Reflections: Weavers of Shadow and Light
From my archives
1: Reflections: the balance of dark and light (June 2016)
From my archives 2:
October titles poem
New book collaboration:
Love Letters from the Future
One to one Coaching:
"Your Powerful Voice" Coaching Programme, special offer held open for
you
Reflections: Weavers
of Shadow and Light
I know, have
always known, that I am a weaver - someone who creates connections for people.
Someone who weaves stories in words, through photographs, in art, in energy.
And it is only fairly recently that I have come to appreciate how I can use my
weaver's skill to help myself, and others, particularly in these strange times
we are living through.
In various conversations and meditations over the last week or so, this phrase
arose: "Weavers of Shadow and Light". It has now become the theme for
the next Dare to Blossom Circle, running for six weeks from 26th October.
Here is how I began the piece on the website:
If you are here,
ready to find out how to become a Weaver of Shadow and Light, know that you are
truly already a powerful weaver.
Whether we do
this consciously or not, each of us weaves our lives, moment by moment, day by
day. Sometimes our weave is unbalanced, distorted even, by the efforts we make
to hide those parts of us we feel are wrong, or shameful, or not acceptable.
Too much, too little. Too loud, too quiet. Too tall, too short.
We judge
ourselves all the time, as we also judge others around us. All of this is
natural, and yet, when we become more aware, and consciously choose the threads
we choose to weave, we can alter this.
We can welcome
all parts of ourselves with love and care. We can weave those 'darker' shades
in amongst the light to add depth, to add balance, to add beauty.
Personally, I am
often afraid of the dark - whether that is literally the dark of night, or the
emotional shadows that I hesitate to uncover.
Yet we cannot be
whole without them. I know, have always known, that I am a weaver - someone who
creates connections for people. Someone who weaves stories in words, through
photographs, in art, in energy. And it is only fairly recently that I have come
to appreciate how I can use my weaver's skill to help myself, and others,
particularly in these strange times we are living through.
(Outline details here, more to
follow soon). I have two taster circles on Zoom coming up, (before the new six
week Circle begins on 26th October), on Monday 19th October at 7.30 pm UK time,
and on Thursday 22nd October at 2.30 pm - and that second day and time will be
the same for the regular weekly gatherings. Contact me by replying to this
email if you would like details of the Zoom links for those, or to find out
more. The fee for the six weeks is £98, with a discount for people who have
taken part in previous programmes with me.
As I was writing here, now for this newsletter, I was sure I
had written about something like this before. it took me a while to find it,
from June 2016:
From my archives 1: June 2016 Reflections:
the balance of dark and light
Everywhere in life there are opposites: hot/cold, night/day, summer/winter,
sweet/sour, wet/dry, up/down, north/south, east/west, and black (or dark) and
light. Some of these are observable, many are subjective: one person's 'hot' is
another's 'cold' (or cool at least).
As human beings trying to make sense of our lives the tendency is to make
judgements based on past experience. This can mean that what is happening to me
now, in this instant, the only moment that is actually 'real' - this instant is
seen through a filter of assumptions. These may, or may not serve me well. Some
have been acquired through my own physical experiences, and others learned from
those around me. If all those people who influenced me as I was growing up as a
young child believed that a certain thing was 'good' and another thing 'bad' -
it can be very hard for me to un-learn those prejudices - in the sense of
'pre-judgements. (I find it interesting that I have to explain that - am I
'prejudiced' against the word 'prejudice'? And, I feel I need to say, I am very
purposefully writing in the first person today to do my best not to assume that
anyone else makes the same 'pre-judgements' as I do).
What I can be doing is making assumptions that one thing is 'right' and
therefore the other, the opposite, must be 'wrong'. I come to see more clearly
now that usually I benefit from some of each quality. This is necessary to
enjoy the temperate maritime climate here in Cornwall - I love the
sunshine, and I know that rain is needed to enable the land to remain as green
and fertile as it is, so I wouldn't say rain is 'bad'.
So, when it comes to black and white or dark and light, as in the title of
these reflections today, there are so many centuries of culture, tradition,
superstition, story-telling behind me, that it is an interesting exercise to
tease out some of what I feel about those terms. The picture shows our 'yin
yang' garden just after it was freshly laid last year.
This definition, found on Google, illustrates the point I am trying to make:
"In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (also yin-yang or yin yang, 陰陽 yīnyáng
"dark—bright") describes how opposite or contrary forces are actually
complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how
they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another."
Coming back to complete these reflections after a gap of twenty-four hours, I
have had the phrase 'from black and white to colour' running through my mind.
It is the title of a book by Richard Wilkins (he is very active on Facebook,
and his website is here.) I met Richard sometime in the 1990s, and he was, and has
been ever since, a great inspiration. This little book is a collection of his
poems and sayings drawn from his own experience of getting to rock bottom and
finding the only way was up.
I think the thought I am stumbling towards is this: life truly is never black
and white. There many shades of grey between those extremes. And, if I am able
to choose to see life this way, there is an infinite variety of glorious
colours too. Science shows many more that my human eyes cannot detect.
................................................................................
As often happens for me, sharing my flow writing, my personal process, with you
is beginning to feel exposed and a little scary. I have lost the thread of the
point I was making here, starting off to talk about black and white. Or is it
necessary to have a 'point' at all? To answer myself, yes, sometimes,
absolutely - if I need to convince someone or explain something clearly. And
also, no - not here, not today. I feel no need to be 'right'; no impulse to
show that someone else may be 'wrong'.
Those "contrary forces" that "are actually complementary,
interconnected, and interdependent" contain gifts in their
interdependence. Maybe venturing into the dark, the shadow, within me will
allow me to see things that the sunshine of the light obscures in dazzling
brightness?
.....................................................................
Another break. A walk on the cliffs this morning. Some extraordinary insights -
which will need me to spend some time with in meditation before I write
anything I feel able to share about them. The images I saw were about going
deep within - inside the earth, or inside myself - into the dark. Emerging
changed by the dark, and by treasures - the jewels, the crystals - of light I
found there.
For you, for your journal or meditation practice:
- if any phrase or word resonates with you from this piece, choose to flow
write or meditate on those words
- what emerges for you?
- what gifts can you find within?
- do you wish to paint, draw, collage - express this visually in some way?
From my archives: October titles poem
Changing seasons
Abundance in the midst of change
Stretching
Respect
Mystery
Pruning
Losing track of time
Driving into Fog
Harvest
Gone to Seed
Mystery
Allowing the flow
The space between ripening and harvest
Shifting Seasons
Journeys
Journeys
Shifting Seasons
The space between ripening and harvest
Allowing the flow
Gone to Seed
Harvest
Driving into Fog
Losing track of time
Pruning
Respect
Stretching
Abundance in the midst of change
Changing seasons
New book collaboration: Love Letters from
the Future
I have contributed a chapter, and a piece of artwork, to this
new collaboration by Soleira Green and the Bright Futures Collective. There is
a competition to write your own Love Letter and potentially win a package of
books from the authors in our group (including my 'The Powerful Voice of the
Quiet Ones') and a fine art print from Fleur Barnfather. You
enter the competition via the Facebook Group. (click on the image to go
there)
To buy a copy in full colour print or on Kindle, visit Amazon
(or other booksellers).
Again, click on the image below:
One to one Coaching: "Your Powerful Voice" Coaching
Programme - special offer held open for you
Maybe groups are not for you? Maybe you don't wish to be on
Facebook? Or you would like to dive deeper into this work for yourself? I offer
one to one sessions on Zoom in a six session programme, around the theme
of "Your Powerful Voice". We will follow the same flow as in the
group work, around the points of the Compass Rose, beginning and ending in your
centre point, in Peace. One question people often ask is: "Can I choose my
own theme?" Yes, absolutely - the one to one sessions are your time to use
exactly as you want. Having said that, I know from my sessions with my own
coaches that I may begin with a topic in mind, only to find that we end up
somewhere completely different, often having answered my questions in an
unexpected way. Therefore, this programme, designed over my years of experience,
is proven to help people arrive where they want to be, even if they don't know
where that is at the beginning.
Here are the details -
if you visit soon, there is a special offer on the full programme, and also on
a one-session trial special
here. The website gives the closing date as 30th September, but if you
contact me as soon as possible, I will be able to offer you a place at those
prices.
At any time, you can book a twenty minute complimentary consultation. Contact me here.
This process can change your life if you choose, why not give it a try? If not
now, then when?
Thank you dear friends for visiting with me again this month and sharing my musings.
Until next time,
with love,
Mary
