Category: Grandmothers

#Magic!ContemplationsFilters!GrandmothersMedicine Basket

Creation Continues!

Posted on by sue boardman

I’ll bet I’m not the only one who’s noticed that the world feels bat-crap crazy! In fact, I’ll go so far as to be pretty certain that you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t feeling it, too. And, just between us, I’m not enjoying it!

I can’t help in all the ways I’d like to. Marching on No Kings Day is not a practical option just now. Neither is demanding leaders who actually care and think, though supporting the ones who do helps. Food bank contributions. Also, prayers. The kind where everybody has a choice to matter! And the constant connection reminder of the Red Thread on my wrist.

Here’s a thing I noticed, today. Learning – intentionally – helps! Making space for useful newness.

Earlier, I was watching a video discussion that talked about the on-going nature of Creation. Not just the violets and dandelions blooming out front, or the wonder of making it clear to three spears of asparagus.

Instead, claiming that we – as created ones – are still in progress!!!

I’m not sure I even have words for how much that helps! I did hunt up some words, though, that are helping me share it, wandering in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene.

This is why the good has come into your midst. It acts together with the elements of your nature so as to reunite it with its roots.

(p. 7, 20-22)

I am receiving that assurance with huge thanks. You, of course, are hearing through your filters, and I’d love to know what arises for you!

For this moment, my canvas is calling again. Creation of a different sort. Two owls beginning to appear amidst the cypress trees. And, blessedly, bringing hope. Hope for wisdom. Even now.

ps… want some company on the road? Let’s talk! You and me and an amazing new take on a favorite tool! Just click here and the calendar elves will hook you up. 45 min. My gift. Your adventure!

#Magic!ContemplationsFiltersGrandmothersOffering

The stories we carry…

Posted on by sue boardman

Oh, dear friend… the memories are insistent this day!

Tuesday, August 7, 1990. The beginning of the first Gulf War.

And the need, in my personal, very new pastor universe, for something to put in the church bulletin for Sunday. Yet another thing they didn’t cover in Seminary! Or, maybe they did, and I just didn’t have a filter for it yet! Let’s call it a huge lesson in CONTEXT!

I don’t remember much of what I actually said. Probably something somewhat related to whatever the Lectionary passages were for that day. Here’s the part I pray that I will never forget…

It was time for the benediction, at the close of the service. The usual choices seemed out of place. I scrambled, deep inside, to find my voice and all the truth I knew:

May God have mercy on us all.

I’m going with that now, too. Along with some other voices in my soul, in this moment of diverse spiritual holy-days…

One of my name unknown Jewish Grandmothers, from 2,050-ish years ago, is whispering Sabbath prayers:

Blessed is the Lord, Our God, King of the Universe…

My Beguine Grammies, Begga and Itta, and all the Aunties, including the ones from Salem, are praying and working for the person-hood and rights of women and girls.

My Cathar Grammies are whispering fairy tales to their Littles, passing along precious stories of Hope in the midst of persecution and terror.

And there’s another story I’ve learned… my Intentional Creativity® ancestors have long said I Matter. You Matter. We Matter.

In January of 2025, I dreamed the next line…

Mattering Matters.

For me, and I think I can say for us, the kind of mattering we’re talking about is inspired by the Great Mother. It’s not about gold-plated bathrooms and feeling ludicrously cool on the world stage.

Instead, it’s way more about mercy. The Hebrew word suggests a mother’s instinctive, womb-like compassion for her children.

Let’s matter like that! In fact, if you’d like some help along that road I’m ready, with tools and em-power-ed questions and deep faith that YOUR journey matters, now! Curious? Let’s talk. 45 min. My gift. Just click here and the calendar elves will hook us up!

For now, though, Glinda, my #wip, is calling for more prayer dots and I’m taking tomorrow off! Mattering also involves rest!

ps… Destiny Joan wants you to know that now would be a great time to sign up for this mailing list. Just go back to the bouncy thingy at the beginning and the elves will be delighted make it so. (Changes are afoot!)

#Magic!Art JourneyContemplationsGrandmothersMedicine BasketOffering

Choices!

Posted on by sue boardman

So, I kind of broke my own rule. Too much news!!! Too much, as in way more than my nervous system finds helpful. And too much of that on Facebook, which is a whole other ball of wax!

As much as I wish I could, I can’t change all the sad, tragic, infuriating, ludicrous stuff at once. And even really, really dark chocolate only helps so much. (Well, maybe less than it seems!)

Blessedly, I got tired enough to sleep!

Then, it happened. A visit from Glinda – my #Alchemist painting – in my dreams. And she was in a mood to spread some magic! You see, we’re making progress on our book, she and I, enough that she’s even made an appearance, below!

I’ve been working on beginning steps like the table of contents and cover art. She, on the other hand, is in full-on adventure mode. In this case, the adventure called choice!

Choice, as in turning off the news and picking up a paintbrush. Joan Baez is, of course, part of the team!

Also choice, as in what we’re trying to accomplish. You know – big picture!

And choice, as in being gentle with my exceedingly cranky right wrist.

And choosing – again – to walk the talk from Pope Leo XIV, during this Lenten season:

… let us strive to measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media, and in Christian communities. In this way, words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace.

Side bar: I just got off the phone with the GrandTeen who’s turning sixteen. Exactly the reminder I needed for why all our choices, in this moment, matter so much! They’re all counting on us, and my biggest choice is to stay all-in, doing whatever I can to follow in the footsteps of Our Lady of Fierce Compassion in these days.

ps… If you’re feeling the call to bringing your kind of magic into the world, let’s talk! You, me, and Glinda – even in the midst of the chaos! Just click here and the calendar elves will hook you up with 45 minutes. Our gift. It’s the next right thing!

pps… I’ve you haven’t yet, now would be a really good time to get the annoying pop-up thingy to add you to this email list! (More choices are on the way in my world!)

#Magic!ContemplationsGrandmothersMedicine Basket

I am declaring “Real Deal” Day!

Posted on by sue boardman

The canvas is, indeed, my work-in-progress for this moment. And, you know??? I’m really proud of it! There’s a whole lot of musing, there. Of claiming what I’m actually trying to accomplish, deep inside. There’s also a good bit of moving on from what wasn’t working, before.

And, yes… I’ve been watching the news! (You do the math…)

You’ll have to take my word for it, but the canvas you’re witnessing is on about her third attempt to become my #Alchemist painting. Turns out that creating such a thing involves taking the huge mental-emotional risk of believing that alchemy – the good kind – might actually be possible, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Here’s the thing, though… I have to believe!

I have to believe in Creation with Intention and Love. In Hope. In the wild notion that we can learn new things and see farther than our own vested interest.

At least, enough of us to go on.

If you’ve been hanging around a while, you probably already suspect that this is me, being one of those five people for myself. Those five people we all need who – as my old friend Steve Glenn taught me – listen to us, take us seriously, and don’t shame or blame us for our questions.

Here’s the part I don’t remember Steven mentioning, all those years ago… the part it seems I had to learn for myself:

In order to really do that for anyone else, we have to learn to be one of those five people for ourselves!

And, yes, it’s likely that you’ve heard me mention this lately. It really is the best thing I know in terms of things we can actually choose and do!

In this moment, it’s time for buttons. (Stay tuned! They’re way more comforting than news!)

It’s also time to claim Hope where we find it!

ps… I have some cool new ideas about doing just that! Do you have a dream? A path that needs claiming? A next right thing? Let’s talk! 45 min. on me. Your dream. My new process offering. Just click here and the elves will find you some space on the calendar. Hurry, though. There’s just one place on the path open!

#Magic!Art JourneyContemplationsGrandmothers

Of cold and quilts and hope!

Posted on by sue boardman

Let’s be real! It’s been a hard weekend. The news is crazy. Well, most of it. There’s a lot to be mad about. A lot to be scared of. And a smidge of hope in recent election news… at least in my mind.

Frankly, I was kind of surprised when my story & quilt Gramma showed up in a dream. Elsie passed in January of 1989… an adamant, life-long Republican. I often wonder what she’d have to say in these days.

In my dream, though, she showed up with quilt pieces! The Grandmothers’ Flower Garden kind she taught me to love. Scrappy, assorted bits of what was available, hand-pieced by painfully arthritic fingers. Her way of helping people who were cold or lonely.

Those bits and pieces help me, still! And, that, I think, was the message of my dream!

The world is filled with things none of us can fix by ourselves. And, yet… there are things we can do!

Words are one of those things, for me. And, wow, is there a flood of that going on! I’m really excited. And, a wee bit scared. Well, maybe more than a wee bit. Let’s just say there’s more real deal coming through.

There’s also more unknown floating around than I’m personally comfortable with. I’m pretty sure there’s always a lot unknown floating around and I’m just more aware of it than usual, right now.

That, my friend, brings us to CHOICES!

  • A bowl of homemade soup for dinner. Local, sustainably raised bone broth. Organic wild rice. Veg, herbs, lots of garlic.
  • Helping to plan next right things.
  • A new John Lewis sign for the front yard.
  • Prayer dots. Lots!!!
  • A quilt to curl up with.
  • And, a reminder from Walter Brueggemann… Just tell the stories!

Also, encourage the Littles!

A dear friend was at the house today and she asked if her nearly 10 year old boys and their friend could see some paintings. (It’s really hard NOT to see paintings around here!) One of the boys found a favorite… one that kind of reminds me of one of Elsie’s quilts:

“Wait!” he said… “You don’t have to stay in the lines???”

When I assured him that we really don’t, we both cried.

ps… curious about the magic of not staying in the lines… of folded paper, markers, and next right things??? You could be just the person I have space for in my new 1:1 offering! Just click here and the calendar elves will hook us up with 45 min. on me so we can ponder the road to what you’re dreaming. (Fair warning… the next week or two are extra hectic. Patience & flexibility appreciated!)

#Magic!ContemplationsGrandmothersGuardiansMedicine Basket

Of history and perspective…

Posted on by sue boardman

Yesterday was a challenging and intense day. Strength work for terrified muscles in physical therapy. It helped… and it wasn’t fun!

My chair was calling when I got home. Comfort food. Weighted blankets. Kind of like hibernating!

Then, news.

Witnesses and family members from Minneapolis testifying before Senate and House Democrats. Hard stories to hear. Harder, still, to tell. Renee Good’s brothers speaking, tears in their eyes. Aliya Rahman struggling to express her experience as a differently able person with communication and mobility challenges, detained by ICE without reason, except – presumably – her skin color. And elected leaders, with tears in their eyes. (MS NOW reports that, though invited, no Republicans attended the forum.)

I, too, had tears in my eyes, so I turned off the news coverage and reached for my Medicine Basket. A bit of musing about paintings. Lots of journal notes. Slightly delayed Morning Pages. Anxiety about some unclear questions.

And a tidal wave of memories!

Hungary. Just about now, in 1989. A group of seminary students on an adventure known as Alternative Context. Before the Eastern Block fell.

Russian tanks playing target practice games in farmers’ fields. Being treated like unwelcome radical foreigners in airports. Especially the women among us. Touring a rabbinic seminary where women were “not permitted”. Where frost covered the walls inside the buildings, and adding new books to the library had been illegal since before the World War.

And, for this kinesthetic processor, perhaps the biggest memory of all… of literally throwing our luggage from a moving train and leaping into a snow bank to avoid a border crossing, where we Americans could have been immediately arrested.

Add to all this, the fact that my son was home with neighbors in the Village at Columbia Theological Seminary, postponing his ninth birthday party until my return.

And, yes… these memories show up about this time, every year. (Perhaps it’s the weather!) Today, though, the trigger was the voices of human beings, in the United States of America, trying desperately to talk some sense into the nation, because what was happening, then, in Hungary, is feeling way too close to home, now.

Then I heard it, deep inside my heart.

It’s ALL-IN time!

Frankly, I’d kind of assumed I was already there. Now, I know more!

And, yes… there’s a new book coming. First, though, I need to start over on my #Alchemist painting. And #Mother Nature’s friends, the Manatees, need some more attention.

It really is all part of the journey, if only we have the courage to notice!

Which brings us to questions… what are YOU noticing? And, how can I help???

If you have big questions, too… if you’re ALL IN… let’s talk! I have space for ONE new 1:1 dreamer/client looking for some new tools and guidance along the way. Click here and the calendar elves will hook you up with 45 minutes, on me, to explore possible roads ahead!

#Magic!ContemplationsGrandmothersMedicine BasketWisdom Cards

Many voices in my head…

Posted on by sue boardman

News, clearly. Especially the stuff about deciding who can talk and who can’t.

Also, snow. Not much, but enough to make wise Atlantans hesitant to tackle the big roads.

Body messages, too. Let’s just say mine doesn’t seem amused by the phone pointing out that it “feels like zero degrees”! And, yes… I’m huddled under a weighted blanket and glad I’m not in Minneapolis.

If you’ve known me more than about 10 minutes, you probably know that I’ve been a journalist. National denominational news in times of big change. The incredible responsibility of hearing. A growing awareness of all those voices and the huge realization that I had – and have – choices. We all do!

The prophet, Isaiah, was the first voice I noticed rumbling around inside me, Saturday. Context not all that different from this moment! Here’s a bit from chapter 43:

…Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you, for I am the Lord, your God…

Now, the writer(s) of the biblical book many of us know as Isaiah had a lot to say, much of which feels timely in these days, though they probably didn’t know about blizzards!

There were, however, more voices in my heart. The Magdalene, preaching hope on the coast of France. Joan of Arc. My Cathar cousins hiding contextually dangerous hope in Fairy Tales to help keep their Littles safe. And more cousins… witches hanged in Salem. Angela Davis, still carrying the banner. Authors, like Kathleen McGowan, telling old stories in these days. You hear me…

The big thing, in this moment, feels like choice. Well, choices!

Will we choose to claim that we have choices to make?

And, which stories might we choose to guide us?

Back in my knee surgery years, I spent a lot of long dark nights propped in a recliner, listening to Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes tell hypnotic bed-time stories. Now, I’m reading Women Who Run With the Wolves… Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, consciously. (This way, I can underline!)

It’s both an intentional choice of a feminine voice, and a deep, deep sense of my calling in this context. Dr. E. knows about wrestling fear. And making choices.

This, I think, is the choice of our time…

Which of the voices can we trust???

Which of the voices WILL we trust, enough to take action, each in our own ways???

One of the voices I’m trusting in this moment comes from Grammy’s MetaMod Wisdom Cards! Here’s a peek..

It’s a card from the Symbols & Language category and this is their message…

Powerful, majestic, and rare symbols of strength and leadership, the white lioness is considered, in some lands, to be a symbol of royalty and, with their white coloring, even a divine messenger. They are seen as guiding seekers to their higher selves and aiding in spiritual connections. When a white lioness appears in a dream, she may bring strength, courage, and protection. Imagine them walking with you on your path. What might you ask of them? Ideas, perhaps, for overcoming challenges? Courage to claim your authority?

ps… Yep! The white lionesses will play the 2-handed journal strategy with you! (Write an inquiry with your dominant hand. When you sense a response, write it with your non-dominant hand. Really!) More info, and a way to get your very own set of Wisdom cards HERE!

pps… lioness art by the elder grandteen with inspiration from the amazing Julie Steelman!