Spring Equinox 2025
blooming amidst the rubble
Greetings, everyone ~
Windy vernal equinox blessings from Heartward Sanctuary. Yesterday was the official equinox moment, the tipping point to the light half of the year. This Sunday, we'll dance to welcome spring. Flowers are welcome. JJ and I have crafted a spring altar. I'm bringing the music. We circle up at noon. Bring a snack or lunch and stick around. The weather looks beautiful!!
This year, the rebirth of the earth is reconnecting me to birth and the early stage of human life cycles. Because of the year-long series I'm launching this weekend (Midwifing Metamorphosis) I'm reflecting a lot on the time before birth, where we came from and why. On fate and destiny. Severance and grief. Nourishment and scarcity. Life and death. Growth and decay. Thresholds and change.
Preparing for another cycle of this crazy earth ride, there are moments one could struggle (even I can) to remember exactly why we came here to a world riddled with war and aggression, death and oppression. And we steady on bearing witness to 10,000 types of harm and heartbreak via either numbed out and dismissive or emotionally unmetabolized reporting. Amidst all the waves of uncertainty and fear, may we also bear witness to every small miracle, act of kindness and beauty, to the blooming amidst the rubble.
This month marks my 14 year anniversary of hosting a community dance practice (ecstatic dance / dance church.) What started at The Flowjo moved to zoom (in the pandemic), then the open air, then our home and eventually landed in this slowly renovated(ing) barn at Heartward Sanctuary. Throughout that time, I've danced through every rupture, heartbreak, outrage, mini-death/life-change and wave of fear. Dance is not reserved for celebration or play. For me, it's not a party or escape. Sure, any medicine can become a poison. Overdoing anything is likely a sign of a wound whose longing to heal has become insatiable but the road to healing is unclear or unfathomable.
Singing and dancing are long-held, cross-cultural ways to attend to loss, heartbreak and strengthen community bonds. To access transpersonal grief so we don't feel alone. To claim and co-create collective joy. To connect with god/dess. All these things are needed more than ever. Besides, when we lose track of the joy and the beauty of life, it's hard to access our "why" to resist the ugly, or the fuel needed to make the world better. Wherever you feel true connection and resource, lean in.
For every moment spent reading the news and worrying about doom and feeding the powers that thrive on fear and division, take a moment to put your bare feet on the earth, give thanks for the air and animating forces of life, sing your heart out, do a depossession dance and make a prayer for the world you want to live in. And for every tiny flower with the courage to stand up to harsh winds and extreme conditions, may we be inspired and bold enough to remember why we came and offer ourselves and our unique (never to be humanifested again) gifts and callings to make that world a reality.
As fate has it, all births lead to death. Contrary to the dominant paradigm of the country, there's a lot of cross-cultural belief that, at least some part of us, will end up back here. The best strategy for a good next life is to make the world just for everybody.
with a tender heart
releasing winter ~ spring equinox 2022