Arriving Home

Spending the past month traveling [on the road, pilgrimage, walkabout, however one names it], I've been fortunate enough to make a couple of pauses back home again. Several thoughts and insights arose from those pauses.

Foremost is gratitude for those who remain behind and continue to make that place from which I started a home. It's a place to which I'm happy to return. Not only the physical place, but also the comfort of family and friends. I recognize that everyone in it ~ from the baristas at Starbucks who know my name and my drink preferences to the musicians and other friends who follow me on social media to former co-workers asking for details ~ everyone reaches out with recognition and comfort when I return.

This particular T. S. Eliot quote has stirred my soul since I first read it in high school. Exploration includes travel, yet that is not all that it is. It encompasses much more than that. It's also the exploration of our surroundings in other ways. We step out into a new form of the world. We examine and try on new ideas, new thoughts, new identities. We watch ourselves grow and change into adults, partners, parents, friends. We move through our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual worlds ~ sometimes filled with care, sometimes crashing and burning, sometimes on quiet tiptoe. Even so, there is for each of us a resting place, a place from which we rose and a place to which we return. We may return to it as a different, changed person ~ but it remains deep within us nevertheless.

I used to think it was about returning to a particular place, home, neighborhood, city, whatever. As time continues to move forward in its ever plodding way, I believe it is more about that spot deep within us in which resides our personal and/or collective Still Small Voice. We can define It, name It however we choose: God, Goddess, Universal Mind, Creator, Higher Power, Allah, Great Spirit or even Lebowski. I doubt that It is particular about how we call It. Yet I firmly believe that It, that incredible Ineffable One, is the place from which we come and the place to which we eventually return.

What/How do you name your Still Small Voice? What are you currently exploring? What have you recently explored? Have any of the places you've explored changed in the recent past? Do you expect any to change in the future? Where did you start from? How do you feel about returning there?

Hearing Our Own Music

When I am in the midst of chasing around, I find that I more easily pay attention to the busyness around me. I fall into line with whatever shows up as the norm because I am paying less attention to that still small voice within.

In this autumnal season of dying, resting and slowing down, in the midst the ever-darkening beauty of its colors, I find myself quieting, paying more attention to my own personal rhythms. My movements beginning to follow another pattern ~ one I alone seem to be hearing. Or, if others are hearing it, we haven't taken note of each other!

Also, as I grow ever older and into whoever that older person is becoming, I am less concerned about people noticing me dancing ~ or talking to myself ~ or answering myself ~ or, well, everyone has those actions they do that allow others to step aside or join in. My actions may be different from yours, or from those around me, but they originate from the same place.

I've also been privileged to have many friends who are artists in various arenas from spoken to written to visual to musical. They have taught me to be less concerned about what others may think and more concerned about where my heart and soul ~ where that vague Being I call the Divine ~ is leading me. As I write this, I recall that one of those artists is no longer with us: a beautiful, smiling, gentle soul who danced alone on an empty dance floor simply as the music moved her. She is a guardian angel guiding me ~ and perhaps others who knew her ~ to listen for and respond to the music I hear.

What kind of music do you hear? How do you respond? Are you concerned with what others may think of you? How do you respond to those who dance or mutter to their own music? How could you respond more freely or spontaneously to your music?

Listening and The Lovers

Shapeshifter Tarot

The Lovers
The Lovers is a card about perfect communication, about finding something your soul requires. When this card appears, you are being told to trust your instincts, to choose this career, challenge, person or thing you're so strongly drawn to, no matter how scary, how difficult, irrational or troublesome - without it, you will never be wholly you. It's sudden and unexpected, and it means a complete change in plans; but this is LOVE. True love. Go for it!


Before drawing this card, I focused for several heartbeats on my coming week. My question, the center of my focus, was: What strength will I need and have available to draw on in the coming week?

The very first part of the statement about The Lovers card attracted me: perfect communication. That's often easier said than done when working with others who are clearly not reading my mind, nor I theirs!

Trusting my instincts is something I am consciously developing. Instincts don't always follow our thoughts, our conscious minds. We call them 'gut' instincts for a reason: we feel their pull, their truth, deep within ourselves ~ at a place that requires us to be still and listen. Our minds are constantly chattering at us. Even though our instincts may be communicating, it is our minds that we are used to hearing.

What draws me most, at the moment? Obviously, writing. I've been writing in my blog daily (with one exception) since the beginning of April. I am encouraged by the numbers of people reading what I write. I find that I write to please me as much as to please others. The feedback I receive is wonderful and reassuring, yet I am prompted to put words to paper from a deep, internal space.

I also find myself reaching for my camera more. Not at work. When on walks, driving in the car, looking at my surroundings. I am amazed by the wonder and beauty around me ~ the blessing of it all. My gratitude challenges me to capture it in some way through my photography.

These two passions spur me onward. Drawing The Lovers card reinforces me ~ reminds me that I am listening to that still, small voice within. That I am responding to the instinct to create.

What do you see in The Lovers card? What draws your instinctual self? How do you respond? What reinforcement do you need to follow your instincts? What defines perfect communication for you? How will you pursue it?

Still Small Voice

 There's also that Voice inside me. You know the one because you have it too. The Voice that urges me forward, onward in certain, steady directions. The Voice that says, "Turn this way." When I do, I face an incredible sunset. Or It says, "Leave. Now." I do and later discover that an accident occurred shortly after I left, blocking the route home. Or It says, "Not this one." I turn away, only to discover later that the person in question was not worthy of my trust.




The list could go on and on. You know that Voice. You've heard it. Sometimes in your ear. Sometimes in your heart. Sometimes in your dreams. My Voice sounds different from yours ~ which makes sense. We do not want to be confused by any overlapping messages.

We can name the Voice God or Goddess or Angel or Soul Companion or any of a thousand other names. That is of little import. How you or I choose to respond to that Voice is of the most significance. Do you listen? Do I respond? Do the voices around us drown out the Voice Within?

There is a story in the Bible of Elijah. He was distressed and fearful. God had sent him to Jezebel to give her an ultimatum. She was Queen ~ and had her minions scouring the Judean countryside for the prophet. He had good reason to be afraid. He wanted a sign from God ~ to hear God's Voice ~ reassurance that Elijah remained in good stead with the God of Israel. God sent a strong wind that tore up the land around Elijah, but God was not IN the wind. Then came an earthquake shaking the ground around Elijah, but God was not IN the earthquake. Then a ravaging fire, but God was not IN the fire. Then came a Still Small Voice. Elijah knew God was IN that Voice.

Sometimes, even when much is happening around us, listening for that Still Small Voice can keep us on track. I often have to cock my head to one side and listen. Or recognize It in the voice of another. Or be patient enough to wait.... to know It will speak sooner or later.

What has your Inner Voice spoken to you lately? Do you listen? Do you recognize when you haven't listened? What is it telling you today?