Okay… word junkie that I am, I looked it up! Latin. French.

To form a mental image of. To represent to oneself. There are also, according to the elves in my phone, connections, in Hebrew… to form and fashion… to squeeze into shape as a potter does with clay!

And, yes! I’ll bet you can guess where this is going!!!

Straight to the place where the season of Advent begins, slightly belatedly this year, in my heart and our home!

There I sat, a stranger in a strange (cold!) land called Hungary, on the floor of a local artisans shop, digging ever so gently through baskets of kings and shepherds and angels… choosing my hand made, clay, nativity figures.

It was January of 1989, months before the Eastern Block fell. And my tears flowed as I tried to grasp the courage of those artists, making nativity figures in a time and place when Religious Education was against the law! (Though making money off the stories was, apparently, permitted by the autocracy.)

And, yes… I’ve told this story time after time, since then.

And, yes… this year it feels different. And I am listening, deep.

The literal path my three kings have set out on is in a different location this year. Somehow, I need them to be where I can see them from the magic chair, for it feels as though I’m going to be there a good bit.

In Feng Shui land, their new place would be associated with abundance which feels both ironic and hopeful, just now, in this time where it seems like an abundance of courage is just what we need!

The Wise Ones came from people who had been watching the stars for generations. Astronomers. Hoping. Waiting.

And, it seems to me that we, too, have a road of hoping and waiting ahead of us.

The question seems to be…

What will we follow, along the way?

Frankly, I don’t know squat about astronomy or astrology, though I have noticed that I’m curious!

I’m not much good with compass directions, either.

I am good at noticing and wondering!!! And, more and more, I’m getting good at learning from my dreams.

I even have a name for where I’m headed, however rocky and twisted the path may seem.

Fred’s place! The place where I am called!!!

And, here’s my symbolic map. Really!

For now, though, I can hear the paintbrushes calling my name. What is calling you???

ps… I’d really love to know what’s calling you! 45 minutes. My gift. You & your big dreams. Me & my medicine basket. A cuppa. Paper and markers… or eyebrow pencils if that’s what you have! Some red thread if it’s handy… to get one step clearer!!!  Just click here and ask the calendar elves to hook you up!

pps… today, I mailed copies of A Creation Poem… to 3 different states! Huge fun!!! And, I’d love to mail some to you, or the Littles you love! I have art I’d love to mail you, too! So… the elves have automatic discounts set up just for you. Buy 2 copies of my new children’s book and get a third one free! And/or choose anything from Original Paintings, Archival Prints, or the Special Collection by my dear friend, August Venuh, and get 25 % off your choices. You just click here to fill up your basket and the elves will do the math! They’re really excited to help you, so fix yourself a cuppa and wander in the wonder! It’s time to deck the walls!!!

We are going on one of those Squeegie Hunts! I’m not afraid!

You don’t need to be, either. Really! At the moment, we’re just talking dreams. Early Saturday morning…

… I heard Ben Kline’s voice. Ben was one of my heroes at Columbia Theological Seminary. Theology professor. Occasional President and perpetual do-er of things that needed doing. King of the Listening Ears! And former Dean from Agnes Scott College, just down the road.

One day Ben was telling us of the night he had Robert Frost as a guest at Agnes Scott. Frost was, by request, reciting his poem, The Road Not Taken… which I’ve taken the liberty of re-arranging just a bit for space:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and, sorry I could not travel both, and be one traveler, long I stood… And looked down one as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth; then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim, because it was grassy and wanted wear… Though as for that the passing there, had worn them really about the same, and both that morning equally lay, In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh, Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference!

I had chills all those years ago, as I listened to Ben’s recollections… long before I had come to understand that they were signs of something that mattered deep inside me. You see, I – single mom seminary student – was very much on the road not taken – at least in my experience and time!

When I heard it again, in this moment of dreaming, 30-some years later, it was even more clear, and there were, indeed, more chills.

There was another voice, as well. One you’ve heard me quote many times… Theologian & fabulous author, Frederick Buechner:

The place where we are called is where our deep longing and the world’s deep need meet.

I’m betting you can guess why that might sound different in the context of now, than it ever has before! In many ways, there isn’t a road for now. Not an existing one, at least. But there is, if we will see it, a map!

For me, it’s a choice, in the place where the road diverges, between the way we’ve always done it and the way my heart and soul are called, which feels like both the road less traveled by and the place where my deep longing and the world’s deep need meet.

My inner librarian, though, was not finished! We needed tools for the road!!!

#Filters, for sure! My Map of Reality. Some red ink, for editing, which often sounds scary but is, actually the best part!

And my Medicine Basket, ready for experimenting with new strategies! As you may have guessed, it was quite the Red Thread circle! And there was space, too, for Emmi, the grand-puppy, who laid next to me, where I could feel her ribs moving as she breathed in and out. Literal – and mystical – INSPIRATION!

Mostly, in this moment, I have questions! And that’s totally okay with me because they’re my consciously chosen questions, which experience suggests work way better for this kind of journey than the external kind which generally come with tons of vested interest and someone else’s desired outcomes!

One of those questions is, obviously, Why? That one’s easy… Because my Littles and all our Littles need a world where they know they matter, each in their own way, and we Bigs have a whole lot of work to do on that!

Another question is, How long will it take?

That one’s more complicated! As long as I have breath is one answer, but it may not be enough, so I’m going with helping folks just like you set out on your version of the same journey… the road less taken… to the place where your deep longing and the world’s deep need meet.

We’ll probably need to set down some of the things from our pre-conscious medicine baskets, and make space for new tools and perceptions for the roads we’re choosing, which is totally okay! Old, ineffective medicine makes great compost, which helps the new world grow!

ps… there’s still time! It’s Giving Thanks Weekend! And, there are great deals for you at FierceArtWithHeart.com Use code Giving Thanks Weekend to save 25% on items in the Original Paintings & Hat Heaven collections – even those already discounted! And/or… purchase 2 copies of my new children’s book, A Creation Poem… and get a 3rd copy FREE! Just put 3 in your basket and the elves will make the magic! Hurry, though… the discounts expire on Dec 2 at 11:59pm ET.

pps… there’s still more time! 45 minutes. My gift. You & your big dreams. Me & my medicine basket. A cuppa. Paper and markers… or eyebrow pencils if that’s what you have! Some red thread if it’s handy. Just click here and ask the calendar elves to hook you up!

And I am declaring that today is National Pie Day… at least in my family. You and yours are totally invited!!!

Granny Elizabeth made fabulous pie crust. Gramma Elsie was so dedicated that she rode through the cornfields on the back of my uncle’s motorcycle, an apple pie in each hand, lest the Wednesday night dinner folks be deprived of pie when the farm truck broke down.

The menu for this year includes apple, pecan, pumpkin, and key lime… really! Fortunately, we have many hands! (And no motorcycles!)

The grand-dog, Emmi, seems content with a basket of stuffed toys and frozen things to be gnawed on!

I did take a bit of time, earlier, to hang in Zoom land with my friend – sister – teacher, Shiloh Sophia McCloud, for a bit of reflecting that used to feel outside my tradition.

Yep! Mother Mary Oracle Cards! (The Pilgrims and the folks who, as we say in the South, raised me right will get over it!) It’s actually another way of thinking about Filters! and you know how big a deal that is around here!

You’re probably busy so I won’t line it all out, though it was great! Let’s just say lots of questions were involved and you know how I love that!

I will share my biggest inner take-away…

I release feeling the fear and I am open to something new!

You, I suspect, get how big an affirmation that might feel like in the context of this moment! (See, it really is a Filters! thing!!!) The best word I know for what I’m feeling is #QUICKENING!!! (Stay tuned!)

For now, though… pie! Just think of the days before super-markets! Days when food needed to be gathered and preserved, lest loved ones be hungry before there was more. What a perfect job for pie! And a way to value and include people with special favorites!

It’s also a fabulous way to get everybody involved in creation! Too young for stoves? Toss apple slices with cinnamon & sugar. Crimp the edges of the crust. You hear me… ways for our Littles to really contribute!

And, when they get a bit older, as ours seem to be doing rapidly, ways for them to express themselves!

Somewhere in time, I suspect the ancestors are smiling, even though there are some things we’re sharing that aren’t the way we’ve always done it!

Sending much love and hope to you and yours! And, the possibility of something new, in just the way you’d welcome!

ps… curious? There may be some new openings for #Quickening after the holiday! I’ll gladly keep you posted!

pps… what if you could help your Littles claim their place in beginnings & belonging, stay warm this winter, support an independent artist, and save money??? You can! Click here to be magically transported to FierceArtWithHeart! Then, choose an utterly unique hat or hats and add them to your basket. Then, choose the same number of copies of A Creation Poem… as you chose hats and add those to your basket. The elves will automatically make the books free. (One hat/one book… two hats/two books…) And, hurry! This offer is only good as long as their are hats available! And browse a bit… awesome gifts for everybody, from art mugs to art leggings and original paintings!

You know how it goes… checking recipes, probably some laundry, several verses of the way we’ve always done it…

Not to mention a knee cap feeling way more mobile than one might hope. And lists of things that don’t take time off for the holiday we, in the USA, think of as Thanksgiving. Or, what some of my friends are referring to as Day of Gratitude!

I’ll admit that there seem to be more challenges this year than my Mayflower ancestors probably imagined. It’s a context thing. And, at least for me, The National Dog Show – as much fun as that is – isn’t going to filter out all the chaos coming at us.

All of which brings me to one of my favorite filters… STRATEGIES!

The face you see, above, is one of my strategies! She’s known as The #Muse and, if you squint a bit, you’ll see some white marks near her eyes and beside her nose. Those are three different words having to do with seeing, in Greek.

Under her left eye – to your right – is Blepo… the first word I actually understood in Greek School. It means I see and I recognized it from the names of things I helped eye surgeons to do.

Above her right eye is Horao, which means to see with the mind… to perceive or know.

The one along her nose is Ginosko or – as you’ve no doubt guessed – gnosis… which has more to do with experiential knowledge or sensory perception… to learn to know!!!

All of which boils down, for me, to remembering to see in as many ways as we are able.

And, if you’re anything like me, it may also mean being intentionally conscious about what we’re choosing to let in, in this moment.

So, while I’ll gladly set some places for the Mayflower crowd at our table, I’ll also remember – intentionally – that they weren’t the only important ones there and they, likely, weren’t the ones bringing most of the food!

And then there are more ancestors. The ones before the ones before the whole Mayflower bit. Way before! And, right now, I’m extremely thankful for my latest paint journey! Officially, she is/they are #Legend Time-Traveler.

In my heart, they are Elsie. My story Gramma, and the connection I know best to all the way-back folks. Officially, they have been christened The Time Returns.

I never dreamed, when I began this #Legend adventure, that there would be images of three beings where I meant there to be one. (Well, four beings, really. We’ll get to that in a minute!) All I know is that they represent generations of living, breathing, dreaming humans who came before me.

When I was a little girl, Elsie told me that, when I saw Cardinals in the garden, they were ancestors coming back to check on me. And, now, I tell that same story to my grands!

Which brings us to the fourth being, near the bottom. That one I put there, intentionally, out of huge hope for the ones who are here now and those who will come after us… finding knowing out of the questions we are asking now, and encouraging them to ask!

And, yes, there’s a big reason for the Red Book in their medicine basket, but we’ll get to that another day.

For this moment, I am grateful for those who came before me. For the lessons I am learning from their stories. Some tragic. Some infuriating. Some em-power-ing. All knowledge to be put to work or intentionally placed in the archives, depending on what I’m trying to accomplish.

What are you trying to accomplish???

Claiming IT is the next right thing!

ps… want a witness for what you’re claiming? Some help on the next next right thing? Let’s talk! 45 min. My gift. Just click here and the calendar elves will be delighted to hook you up! I’ll bring all the gnosis in my Medicine Basket. You bring a cuppa, some paper and a pen or marker, and a bit of Red Thread if it’s handy! We’ve got this!!!

pps… the shop elves would love to meet you, too! And the buy a hat – get a book free deal is still on… but hurry! It only lasts until the last hat is adopted! Just click here to be magically transported… then, add one hat, from the Hat Heaven category, and one copy of A Creation Poem… to the goodies in your basket and the elves will do the rest! Buy 2 hats… get 2 books free, etc.

This week I’ve been having flashbacks to my graduation from nursing school, in 1982. Mostly the bright, shiny pin and the extremely impractical, awkward, uncomfortable hat!

If you asked me what I missed most about being a nurse, I’d tell you two things. Summer Camp! And, advocating for my patients which – in a several instances – led to lives being saved. And, yes. I’m utterly aware of the magnitude of that statement, especially since those particular instances sometimes included being told I didn’t get paid to think!

It would be totally reasonable to wonder what brought up nursing school in the midst of the chaos of this moment. The answer is simple. I graduated, again, and there were no extremely uncomfortable hats involved!

At some point, an official certificate will arrive in the mail. For this moment, the moose in the painting is handing out flowers and congratulations, for I am now, officially, an Intentional Creativity® Cura, which means care, concern, or attention. Or, healing. Specifically, it means that there is another huge notion of medicine painting in my basket!

I think that’s probably why the moose appeared, magically, along the way. Not by intentional placement, but by noticing, which is one of my favorite medicines.

Curious? Let’s look up moose spirit animal…

Here’s what I found… strength, resilience, and adaptability. It is often associated with wisdom, nobility, and the ability to navigate through life’s challenges with grace.

I’ll totally grant you that those words feel extremely optimistic at this moment in time. Also, really helpful!!! In fact, I might go as far as saying that the moose may have begun to appear, all those months ago, to help us be ready for these days! And, just between us, I’m pretty psyched!

You see… there’s more school on my list! (The sound you hear is the Legendary Husband laughing himself silly in utter lack of surprise!)

This adventure, though, has a bit of a way-back machine thing going for it. You see, just after 9/11, I spent a year at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Well, literally, I spent much of it getting back & forth from here to there and trying to learn to live in a dorm again. I also encountered Carl Jung!

Just between us, I don’t think I had adequate filters for that particular Red Book in those days. And I’ve learned a whole lot, since then, about another Red Book. Much to my amazement – they have some connections!

I’m beginning to have a sense, though, of why Red Books have been “following me around” as my filters open to new truths. And relatives!

For this moment, though, I’m counting, with all my heart, on the symbol in the top right of the Moose’s world… It means:

As above, so below…

That, however, is a story for another day. For this moment, homemade soup and some rest for my hand. There’s more painting to do!

ps… just in case you’re hoping to raise the next generation of Good Trouble folks, this book is a great way to start! Let’s help all our Littles know they belong!!! And, if you’re in the mood to shop unique arts, there’s lots more cool stuff waiting for you, along with the books, at FierceArtWithHeart! (Also, some warm stuff!)

Yep… dreaming! The kind that feels a lot like scrap quilting!

First, a word… Comfort.

Then, a few more words… Comfort. Comfort my people.

Then, a bit of kinesthetic input. Pee! Thus, a quick trip down the hall, and a climb back into bed, for my dream wanted to be sure I’d remember.

I felt a bit like Nancy Drew, with a mystery. One of my favorite tricks for capturing dream messages is finger-spelling.

When I was in fourth grade, we lived near Chicago and a neighbor, whose dad taught hearing impaired students, taught me the alphabet in American Sign Language. Through the years, I learned some words as well… most of them of either the pre-school or 4-letter sort. For dreaming, though, it’s finger-spelling. Like Comfort.

A bit later – about half way through my first cup of tea – I went hunting the Hebrew. As I guessed, there are several variations. The one that was looking for me is pronounced nakham. And it means comfort that comes out of sorrow!

And that led me to Joan Baez, singing Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

I know. This all sounds a bit strange. It’s just the way things work for me, especially when Grandmother Moon is in charge of the dreaming.

By the time I finished my second cup of tea, my #Legend work-in-progress painting joined the party, insisting that we add a blue moon to the canvas. More research was in order!

Turns out that blue moons are rare – as in once in a blue moon – and can symbolize transformation and growth. Also a time for renewed opportunities and second chances!!!

And, yes… this is still more stuff we didn’t cover in nursing school or seminary! I like learning new things!

Apparently, my #Legend painting does, too! At the very least, we’re claiming new questions, like:

What meaning might we make from such a dream at such a time???

Here’s my best understanding, after wandering with some wise women and doing more thinking with paint…

Almost all of us could use some comfort in this moment. Even those of us who haven’t realized it yet!

In order for it to be real, more of that comfort is going to need to bloom out of the place where sorrow and determination join to create newness, than out of hiding or bingeing on shortbread cookies.

One power-full way to start is by acknowledging and releasing what we’re really feeling. Paint… Poetry…. Screaming in the shower… Crying on the beach…

Then, hang words on one step forward. Nap. Hug. Contribution. Conversation about options.

Then, when you’re ready… questions. Could you? Would you? When?

By this point, we’re already wiser and, quite probably, less stuck! And, quite possibly, ready for a nap! (Yep! Projection!!!)

One more big thing… according to hebrewwordlessons.com, the words comfort and rest come from the same root! And, as one student of the sacred stories – St. Hildegard of Bingen – explained it:

God hugs you. You are encircled by the arms of the mystery of God.

Which isn’t a bad place to start if we’re dreaming of comfort, no matter our languages or traditions!

Courage seems like a decent next step, so… here she is! My nowhere near finished teacher named #Legend…

ps… here’s another next step, especially if you care about helping our Littles feel like they belong! A glimpse of my new book: A Creation Poem… “Creator looked on their world with all its living things, and Creator said, ‘We’re lonely, still.’ Then Creator sat down on the side of a hill where they could think. By a deep, wide river they sat down with their head in their hands. Creator thought and thought, ’til they thought, ‘We’ll make us a human!'” Just click here to get yours in time for the holidays!