Musings From The Trail

Musings From The Trail

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Stay With That Shakiness

January 10, 2021 by Nancy Lankston Leave a Comment

“Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about.

…To stay with that shakiness — to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge — that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic — this is the spiritual path. Getting the knack of catching ourselves, of gently and compassionately catching ourselves, is the path of the warrior. We catch ourselves one zillion times as once again, whether we like it or not, we harden into resentment, bitterness, righteous indignation — harden in any way, even into a sense of relief, a sense of inspiration.”

~ Pema Chodron,
When Things Fall Apart
Heart Advice for Difficult Times

Grief Work

December 18, 2020 by Nancy Lankston Leave a Comment

If you come as softly
As wind within the trees
You may hear what I hear
See what sorrow sees.
If you come as lightly
As threading dew
I will take you gladly
Nor ask more of you.
You may sit beside me
Silent as a breath
Only those who stay dead
Shall remember death.
And if you come I will be silent
Nor speak harsh words to you.
I will not ask you why, now.
Or how, or what you do.
We shall sit here, softly
Beneath two different years
And the rich earth between us
Shall drink our tears.

~Audre Lorde

Kiss Your Demons and Heal

December 12, 2020 by Nancy Lankston Leave a Comment

This is a good morning to kiss your demons
and change them into dark angels.
Do not drive them away or they will return.
Lust is not a demon but a dark angel filled
with un-created star nectar.
Anger is not a demon but a dark angel of healing fire
dancing in your amygdala.
Grief is not a demon but a dark angel bearing
seven oceans of love in one jar.
The demon of depression who lives underground
keeps Wisdom hostage, binding
her dark angel bones in delicious mycelia.
The dark angel of addiction brings gifts
under one broken wing, and uses the other
to help you fly, for one of yours is broken too.
If you do not bow to your dark angels, they will
possess you and you will have to act them out.
So breathe them in, let them become your
shouts and sighs, pants of lust and terror
in your lungs. Now exhale and dissolve them
into the clear ocean of awakening.
They don’t possess you, you possess them.
Your dark angels have become the blue sky,
a swirl of hummingbirds, tree frogs
discussing everything. But beware
of enlightened teachers who claim no darkness.
They will lead you into a deeper darkness,
the shadow that hides from itself.
Against your beautiful demons a true teacher
will never set your heart.
A true teacher will empower you to kiss them
with that kiss which the mind gives
to its most terrible thoughts,
so that names, images, teeth marks, hieroglyphs
of veins scrawled on the cave of your liver,
neurons twisted into Sanskrit
etching ancient spells into your hippocampus,
the rippling gristle-flower of sound in your bellybutton,
all disappear into one Body, this Body,
where you taste the starless wine of night itself
and give birth to tomorrow’s sun.

~Fred LaMotte

🌙

Image: Michelangelo

The Power of the Feminine

December 3, 2020 by Nancy Lankston Leave a Comment

“This is the core of our task: to respect and revere ourselves,
and so bring about a world in which women are

respected and revered, recognized once again
as holding the life-giving power of the earth itself.”

~Sharon Blackie

☾☽

Image from Institute of Shamanic Medicine

The Blanket Around Her

November 17, 2020 by Nancy Lankston Leave a Comment

maybe it is her birth
which she holds close to herself
or her death
which is just as inseparable
and the white wind
that encircles her is a part
just as the blue sky
hanging in turquoise from her neck
oh woman
remember who you are
woman
it is the whole earth

~ Joy Harjo

🌎

Photo by Ruthie Martin
on Unsplash

New Moon in Scorpio

November 14, 2020 by Nancy Lankston Leave a Comment

New moon in Scorpio, queen of watery depths, secrets, storms and magic. Jupiter and Pluto are playing together. Mars just went direct and Venus passed through a moon gate…

Whew. If you’re feeling wrung out and emotionally exhausted, you are not alone. What a wild and stormy time!

Create a calm, quiet space to nest and rest. Think soft blankets, warm comfort foods, happy movies, slow walks in nature, long hot baths. Nurture yourself. And if tears come, allow them to flow. Scorpio can be quite wet and watery.

Every new moon is a wonderful time to set intentions for the next cycle. After nesting and resting awhile, consider what you want to focus on or create in the next month.

🌙❤️

Prayer to the Mother

October 28, 2020 by Nancy Lankston Leave a Comment

Sacred Mother
give me roots within your heart.
Let my mind and imagination soar in the vastness of you.
Let my words and actions express your peace, your joy, your wisdom.

Mama, wrap your energy around me
and pull me all the way
into you.

☾☽

Photo: Altar to the Earth Mother,2016
by Nancy Lankston

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