Sole-searching, Soul-searching

a view from above of bare feet with teal nail polish standing on a ground amidst oak leaves. in front of the feet are small geraniums.

Dear friends,

Thanks for accompanying me on this journey. I was delighted to hear from a few of you about your experiences of expectancy. I also appreciated those who asked me more about my experience, even though my answer was, "Mostly, I don't know." One insight I have gained over the last week is that what I am birthing is not just one, but a litter, multiple beings. Because of that, I believe the labor will be long. Having that awareness, I am able to settle into it more, feeling the expansions, contractions, and bits of rest in the midst of them. 

The day I write this, though, my mind is scattered, turned to the other end of embodied life. This morning Sharan, a beloved member of my church community (and that of some of you, too), died. Her spirit passing out of her body will take some time to...I'm not sure what the right words are. Her physical absence will be, already is, palpable. 

As I've been reading Lyanda Lynn Haupt's Rooted, I have been making a point of touching my body, usually my feet, to the earth every day. In this sole-searching I find the soul of Mother Earth, feeling connected to her physical form and mine, her spirit and mine, feeling connection to All. 

A few days ago I read these words in the book: 

Carl Sagan is famous for crooning, over and over, that we are star stuff. He has been mocked for his ponderous intonation, but he was entirely correct. Dr. Ashley King, planetary scientist and startdust expert (an enviable job description), states, "It is totally 100 percent true: nearly all the elements in the human body were made in a star and many have come through several supernovas." Oxygen + carbon + hydrogen + nitrogen + calcium + phosphorous + potassium + sulphur + sodium + chlorine + magnesium = star-human. The stuff of the cosmos is woven into our bones branches and wanders in our blood rivers.

"The individual is the meeting place of the four elements," writes John O'Donohue of the ancient Celtic perspective. For humans this is a hallowed opportunity: "We have come up out of the depths of the earth. Consider the millions of continents of clay that will never have the opportunity to leave the underworld. This clay will never find a form to ascend and express itself." Yet we have this privilege, and with it a sacred obligation to live with meaning. The word obligation sounds burdensome but is rooted beautifully in the Early French ligament - that which binds us together, like a braid of blessing herbs, like a bundle of logs for a warming communal cookfire... We stand in a spiral -rather than a strictly linear- continuity with our ancestors and the ancient cosmos. We still see the light of the stars that died long ago and that now form our living bodies; so, too, do our actions reach into the future of all life and death. 

Our star-human friend wove herself into beautiful, tight braids of interconnection with so many, warming them with her love. Now her physical form returns to Mama Earth. Her spirit, unemcumbered by embodiment, joins the spiral continuity of those who went before her. Her memories, lessons, actions, life ripple through those who knew her. They will continue to ripple through generations that eventually won't know her name. Those who come later will still see the light that shone from her, even if they don't know the origin. We are made of stardust, starlight, reaching forward and backward through time.

Sole-searching. Soul-searching.

Interbeing through time and space is our truth.

May we recognize it and be care-filled in how we tend to ourselves and one another in this conscious embodied form. 

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I have been tending to some of the ways I live into my star-humanity by creating opportunties for communal care and learning. I've added two in-person events since last week, both at The Bungalow in June. You can read about them and my other offerings on this page. If these speak to you, I'd love to see you in person or on Zoom. If you know of others who would find value in my programs, please share this with them.  

I also want to note that it was a year ago today that I began my 2nd edition Cards for Remembering Kickstarter campaign. Thanks to many of you who supported the project and/or who have bought decks since then. To commemorate that huge endeavor, today only Cards for Remembering 2nd edition decks are $8 off (code ANNIVERSARY). From May 25th-May30th, they'll be $4 off (code REMEMBER) 
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Friends, however you are experiencing our Interbeing, know that you are loved and held in care. If what I've shared speaks to you, I'd love to know.


From one star-human to another, 
Cory