Category: Medicine Basket

Dear Heart, have you ever had one of those stories you’re so excited about that you tell it 20 ways and think everybody will surely understand it just the way you do?

Well, I seem to have paid a visit to that place! And the story I’m trying to tell has enormous years of history behind it. For today, though, we’re going with the current events!

First, we’re putting the Com- back in -municating! As in information going both ways! Kind of old school journalism style, but updated!

You probably remember the list of questions, too… possibly from Yearbook staff, like I do! Now we know more, though, so we’re starting with WHY? This is the big one! I’ll let the book-baby speak…

My Fiercely Compassionate Grandmother’s heart has called me to tell the old, old, story of Creation again, with words and images, in this moment, and I’ve answered that call with fear and trembling, with deep honor for those who have told this story, often at great risk, since the time of campfires in ancient deserts. Our Littles – ALL OF THEM – need it, still, in this world battling over whose voices matter, if they are to learn that THEIR voices matter! Perhaps we need it, too.

Now for the rest of the details…

Who? You. Me. My right hand tech director. And a circle of awesome people who care about kids… and the future of the world!

What? A Zoom gathering. We’ll explore the book-baby and do a bit of our own growing with some of the best transformational magic I know… which you can put to use in your world, right away. (I’m guessing you have big hopes, too!) Each registration includes a hard-cover, hand autographed copy of the book!

When? Sunday, September 22 at 1pm PT/4pm ET. (Plan on about 90 minutes.)

Where? Well, Zoom… anywhere you happen to be. Preferably someplace that feels safe & comfy!

How? I’m so glad you asked!!! Just click the link, below, and sign yourself up!

ps… here’s what one preview reader had to say about A Creation Poem…

Sue had me at the bear on the cover! Rich, bold art illustrates this story as ancient as time. A Creation Poem… joins many origin stories taught to children around the world to help them make sense of their place. We know this story. But we haven’t heard it told this way, with inclusive language, progressive theology, and captivating images familiar to the Littles we love… Natalie Moyes, Interim Family Ministries Leader, Bedford United Church, Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada.

pps… as I mentioned, I’m working hard to keep this circle feeling safe. You are welcome to bring a plus one kind of person as your guest and I’d be honored if you have a safe place – like a private facebook group – and would care to share this post there. You can also email the link to wise beloveds!

ppps… I’ve promised my Great Aunts, and a whole lot of women before us – and after us! – that we’re really not going back!

There’s a moment for many women, somewhere in the pushing phase of labor, when they declare that they’ve changed their minds and they’re not having the the damn baby, after all!

That was me, somewhere in the wee hours between Monday and Tuesday.

Blessedly, it doesn’t work!

The PUBLISH button has indeed been pushed on the book-baby!!!

And, the Intentional Creativity® Purple Passion virtual art show was a world full of wonder and em-power-ed intentions! (Even if you weren’t there live, you can still join the amazement with the link, below.)

Just between us, those are about the only things from Tuesday that feel accomplished. And, yes… I waved my magic wand and turned the “debate” into a re-run of The West Wing! Turns out there is a point where the context can get too crazy for even prayer dots to help!!!

Here’s the thing, though… there’s external context, like – well – news. And weather. And storms. And fires. And school shootings. And remembering. So much remembering. All of which feels like it’s trying very hard to out-shout new babies and bowls of homemade soup and the wonder of finding unexpected meaning in spilled paint.

New meaning in this moment.

For me, noticing has a whole lot to do with making meaning. What gets in, amidst the chaos. Here’s a thing I noticed…

Angela Davis…a notable woman I don’t recall from Social Studies – though she should have been there! And, a cousin! Really!!! Angela and I share a Mayflower ancestor… a story which seemed to be an even bigger surprise for her, as a guest on Finding Your Roots, than it was for me, watching!

And then the stories started re-arranging themselves in my mental library, as I slept.

Stories about my French Cathar aunts, uncles, cousins, and – quite probably – grandparents. Victims of an autocratic papal crusade against Christians, some 800 years ago. People of peace, and love, and learning… women and men teaching as partners.

I have no idea what the artist intended when they formed the statue, above, and placed her at Kudzu to find her home. To me, though, she is a courageous Cathar guardian of sacred stories and just community. And a powerful reminder that it is our job to carry on!

Somehow, in the context of this moment, all those stories live on in me. And they birthed the book-baby, because Creation goes on, even now, and the story is for all of us… especially our Littles!

I’m really glad I didn’t change my mind!!!

So… we’re going to need a baby shower of sorts. A book launch event! And it wouldn’t be the same without you! All the details, along with some new ones, are here, eager for you to click the big, bright link just below…

We’re not going back!!!

ps… don’t miss the amazing art show! (And the artists‘ stories about their work!) Just click here…

Deep breath, please. And let it all go. Thank you! And, two more, if you care to join me…

The book-baby is in the final (fingers crossed!!!) formatting phase and I am avoiding the temptation to gnaw my nails. Mostly!

Blessedly, there’s plenty to do. Kind of like those old stories of major nesting events many women experience just before labor begins!

In this moment, though, it’s prayer dots. The utterly intentional kind, on the back of my #Celebratix canvas, who appeared Wednesday.

First, the Moon came forward. She wanted you to meet her! (We’re still negotiating the eyes!)

Then, there was a dream! I’d been looking at photos of the Northern Lights online. (I’ve never seen them with my very own actual eyes.) And I heard Grandmother Moon whispering as I slept…

Stars are Creator’s prayer dots!!!

And, frankly, it feels like there’s lots to pray about! All the news stuff, of course. The utterly tragic and needless… to the actually hopeful moments.

The more personal stuff, too. Loved ones healing. A major family birthday.

A wise artist-teacher-preacher friend helping me re-frame a filter. And writing me a note like this:

This beautifully illustrated adaptation of James Weldon Johnson’s Creation offers a fresh welcome to this treasured piece of black sacred literature to every child and every sort of family.

The Rev Wil Gafney, PhD+
The Rt Rev Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible
Brite Divinity School

And, yes… I’m really excited! So much so that prayer dots are about what I can manage!

You see, this book is a really, really big deal for me. It’s like standing in the world, wrapped in hope and northern lights, trying to make a difference. Here’s Creation Moon, in the sky filled with prayer dots, straight from the book-baby!

For now, Lamaze class flashbacks… as a contraction begins, we inhale deeply through our noses, then exhale through our mouths – two short pants and one longer blow.

hee-hee-ho!

I’d love for you to be my birthing partner…

…because we’re not going back & you’re invited!

Click here, please, for all the details for the launch and a couple new perspectives on the book…

ps… yes! Some of the book art will be available for adoption!

pps… more Intentional Creativity® art to ooohh… and ahhhhh… over! Just click the link, below, for details and free tickets! The wonder starts Tuesday!!!

https://intent2create.betterworld.org/events/purple-passion-museum-exhibit

Do you remember standing in a line in the school gym, with an index card over one eye, trying to read the chart with the big E on top?

I do! And I did pretty well on the test. What I had no way of knowing was that I wasn’t actually seeing the letters. I was memorizing what the kids in front of me said! And it helped that I could hear really, really well.

My 4th or 5th grade teacher ratted me out. And I discovered that, with a pair of sturdy (read that ugly) glasses, I could see individual leaves on trees! And I could still hear really, really well!

What I didn’t know back then was how much our brains have to do with what we think of as seeing and hearing. Also, feeling… as in touch and movement and emotion.

Now, as the old story goes, I know more!

It was pretty strange for me, at first, to begin to hear the paintings whispering in my sleep, but I’ve gotten really comfortable with that by now. (Which, as you’ve probably guessed, is just as well since the walls are covered with a whole choir of whispering images!)

Another thing just shifted for me, though. I realized that all those voices – each in their own way – are actually my voice, filtered through various experiences and wounds and dreams. And I wouldn’t blame you if you might be thinking that I sound a wee bit like I’m headed for the place known as round the bend.

Instead, I’m headed for more fully me! And, as I move my fingers to make these words appear in the land of WordPress, I keep glancing up at a sign hanging above the door to the hall, across the room from my chair.

And our stories – yours, mine, all of ours – do matter. They are some of the filters through which we experience the world. Through which we form questions and create things.

I had a really big experience of that today! The first pdf layout of my new book appeared in my email! And, even though I chose all the words and created all the art, it was still a surprise in its externalized form! A whole, if you will, instead of a bunch of individual pieces. (And, yes… there’s more work to do!)

My dear friend, and first reader, Natalie, put language on what I was feeling!

It feels like holding a newborn infant!

And, it does!!! A whole, separate, unique individual with multitudes of ancestors and traditions, complete with a whole batch of needs… and, frankly, what feels a lot like expectations!

Final choices on fonts, and re-sizing some art, and rounding up reviews and all the things that we book-parents do…

And, no… it’s not To Kill a Mockingbird. (Though it might grow up to be!)

What it is, in this moment, is the very most I have to offer to all the Metamodern Littles growing up in our world, now… and to the adults who love them.

Complete with some invitations to listen deep and imagine!

My dearest hope is that it will help us all travel the mountains and valleys of this world, and to make space for more and more of us to feel at home and to hear our own voices in the midst of the din!

ps… the painting at the top is a glimpse of the cover art for the book-baby!

pps… this glimpse of a painting is shorthand for the absolute best thing I know. I’m ready to share… and we have to start with ourselves!!! Just ask the calendar elves to hook you up!