More on healers and healing

This post comes with a recent post that I did on the spirituality of healing and healers. I picked it up from the Appalachia Americans Facebook page but I believe that it is making the rounds.

Some Appalachian Folklore:

•Placing bread and coffee under a house will protect it from ghosts.

•Two people who part ways on a bridge will never meet again.

•A broom left outside on a Saturday night will likely disappear as it will become bewitched and follow other brooms to a witches coven.

•The last person in a community to die near the end of the year will become a symbol of death and will be seen by those in the community's who are fated to die in the coming year.

•Never give away or sell a cradle when your child outgrows it, or you will surely have another chid soon.

•Suicides, murderers, and other criminals were commonly buried at a crossroads. That way if the spirit rose from the grave it would be confused, and unable to find its way back home.

•Drinking a tincture made of dandelion was believed to help cure madness, and restore color to the hair that had turned white.

•To cure an infant or child's earache the mother must pour a small vial of her urine into the affected ear.

•Never allow the front door and the back door to be open at the same time. This invites malevolent spirits to enter the home.

•Doors and windows should be left open during a thunder and lightning storm to let the lightening out incase the house is struck during the storm.

(Shared from the Mountain Times. Photo via Pinterest)

A response to a cartoon

Let's consider the cartoon below. It is apparently being circulated by Christian pastors and others who may be trying to make a point about declines in church membership and active participation and engagement. But from my universalist perspective there may be a counter-argument to be made here and a reasonable explanation as to why someone might find this cartoon offensive. 

Let me say right now that I believe in joining and engaging with whatever religious or spiritual organization that you feel comfortable with after you have gone through time for discernment with God, taken some time with it, and your membership and participation have been determined to bless and benefit everyone in the circle. This is about faith, belief, and doctrine, to be sure, but it is also about how we view long-term commitment.

With commitment in mind, then, I want to lay out a few controversial points that I think the pastors and others passing this cartoon along will disagree with. Uniting oneself with a congregation or community will not work if you or that community come to the point of considering membership in a transactional way. If either side in this is thinking about some kind of exchange taking place, or in terms of a sale being made or a client-therapist-buyer-seller-sinner-preacher relationship being established, in order for things to progress then at some point someone will become dissatisfied and the relationship will suffer or end. We live in a world governed largely by competition, transactions, sales, profits and losses. Those in power often maintain their positions by encouraging dependency. People seeking the solace and strengthening that faith and faith communities can provide are often seeking an alternative to the harsh and cold world and the means of coping with and overcoming the violence that has been done to them in that world. We, all of us, need solidarity, not capitalist ethics and relationship dependencies in the pews.

Tithing has its roots in our communal religious and spiritual traditions and has come down to us as a form of fasting and as a form of generosity or charity ("solidarity lite"). But there are legitimate questions here about a proper Biblical approach to fasting in the first place. Is it Biblical to require the poor and the oppressed---the Lazaruses of our present day---to fast and to give? Is their life not already a story of fasting, faith and generosity? Yes, there are the accounts of the poor widow's offering and Christ's observations in the moment (Mark 12:41–44, Luke 21:1–4), but here I think the accent is on Christ condemning the wealthy and the powerful and not arguing that the poor must be squeezed.

We know that "people with means...are substantial givers. Middle-class Americans donate a little less. But the lower-income population surprises by giving more than the middle—and in some measures even more than the top. (As a percentage of available income, that is. In absolute dollars, those in higher income groups give much, much more money.)" The lower-income folks have an expansive definition of tithing, and one that I think is essentially correct, at least in terms of social practices. Someone may cover the mom in line at the supermarket who comes up short, or put up money for a son-in-law's tires so that he can look for work, or help someone make their rent. In my experience the people who are so generous do not often think of wat they are doing as charity, though they may not know the word "solidarity" or what it fully means or implies. Still, they model the concepts of solidarity by giving without the expectation of getting back and by giving in order to strengthen the social fabric that wraps around them as well. Instead of being transactional and talking about tithing, then, we should think about how we teach and model solidarity and where we find it in Scripture. The Bible is full of lessons on solidarity. The three that come readily to my mind are Hebrews 11, Acts 4: 32-5:11, and Christ's resurrection. Once solidarity is institutionalized and is communicated as an expectation and lived out daily, and once transactionalism is overcome,  the tithing and sacrifices will likely come.     

Well, it may be said, the folks in that cartoon are white and middle-class and seem to be squared away. I want to ask fellow Christians to seriously engage with the work of Marcus Borg and take up the project of doing economic analysis from a Christian perspective. The people in the pews may not be doing as well as fellow parishioners think they are. We live in a society that makes talk about things that matter and the struggles that we're going through uncomfortable and humiliating. Either people never talk about these hard truths of theirs or they abandon boundaries and go on as if theirs are the only and the most important problems and as if what they are suffering through is not the outcome of systemic inequities. So, in addition to not being transactional, engaging in solidarity, and doing economic analysis we also need to develop and teach healthy boundaries before we get deep into pushing church membership and tithing on folks. 

I'm coming from a place here of thinking about joining and fully engaging with a religious or spiritual community in terms of relationships---a marriage, say. You know that if you get married thinking "Well, we can always get divorced if things don't work out" then your marriage will likely not work out. The same holds true when you consider joining a religious community. You had better go into your marriage knowing your partner's faults and shortcomings, and both of you need to bend and be vulnerable to the other. Something similar happens in religious communities. Your heart will break and be broken and both you and your community will need to be flexible and take the long view. You know that if you get married but still keep up with old partners or go around looking at others as potential partners then you're not being fully faithful to the person you promised faithfulness to. Something like this applies to you joining a religious community as well; it's either a monogamous relationship or it won't last. It's okay if you can't do that now, "dating" is fine. You know that if you get married and you're not sharing the household tasks and paying the bills together and budgeting together then your marriage won't last. Most divorces start with fights over money. Again, there is a corollary with joining a religious community: plan, work, struggle and share the burdens to make it work, even if it means smaller communities made up of the blessed poor that God so loves. You don't want to marry someone who talks only about themselves, who is struggling with alcoholism or drug abuse, who is always deep in drama, who can't manage basic living skills without trouble, who can't handle their own power or work with someone else's in rational ways or who abuses their power and your trust. You also don't want to join a religious community where people with such issues proliferate and hold the keys to heaven and hell. And if you have been through a bad marriage or two you're probably not in a hurry to jump into another marriage. The same is true of joining religious communities; let God speak to you and study on how to bring that into focus, be rational about it, take your time.

Patrick Weaver Ministries grasps much of this in ways that I don't yet. See what they have to say about some of this.

For most of us, I think, the good traits and the most difficult problems that we bring to marriages and other relationships will be much the same as what we bring to any organization or effort we engage in, religious and spiritual communities included. Most of us have to work very hard to deconstruct what is negative in us and this is a lifetime project for many more of us than want to admit it. The capitalist society that we live in makes us unnaturally competitive and unable to find balance and cooperative paths to power. Churches may look at these conditions as sinful, or they may honor this with a gospel of prosperity, but neither approach finds the needed understanding. Our practical challenge is to make deconstructing ourselves and rebuilding ourselves a radical and social act of partaking with one another in the divine nature, or theosis (See Psalm 81/82, 2nd Peter 1:4. See 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and Matthew 25: 37-40 as aids). Is your religious community a place for rebuilding and healing?  

By this point I have probably lost the preachers and many readers. I'm going on too long and this is abstract. I do want to close with an additional point.

Many of the preachers who are circulating this cartoon and others like it claim in their sermons that they are swimming against the tide and say that they are risking their livelihoods and freedom by their strong teaching. I think that they are swimming very much with the tide by not taking on those in power who bring us a bit of hell (employers, banks, the prison-industrial complex, healthcare run for profit are examples), exaggerating their counter-cultural stance, and preaching an eternal hell because it is one way of preserving order in a society that jumps from crisis to crisis. Where is their attack on the systemic evils that oppress the people in the pews? 

On the other hand, there are some pretty brave Christians out there who really are challenging the oppressive powers and are paying a price for doing that and aren't posing as being counter-cultural. A committee of Mennonites led a peaceful demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Palestine/Israel last week and about 150 people were arrested at that demonstration. Where is the church in talking accurately and with love and solidarity about Palestine and supporting those who were arrested? Fellow believers cry out for justice but we're not listening. Where is the church in supporting  the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II and Repairers of the Breach when Bishop Barber says, "On March 2, our moral movement will be in Washington D.C. and at 30 statehouses across the country, launching a period of mass mobilization to the polls of the nation’s 85 million poor and low wealth voters leading up to the election in November. If mobilized around an agenda to address and end poverty and low wages, there is not a state where–if just 10 to 20 percent of poor and low-wage voters who did not vote in the last national election come to the polls this time around–they would not be able to swing the election and elect leaders who would vote for living wages, health care and voting rights."?

Quilting and sprituality

I saw this photograph on Travis Chumley's Facebook page yesterday. The caption accompanying the photo indicates that it was taken in Powell Valley, Claiborne County, Tennessee, in the 1940s and also says "Photograph of six women standing around a table saying grace. They are outside and the table is full of food. The women have gathered together to spend the afternoon working on a quilt. Photo: Joe Clark HBSS - Clark Family Photo Collection - Special Collections Library - University of North Texas." The photo at the bottom of this post comes from the same sources.

Coincidentally, National Public Radio (NPR) ran an interesting story on quilting that touched on matters of faith yesterday. The story summary says "For some Black Americans, family histories can be hard to find. Slavery and the discriminatory laws that lingered years later prevented the documentation and record keeping of Black Americans. Today, a group of Black quilters from across the Northeast honor their ancestors through bold and colorful quilts, illustrating their experiences and telling their stories."

Photo from NPR/Connecticut Public Radio

One of the women featured in the NPR story said, "Quilting is also a way to connect with the past, while wrestling with ongoing injustice today. When things happen, like George Floyd, you know we make quilts about that...When loved ones pass away, we make quilts. We honor them with fabric that they wore.” Her name is Love, which seems so appropriate.

You can learn more about the women featured in the NPR story by going to this 2022 Where We Live interview with the group co-founder Susi Ryan. According to a Connecticut Public Radio note, that show also features textile artist and author Jen Hewett, who talked about her recent book featuring hundreds of creators of color who were interviewed about their relationship to making.

There is much to say here or be silent with. I know some women quilters who either do their work mostly alone or who go to quilting stores for companionship and inspiration. Quilting still seems like what we used to respectfully call "women's space." I'm glad that quilting still goes on, and most cold nights I sleep under a quilt made by a woman in McDowell County, West Virginia who used old bluejeans and simple fabric combinations to come up with something that well represents her region. It has handy pockets in it for stuffing things. Her name and address are on the quilt but I have not contacted her. I also have a quilt made out of my old union tee-shirts many years ago and that quilt holds more than a decade of union struggles in it.

I hope that women continue to gather in groups away from businesses and do their quilting with some praying or spiritual work and eating and getting along with one another. 

My heart just prays for a time when we can tear down some of the barriers that separate us and pray together or share our spiritual paths and share our creative work. 

Claiborne County, Tennessee, 1940s...
Caption: Four women are shown working together on quilts. Several completed quilts are shown hanging on a building behind them.
Photo: Joe Clark HBSS - Clark Family Photo Collection - Special Collections Library - University of North Texas

More on Ashley McBryde

I posted a reflection on Ashley McBryde the other day that some folks think was unfair to her. The intent of that post was to support her and make others aware of her who don't know her and her music and to ask people who criticize her to take a minute and reconsider. Perhaps this clip will set our critics at ease a bit.

The church is not just for those who have seen God’s goodness by Pastor Jerrell Williams

The Salem-Keizer, Oregon community is blessed to have Pastor Jerrell Williams leading Salem's Mennonite Church. We have posted at least two articles by him in the recent past. These have come from Anabaptist World. In a recent article in Anabaptist World Pastor Williams says the following:

Disappointment with God is a reality we need to recognize. As the church testifies to God’s faithfulness, we have to remember that not everyone has experienced God as faithful.

We have to be prepared to walk with those who feel God has not been faithful to them. As a pastor, I have had the honor to accompany those who are struggling and doubting as well as those who are solidly sure of their faith.

I have sat with people as they have asked me why God wasn’t there for them or for their friends or their families. Though I am tempted to interject my own experiences and ideas, there is nothing I can say that dulls the pain.

At this point we are left with a reminder that so much of modern atheism---at least in my circles---is founded on disappointments and suffering, and it should be fully understandable to people of faith that this occurs and gains momentum and forms of expression. There is also an atheism that develops from the capitalist reality that we all live in. How does anyone manage to maintain faith when every activity is weighed for what it produces and its cost? A competitive and hierarchical system, gendered and racialized and exploitative in its fundamentals, is bound to produce atheism. Pastor Williams does not take these questions up directly, but they are there in the background.      

So Pastor Williams is taking up a large slice of our human condition in a short article. Where does he go with this? The entire article can be read here.

A reflection on back roads and destinations

I don't know who wrote the following reflection on traveling up this back road and taking a few breaths but it does speak to me. I'm taking it from The Appalachian Project Facebook page. I think that this is great writing. I hope that it touches you as it has touched me.

A hazy, misty morning road on a seldom traveled backroad snaking up the hillside and disappearing out of view. It just seems like the perfect road to lead to some mysterious and potentially foreboding destination.

I normally don't like traveling alone but, occasionally, it allows some time for introspection. I zoned out while driving and really didn't even know where I was at when this view grabbed my attention. I was in a little bit of a hurry to get to my destination but I couldn't resist stopping to soak up the scene.

I turned my car off and stepped out to check it out and grab this pic. It was another place that was eerily quiet, the only thing I heard was the sound of gravels crunching beneath me as I walked toward the road.

I got to the foot of the hill and just paused. I took this picture then stood still scanning the whole scene. It was a little chilly but that mountain air was so crisp and clean that I closed my eyes and filled my lungs several times to absorb as much as I could.

I opened my eyes back up and just stood there a little longer just to get a little more of the experience. A lot of times in life you aren't aware that you're in "a moment" until it is over with, but this time I knew full well I was in this one.

I really don't need to see this picture because the memory is seared in my mind but I wanted to share it with y'all and I hope you like it.

Ashley McBryde and our collective faith journeys

There is no way that this post won't offend someone.

You have been warned.

When I started this blog a long time ago I made it a rule to not have anything posted that contained profanity. It's not that I'm a prude or that I never use profanity myself in speaking. It's more to the point that many good old people who live in the same social movements that I do say truthfully that cursing, or cussing, shows a lack of discipline and makes you untrustworthy. Cursing or cussing in excess is almost always done by men and is used, mostly unconsciously, to create and maintain spaces that exclude women. And if I go around talking about my religion or my politics or trying to make things better for working-class people or women or LGBTQIA+ people and I'm cussing, then folks will surely call me a hypocrite and shut down---and they would be right.

But here I am making an exception. Ashley McBryde is famous, but I know many people who do not know who she is or who don't appreciate her great talents. She does some cussing, though, and I guess that she does some hard drinking if one of the clips below is to be believed.

Put that to one side for a minute. Ashley McBryde is the daughter of a preacher and she comes from the southern white working-class. She has the right to react to where she comes from and to deal with the ambiguities we all live with but that we may not grasp or acknowledge. Many of her songs and her videos show particular sympathies for women in bad situations. There is despair and cynicism and tragedy in some of her music, but love isn't far away. And this is genuine, as you will hear if you listen to the interview clip below.

When I first heard some of Kelsey Waldon's edgier music a few years ago I stepped back a bit because I wasn't ready for it, despite her great politics and her roots in Kentucky. I stepped back up to her music, but it took a while. Ashley McBryde pushes things quite bit a further.

Here is why I like and respect McBryde's music and why I'm doing this post. Her music does come from the heart, I believe, but it also takes us in unexpected directions. The songs Jesus Jenny and Shut Up Sheila have pleas in them that ultimately creates roads that carry us on faith journeys if we let them and if we're honest with ourselves. Put your false piety away and listen. If you're living in a working-class world you will feel at least some of these lyrics, and the sound of that guitar may touch your heart as it touches mine. By the time we get to Bible and A .44 and Stone we're reaching into our pasts and into our inner lives and the lives of those around us who are suffering. I have not included her song Gospel Night At The Strip Club, but I think that that song helps make my case here. I'm much more offended by the social conditions and loss of connection that we all live with that McBryde describes so well than I am by her language.

Sometimes someone comes along who throws away pretensions and, intentionally or not, says or writes or paints or sings something that regrounds us. Some of those people become saints despite our shunning and censorship, or perhaps because of our shunning and censorship and hypocrisy. Many of McBryde's songs help me reground. Her cussing makes a point, but listen to what follows and how feelings change in her songs and the hard reality that we live in is acknowledged and regretted.

Ashley McBryde's brother Clay died by suicide in June 2018. A song called "Stone" from her new 'Never Will' album pays tribute to him but also dives into her own emotions. This interview appeared on Taste of Country.

Jesus Jenny (Acoustic)

Shut Up Sheila (Interview + Performance)

Bible and A .44

Stone (Acoustic) // Fireside Sessions

Some things to study on and smile on

 

Native American/Indigenous Spirituality From The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston

It has been a while since we posted anything from Native American/Indigenous Episcopalian priest The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston but his theology is never far from what this blog is about.

"The length of night is not measured by hours, but by the worry we carry with us into the darkness. For a burdened heart the minutes move more slowly than memory. The visual world recedes and we are left like watchmen to keep our lonely vigil high on the solemn walls of our fear. When you face a long night of your soul let go of time and kindle again the flame of hope entrusted to you by the Spirit. It never fails to burn bright. You are a keeper of that flame, a citizen of light only passing through the shadows on your way home.--1/6/23

"Please, Spirit, give me the energy I need to do what you would have me do. There are times when my intentions run ahead of my abilities. I bite off more than I can chew. I spread myself too thin. I become tired and things begin to slip. When that happens, I pray you will do a small intervention: breathe your strength and common sense into me and let me take up my mission with a renewed passion."---1/4/23

"Our song will go on, long after our voices are still. The sound of our joy will be carried on the wind, scattered through the forests, rising as high as the mountains, sparkling beneath the sun. Those of innocent heart and hopeful dreams will hear it. The poor and the lonely will hear it and find the promise they have been seeking. The faithful and the courageous will draw our sound in like a deep breath, so life-giving and eternal will be our song of praise."---1/3/23

"From the top of Rattlesnake Mountain you can see the white hem of world..." A teaching from Alberto Moreno

I have once more been gifted with permission from Alberto Moreno to post one of his poems and teachings here. This one takes my breath away. It's cleansing.

From the top of Rattlesnake Mountain you can see the white hem of world. From these rock outcrops I can spot elk migrating. Once I caught a glimpse of two mated lynx below me.

The basin sweeps out and up to the greater Colorado Rockies. Beyond this a crown of mountains encircle this part of the world.

I come up here to take in the sloping shape of the world, to take in the shape and feel of this new life.
The rocks are covered in a blanket of snow today and I don’t know how long I can “sit” for today.
I came up here today to take inventory of a life lived. But also to surrender to this ancestral medicine which now asks for me every week or two. As if it were saying, time for a divine adjustment, my beloved child.

My job is to drag my body up here and to sit for three or four hours while the medicine does it’s work.
It’s uncomfortable. As medicine is likely to be. I try to be a good patient. To this divine physician.
I tuck in my legs and my chin and surrender to this divine process.

When I come to, three hours later, the snow under me has melted. The sun now slung low on the horizon.

The adjustment however painful always feels loving.

I unfurl my legs from under me and begin to gaze upon the valley below.

And in the distance I can see something moving. Its a lanky slinky dark creature making its way over the snow blanketed landscape below.

It’s Coyote. And he’s on the hunt in this wintry tundra.

Coyote who brought us here. To El Norte. To El Otro Lado. It’s an auspicious omen on this Christmas Eve.

The wind begins to howl and I gather my things from the cold rock beneath me and begin to make my way down Rattlesnake Mountain, to a life waiting…

A.M

Native American and Indigenous wisdom

 

From The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston:

"Peace on Earth. Peace for every living thing. Peace among nations. Peace for our children. Peace in our future. Peace of heart and peace of mind. Peace to those I love and peace to those I find hard to love. Peace where there is conflict. Peace where there is hope. Peace as our vocation. Peace in all of our prayers. Peace on Earth."---Dec. 20

"Most of us have a miracle story we could share. It may not be as dramatic as parting the oceans, but it is a story we can tell because we were witnesses to the truth of it. One of my stories is actually not that unusual: a person diagnosed by medical science who suddenly and inexplicably made a recovery. I saw that happen more than once. Is it a miracle? Yes, I would say so, another small proof that there is more going on in life than we can understand much less control."---Dec. 19

"Like a silhouette against the sun I see you standing on the horizon, looking out into the shadowy expanse of time, arms outstretched as if in prayer or greeting. How long you have stood there I do not know, but I imagine it has been for a very long time, so deep is the desire of your heart, the longing for an answer to your appeal. Who are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? Only the Spirit knows. All I understand is that you will still be there when the moon reclaims the night, for I will be standing beside you."---Dec. 18

Blind Love by Sean Dietrich

Warning: This post contains details on animal abuse. It also contains a good deal about human-animal bonding and love. But if you're deeply troubled by animal abuse, this post is not for you.

I lifted this post from the Appalachian Americans Facebook page where it appeared with a byline of Sean Dietrich. The post caught my eye because I do love coonhounds. If you don't know it, there are six recognized breeds of coonhounds. If we put aside the cruelty of coon hunting we still have to reckon with a culture of story-telling, bragging, and beauty that has formed around coonhounds and their owners. It's an exceptionally lively and creative culture and very much a part of rural and working-class life. So steadfast are the relationships between these dogs and their owners that there is even a national coonhound cemetery in Alabama.

Mr. Dietrich takes us into a couple's warm relationship with a coonhound and he does that with a special skill for writing. I do understand what he's saying here. I always had a sense around the hounds that I was looking at long-ago history and deep knowledge working. Hearing them run through the forests at night, chopping and bawling as they went, so touched my heart with something akin to a spiritualty. But these dogs can do many things besides hunt. They can warm a home and melt hearts. They can help you find yourself.

My granddaddy said you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat a dog. Someone who treats a dog badly, is a bad person. Plain and simple. A person who treats a dog with regard and deference is a good egg.

Right now, my wife is holding our blind coonhound, Marigold. She holds our pet like a baby. Not like a dog.

The Christmas tree in our den is sparkling with twinkly lights. And my wife is stroking Marigold’s head. The same canine head that was smashed in by an abuser.

Marigold’s face was struck with a blunt object. Her optic nerve scarred over. She lost her vision. The doctor removed one eye. This week, Marigold has another ophthalmologist appointment. The doctor is likely going to tell us we need to remove the other eye, too. It doesn’t work, and it’s causing too much pain.

What probably happened, the vet said, is that someone paid a lot of money for this hunting dog, a high-dollar scent hound. But Marigold turned out to be gun shy. Loud sounds wreck her. Her abuser wasn’t happy about shelling out thousands of bucks for a dog who doesn’t like noise.

So he took his frustration out on the animal. He used a hard object. A length of rebar, maybe. Perhaps the butt of a rifle. Maybe a two-by-four.

My wife is softly humming to Marigold. “I love you,” she is quietly singing.

Life with a blind dog is tricky. It’s not like having a regular dog in the house. When we feed Marigold treats, for example, you have to touch her nose and let her know you’re near. Then, Marigold simply opens her mouth wide and hopes like crazy that someone will place the food into her mouth.

“Please feed me,” is what she’s saying. “I don’t know where you are, but I’m opening my mouth to make it easier for you.”

Marigold’s internal schedule is all screwed up, too, because blind dogs can’t sense light or darkness. So they have no idea what time it is. Sometimes Marigold wakes up at 3 a.m. and starts licking my face. And I start cussing and I say, “Please go back to bed.” Whereupon Marigold barks with glee. Because there is nothing half as fun as waking Dad at 3 a.m.

But, oh, how we love this animal. And nobody loves her more than my wife.

We don’t have kids. Once upon a time, we tried to have kids, but the doctor said sometimes couples just can’t have them. As a result, my wife and I have a huge vacuum in our hearts.

Because of this, sometimes we fall deeply in love with other people’s children. And it’s embarrassing because they aren’t our kids, and people look at us funny for being obsessed with someone else’s child.
It seems wrong that people who love kids so much can’t have them. But that’s the way life works.

Our most recent dog, Marigold, has satisfied a deep paternal need within us. My wife and I have never had a deeper bond with an animal. It’s astounding.

Because this blind dog needs us for everything. Marigold can’t do anything by herself.

She needs us for simple tasks like finding her food bowl, or walking down a flight of stairs. We hold her when she has nightmares—which is common for blind animals. We talk to her all the time, so she knows where we are.

It’s been the most rewarding animal relationship I’ve ever had. Hands down. Loving this dog has changed me as a human being.

And whenever I see Marigold crawl onto my wife’s lap; when I see this woman speak softly to this wounded animal; when I see her stroke Marigold’s fur and kiss her broken skull, I feel something profound inside.

Jamie Dietrich cradles our blind dog like a mother. She carries Marigold down staircases. She holds the animal like an infant. Like a mother would.

She kisses the mangled scars where Marigold’s eye used to be.

“Oh, I love you so much,” whispers my wife. She is a woman who is filled with compassion and goodwill. And she has proven to me that my grandfather was absolutely right.

Happy 20th anniversary, Jamie.

Native American and Indigenous Wisdom

 “Essence Of Life” by Mi’kmaq Artist Shianne Gould

Raymond Robinson of Cross Lake had been been fasting alongside Theresa Spence. He was 10 hours behind her without eating, during the January 11 march to Parliament Hill in 2013. I was Theresa's eagle staff carrier and made sure to walk alongside him and Jean, the other faster.

During a stop to allow those behind to catch up, Raymond crouched. Wincing, he said he wasn't feeling well. He got up and walked when the rally proceeded, but stopped again. He said he was light-headed and had a pain in his abdomen. Police asked if he wanted a ride back to camp but he said no.
He recovered a bit and marched on.

A block later, he stopped again. I thought for sure he wouldn't be able to go any further. The whole rally stopped, the organizer saying, “We won't leave a warrior behind.”

Then the organizer called for women drummers to come up. Within a minute we were encircled by these women, singing for Raymond. I stood behind him and a woman asked me to move. She had her hand extended toward him. “I'm praying for him”, she said. Another woman smudged him with sage.
The song stopped. Raymond got up for a second but bent back down. It wasn't looking good. Then he stood up again. He looked behind and put his arm in the air, acknowledging the crowd and telling them he was okay.

He never showed weakness again during the march and proceeded with the rally with more energy than ever, shouting "You can't stop me, Harper" and the like. He went on to deliver a speech at Parliament Hill. It was amazing to see that, the power of the women and the drums. I'll never forget it.
~Lenny Carpenter

Note: All of the above images come from the Standing Bear Network on Facebook. These images, and everything posted on this blog from Native American and Indigenous sources, are posted here because I regard them as necessary to healthy spiritual growth, political consciousness, and reparations. We can't go through our lives as healthy and whole people without the meaning of these images and theses words being central to our lives.

Stillness, silence, solitude and darkness

"Stillness, silence, solitude and darkness have long been pathways to wisdom, visions, dreams, and messages from the mystery. We see this in traditional rites of passage that involve spending time alone in nature for a time, in spiritual traditions that require periods of complete solitude, or practices that focus on silence or deep nature immersion. These experiences allow us to access longings, memories, intuitions, and messages that are inaccessible in everyday life."

Kristen Roderick, Excerpt from online course Union: Rituals of Remembering through the Seasons

Some things to laugh about and some things to think about

 

"In life everything is a matter of finding balance."

From Steven Charleston

Helping me stay focused on my spiritual commitment is the thought that somewhere out there someone is waiting for me to act. Like a ripple effect, what I do now will impact others, until like dominoes falling each individual action will create a momentum. The momentum of justice, of healing, of reconciliation: somewhere in the world people are waiting for me to take one more step forward. The rest will be up to a plan far greater than I may ever understand.---December 7


If you do nothing more than be a kind and caring person, in my eyes you are a person worthy of acclaim. We should celebrate your accomplishment and honor your name. Most of us know the reason why. It is not easy to follow a spiritual path. It is not easy to live in an ethical and compassionate way. There are many sacrifices that are required. Many obstacles to be overcome. A holy life is an aware life, disciplined and intentional. So if you achieve that: I would say you are a great success.---December 6


Someone knows. Someone knows your story. Someone of absolute trustworthiness and unconditional love. When you are seeking support in your life turn to this source. Receive the presence of wisdom and of comfort. Feel a sense of renewal. You do not ever have to explain or justify yourself. Someone already knows and cares for you all the more.---December 5


Sometimes it is not the big things that get you as much as the little things. The seemingly endless conveyor belt of little issues, needs, problems and distractions that keep coming while you try to stay focused on the bigger needs of life. World peace gets swallowed up by the hot water heater breaking down. Environmental justice gets delayed while you cope with car trouble. It’s the little stuff that gets you. So here is a blessing for everyone trying to contend with the everyday headaches of life: may you be lifted out of your daily problems, until you can catch your breath, and see your way forward to calmer ground.---December 4

Think about it, smile about it, pray on it, pass it on or leave it on the shelf...

(Some of my friends will get this, some won't.)