Rewilding the sacred . . .

It's a rainy Thor's day here in Okieland, the mailbox already filling at dawn with thunder and things to think about . . .

307 years ago today, in 1626, Peter Minuit landed on the island of Manhattan. It was also a Thursday. 107 years later, on this day, Horace Mann, was born in 1796 Franklin, Massachusetts. He would be appalled at what politicians have done to American education.

Stepping out of dominant cultural narratives, such as that of the patriarchy, involves a process of grieving. . .at its core, healing is transformation and this doesn't happen in an hour and cannot be “gamed.” The dominant culture we live in would have us believe that healing must be “bought” and acquired by prescription given by people with degrees. Not all disease is amenable to allopathy. The natural world has always been our chrysalis, our transformative medicine. Men sense, as now they do, that it is time to shed a dysfunctional way of being, to heal from the bottom up. As men try to attend to the wounds of patriarchy, hand in hand with the feminine, is important to remember that real healing cannot be rushed. This is a tender, vulnerable time. The whole world needs compassion. – after Sophie Strand in The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Masculine.

Iron John was not made of iron.

As much as joy, our tears contribute to the Watercourse. We should take pride in our capacity to be sad and happy. We mustn’t ignore the preciousness of our human birth or take it for granted. It is extremely precious and very powerful. – Chögyam Trungpa

What is being transfigured here is your mind,

and it is difficult and slow to become new.

The more faithfully you can endure here,

the more refined your heart will become

for your arrival in the new dawn. – John O'Donohue

from “For the Interim Time.” in To Bless the Space Between Us A Book of Blessings

There are hundreds of ways to kiss the ground. – Rumi