Gratitude

is an unassuming magician

gratitude is an unassuming magician. she will transform you she will. pluck her stars from a darkened sky. swallow the light of her consciousness. make love to her truths. embrace her soft velvet edges. she will whisper secrets. marry yourself to her. walk with her every day, intentionally. do this for at least a month. your life will never be the same.

Art: Tijuana Lubovic

she will multiply. a sea of stars. inside a milky way. mama gratitude will nurture you.

she will take you on a journey she will. to the abundant land. she speaks the language of yes and thank you. she speaks a hug language. she wants to be named. she wants to be claimed. she wants to name and claim you. all of you. all that you are, revealed to yourself, a cornucopia of your deepest joys, sorrows, truths and knowings. she wants you to hold the cornucopia of the world. eat of her fruits. sip her honeyed fruits. she is your transformation song.

—from The Wild Matryoshka: Marrow Song

Art: Tijana Lukovic

It’s the cusp of a new moon. We’re in the Balsamic (shedding) phase today.

November 30, she becomes again new.

The moon is the wisest grandmother I know.

She helps us to see the truth within and without.

She shows us our cycles.

She teaches us in symbolism.

She is abundant with medicine wisdom.

Today…as you gather, as you feast, as you celebrate the harvest

Contemplate, amplify, gather your GRATITUDES. What we focus on expands.

Harvest your gratitudes.

Eat them.

Sleep with them.

Art: Tijana Lukovic

Then on November 30, when the Moon is New

When she is fertile for guiding you through an entire cycle of gratitude and abundance

plant your gratitudes anew

In writing.

Cast them as spells.

Gratitude Ritual for a new Moon:

Write a gratitude in honey -the one you need the most —write it in honey, using a toothpick, on a large stone.

Pour fresh water over it, gathering it in a bowl. Washing the honey off the stone.

Pour this into a jar.

Drink a teaspoon of your gratitude water for an entire moon cycle.

Every morning, wake and speak aloud:

I am grateful for…fill in the blank,

and drink a teaspoon of your honeyed water.

We could all use more honey-ed words. Season your gratitude with honey, with sweetness, with gratefulness, with beauty, with joy. May this be your focus as we step more fully into the dark nights, illuminating our sweetness with light.

Blessings on your hearth

On your heart

On the earth

On Art

May you

Hear

with the inner ear

Your Gratitude Song

More clearly, more true.

Art: Tijana Lukovic

A song to listen to again and again:

Sing Upon Joy by Lindsey Scott

And a poem, from my hearth

To yours…

season your table

with nourishing words.

whether you are surrounded by a mess

or sprinkled with extra heapings of meaning

(or both, because sometimes they meander together)

the beautiful and the broken

the whole and the fragmented

the sad and the weary

the grateful and the seeking

once upon a time

we were pilgrims

not in the mayflower way

but in the deepest sense of the word and world

we traveled. we journeyed 

alone and together

making sense of nonsense

seeking greater understanding

of the human condition.

we still travel together

when we connect

we journey

with our stories

from the edges to the center

we are made broken

and whole

sometimes in the same breath

we are resilient.

we are survivors.

we thrive

when our words 

create more union

let us break bread.

gluten free or traditional.

let us make meaning

let us sprinkle one another

with words of wonder

words of beauty

words of meaning

words of thanks.

so, whether you are invited to or not

clink your glass

stand, 

and raise your voice

authentically and share

what you are thankful for.

what gives you meaning.

all of us at the table are going to die.

so this is it.  let's be real.

and say how we feel 

about gratitude.

Xoxo

Love,

Stasha