Holiday Greeting Letter (vw)

 

Commitment to Ageing with Purpose (cw)

 

For me, this Fall time has been one impacted by turmoil, political, the pandemic and my thoughts as I approached, and passed my 82^nd birthday.

Years ago, at the Alaskan Healing Gatherings held in early summer I accepted stakes. The ceremony was based on the plains Indians who would stake themselves to the ground as a commitment to fight to the death. These stakes were given as symbols of our fight for healing for our families, communities, and the world. The first one was my initial commitment; I accepted the others as a renewal and reaffirmation of that vow.

That time of ceremony continues to influence my life. With our move to the lower 48 and my separation from the heart friends and companions of those times, I struggled as I looked for how to keep those promises. In some part of my being I accepted that the sense of lost-ness, loneliness and struggle was part of a necessary process.

And, as is so often with life, with Spirit, when I came to that point, I became willing to open my eyes, to listen. Answers began to come ~ life began to change.

As I approached a birthday, I realized that struggle had come again. As an older person and alone, I again look for new ways to carry on my life’s calling and commitment.

Alaska was my place of calling, a place of visions. Living in Alaska was a wonderful thing ~ a blessed time. It opened me to new experiences and to new realities, to come to realize that the energy of life, of my life, is sheer potentiality. I found Adventure waited for me, so many opportunities, people who blessed and challenged me. I was stretched to go far beyond anything my imagination could even begin to dream of ~ to do so much more than I thought myself capable of ever doing.

 I want ~ I need ~ to remind myself of all that during this passage which, right now, with all the tumult of this year, sometimes has seemed a bleak and barren place, but I also know there are also so many opportunities ~ with time to think, time to look at how to live ~ how do I live ~ during this time in my life as an old woman, during this time of all that is taking place around me.

I’m coming to see perhaps challenging Cultural Legacies may become a primary focus, not only in my writing, but in my own thinking as I study, think and learn. Dr. Neil de Grosse Tyson’s thoughts in the series Comos, along with Mirabai Starr and Mathew Fox’s course “Julian of Norwich A Bold, Gentle Visionary on Living in a Time of Pandemic” excite me! They fill me with thoughts, fill me with “what if’s”, leave me with a sense of purpose and joy! There are not enough years for me to learn all the wonderful things there are!!

 I’m not finished with the theme of ceremony, but, during this season approaching Solstice ~ with all her sacred ceremonies, of celebrations ~ it seemed fitting to share these thoughts with you.

 Shalom Peace and joy to you!