more loving but also to find fulfillment, peace of mind, increased creativity, and optimum health.
Intuitively, both the enlightened and the ordinary among us have known that love's transformative power can actually conquer all, and we believe that our hearts speak a different, more caring language than do our minds. But being believers doesn't automatically make us doers. Activating the power of our hearts takes practice and consistent intention, but we can tap into the mysterious energy of love for which our spirits thirst.
Realizing God's Love
IT GIVES ME GREAT COMFORT TO BELIEVE that there never was, and never will be, a time when my essence was not beloved by God. As the wonderful mystic, Julian of Norwich, suggested when she said, “Between God and the soul, there is no between,” I've come to realize that the distance I can feel between myself and God is not created by Her but by me. She is ever present, the pure emanation of heart-energy, attempting to love me into the awareness that I, too, am, in essence, heart-energy.
One of our most important spiritual tasks is to come to the realization of God's unending and unconditional love. The security of knowing that God loves us is the cornerstone of our soulgrowth. As Anne Morrow Lindbergh said, “The most exhausting thing in life . . . is being insecure.” Insecurity is exhausting, because it's riddled with fear and, therefore, barricades us from our hearts. Fear and love cannot coexist, and so, when we are in a state of fear, we cannot access the love that surrounds us constantly.
For many of us, this love is hard to experience. To give you a sense of security with God, the Beloved, allow yourself to close your eyes and imagine that you are in a beautiful place where you feel comfortable and accepted. Rest in the peace of your place. Begin to breathe deeply, in through your nose and out through your mouth. With each inhalation, draw into your heart a feeling of well-being, and as you exhale give yourself permission to breathe out any feelings of stress or uneasiness.
As you become more relaxed, notice that you are holding in your arms someone whom you genuinely love. It may be a baby or child, a pet, or a loved one. Breathe into your heart and allow love to flow from it to the other person's heart. After a few minutes, very gently change places and feel yourself being held in the lap of a benevolent presence who loves you deeply and unconditionally. If this is difficult for you, without judgment, become the holder again and pour love from your heart onto the person being held. Feel the outpouring of love surround you as it enfolds them. Slowly allow the picture to alter and imagine yourself feeling loved as you nestle in the welcoming lap of God.
Before the beginning God loved me.
God is loving me now.
Cleansing Our Hearts
OUR HEARTS NOT ONLY ENCOMPASS THE strongest and wisest aspects of our nature, but also the softest and most vulnerable ones as well. Because life can be difficult, our hearts may become encrusted with feelings of fear and disillusionment or stained by sorrow and self-deprecating beliefs. Even if our lives have been utterly smooth, without a single pebble upon our path, we may have at least gathered a little dust along the way.
Because Spirit moves more freely