Luminous Heart
discovery and healing through creativity
Archives
The Wetlands Park
In the dark stillness comes a chirp, a trill
And in the background always the low rumble and growl of the city
The sky gently lightens to misty aqua over glowing gold
The trees are black lace shadows
Birds and crickets coax the dawn . . .
The Stray Kitten
When I was a girl
I found a stray kitten
Feral and frightened
it ran and hid
and would not come
to my kitty-kitty calls . . .
RESPONSIVENESS (6/10, Blessing of the Trees)
A tree is a creature of both the earth and the sky. Rooted, it spends its entire life in one spot. Yet, despite its stationary nature, it is anything but rigid. On the contrary, in the presence of even the slightest breeze, it bends, sways, and even speaks!
CONNECTION (5/10, Blessing of the Trees)
Trees are communal creatures who thrive in dense communities we call forests. In his book, The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohleben, a forester in Germany, tells of finding the remnants of a 5-foot stump of a tree that had evidently been felled at least 400-500 years ago, which was still being kept alive, without the benefit of its own photosynthesis, by the surrounding trees, which were feeding it through interconnected roots.
DEEP ROOTS (4/10, Blessing of the Trees)
The Tree of Life lives on a beach in the Olympic National Park just west of Seattle, Washington. No kidding! This amazing Sitka spruce, affectionately nicknamed the Tree of Life, literally hangs suspended in midair by the strength of its lateral roots.
STRENGTH (3/10, Blessing of the Trees)
Are you a tree hugger? Have you ever wrapped your arms partway around a thick trunk and laid your cheek against its rough bark? If you have, you may have been amazed at how rock hard and immovable it seems and wondered what makes a tree so strong.
The Dutiful Daughter
I don’t hate men. To the contrary, in general I quite like them. The funny thing is that, when I think about my own particular feminine wound, on balance, more of it has been inflicted by the women in my life than by men.
The phrase “the feminine wound” was coined by Sue Monk Kidd in her book, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter. …
Art & Healing: Collage (6/6)
Last but not least in this series about various modalities for healing through art is collage, about which I have written already. Honestly, I’ve been a little obsessed with it for the past year. Before that, I was into painting, but my detailed painting style meant that each one I did required many, many hours […]
Art & Healing: Painting (4/6)
In the summer of 2016, on a whim, I answered an ad in which a young woman working on an art degree offered private art tutoring. A couple of times a month she came over for an afternoon and worked with me on drawing, then painting. Soon I was copying famous paintings, then attempting my […]
Art & Healing: Poetry (3/6)
Amending a Life
plastic tubs hauled out of the car
I’m pleased with the new buddleja, caladium and pentas
for which I trolled the garden center
finding secrets from a treasure hunt
can’t wait to get them in the ground
to see what grows, what blossoms
what will take root and become a feature
a fixture, a remember when I planted that?
