Magical Mystery School

I attended Jean Houston's East Coast Mystery School this past weekend at the Garrison Institute, a beautiful old building that was once a monastery.

I felt transported to another dimension. Maybe this is what attending Hogwarts for Adults feels like. I was introduced to amazing new ways to see myself and the world around me. Jean truly believes that a larger life is latent in every human spirit and her work is about waking up that latent possibility.

Jean posed the possibility that we are living in a cosmic hologram where everything is part of everything else.

This reminded me of how I am often amazed at how one thing appears in another seemingly disconnected part of the world, like this tree in a puddle which called to me while I was walking around the little town of Garrison. What magic connects the one to the other?

"We are creating a new visible world that requires a fresh approach to the invisible."
Thomas Moore

Permission to Fly

This beautiful book full of love and birds and wings and remembrances was a gift to me from a group of my special friends - my deepest gratitude to you all, I'm still overwhelmed. Each page is a reminder to me to take flight and celebrate each day. The instigator of the project was my dear friend Elsa Safir who also created the beautiful cover. I'll be sharing more of the beautiful art pages, but today I'd also like to share this poem by Richard LeGallienne included by Ilse on her page:

I meant to do my work today ...
But a brown bird sang in the apple tree.
And a butterfly flitted across the field,
And all the leaves were calling me.
And the wind went sighing over the land,
Tossing the grasses to and fro,
And a rainbow held out its shining hand ...
So what could I do but laugh and go?

What a joyful reminder of the amazing world we live in and the beauty around us, including the beauty of true friendship.

Be astonished

While in the cabin in the north woods of Minnesota I came across Mary Oliver's book of poetry "Red Bird". In contains her "Instructions for living a life" which reads:

Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

I'm hoping these images convey the astonishing beauty and awe of winter on Lake Superior, Minnesota. I felt like a small child seeing the world for the first time. There is something magical about snow blanketing the shore and the woods, and something awe-inspiring about watching the sun rise over the lake in the early morning blue light.

Traveling within

As I prepare and pack for my first trip to the northwoods during winter, a little apprehensive about the cold - for this is the first time I will experience winter in a northern area that is covered by snow and ice most of winter - I am reminded of Gerald Durrell's observation about travelers: "A great traveler ... is a kind of introspective; as she covers the ground outwardly, so she advances fresh interpretations of herself inwardly."

I am interested to see what "fresh interpretations" the snow and ice grant to me, what new discoveries I make about myself as I gaze at Lake Superior covered in ice. I am hopeful that the images I am drawn to make through my camera lens will give me clues.