PRAYER TIME WITH “LOVES ALL THINGS”

How quickly the weeks fly! Summer solstice falls just after the new moon on Tuesday, the 19th. I’ll be offering prayers that coming weekend as part of a drumming and pipe circle. So, start sending your prayers to me soon! If you are new to this monthly ceremony, please read my blog page that describes this ritual.

This coming moon is the domain of the seventh clan mother, Loves All Things. According to author Jamie Sams, Loves All Things is the “mother of unconditional love and all acts of pleasure.” She is the keeper of sexual wisdom, self respect, the nurturing mother, and the warmth of the feminine aspect. Loves All Things teaches us how to love all aspects of our lives, how to be a loving mother, a trusted friend, a nurturing, sensual lover. She can teach us how to forgive ourselves and others, and to develop the capacity for acceptance. Her essence is the power to love the truth in all things.

We have a few days left—very few—to honor last month’s clan mother, Storyteller. She is, of course, my personal favorite, and I very much missed her energy in my life this month as I was so wrapped up in moving. Still, I did manage to get a few stories told along the way!

This will be the first time sitting with my pipe in the Northwest, and I’ll be sharing her with a group. I’m certain it will be a powerful prayer ceremony, coming on the cusp of summer solstice. I welcome your prayers and the trust you put in me to offer them to spirit.

 

LISTENING WOMAN

Some of you have wanted to know what my pipe looks like. Here it is, loaded with your prayers, resting on the wolf pelt that is my pipe bag and medicine bundle.

Sleep experts advise you to never do anything in bed but sleep and have sex. They say your brain must be trained to shift into sleep gear when you hit the sack, or you’ll be at risk for insomnia. I’ve had insomnia for years no matter what I do or don’t do in bed. So, over the past year or so, I find I’ve made my bed my go-to place for nearly everything. I eat there sometimes, I write in bed, read in bed, maintain a tiny office in or near the bed, conduct most of my phone conversations on my bed, meditate and pray in bed, and have now taken to bringing my pipe paraphernalia to bed, and doing ceremony on the bed covers on the months when I’m alone doing the ritual.

 

NEW MOON PIPE TIME

Time to send prayers up to the cosmos once again. Questions? See this post. This month, our prayers will be accompanied by the powerful energies of  Clan Mother Listening Woman. Listening Woman teaches us to” listen to all of the viewpoints represented in our world in order to learn the harmony that can be found through allowing each life form to have its Sacred Point of View.”

Having been a talker all my life, this clan mother is especially precious to me, and has so much to teach. I do best these days when I talk less and listen more. Nature has so many voices she speaks with that listening to her is the work of a lifetime.

Please send me any prayers you would like me to put into my medicine pipe, and I’ll send them to spirit in a good way. As always, I’ll keep them confidential.

 

LOOKS FAR WOMAN BEGINS HER MAGIC

Sunday afternoon, I sat in a small circle with my friend and herbalist, Megan, and with my husband, Carter. I pulled my dear pipe out of its wolf skin sack, smudged myself and all the smoking implements, and smudged the pipe. I placed my laptop computer on a stool beside me, and opened up a page to all the prayers for this month. I read each one aloud holding a small pinch of tobacco in my fingers as I did this. At the end of each prayer, I said, “Spirit, hear this prayer.” A tiny pile of tobacco grew next to my pipe bowl.

Carter and Megan smudged themselves as I offered up these prayers. It was a sunny afternoon, cool, springlike and beautiful. Then, I loaded the pipe with the prayer-filled tobacco and some extra and invited in the seven sacred directions and their spirits to join us…

 

THIS MONTH’S PIPE–WEIGHS THE TRUTH

Truth be told, prayers this month centered around grief, loss, and illness. Difficult challenges to be facing in this difficult time on Earth. As I loaded the pipe with tobacco, I could not help but reflect on the soberness of our prayers this month, and how the background theme for the month seemed to be about letting go on a very profound level. I wondered how Weighs the Truth—the Clan Mother for this third moon of the year—fit into all this energy for release. The thought came to me that letting go of our dreams, our bodies, our loved ones, our health, our homes, our hope perhaps begins with taking the cool hands of Weighs the Truth into our own, and sitting with the truth of our situations.

When loss, impending loss, and fear of loss lie heavy on our hearts, who wants to sit still and confront such thoughts? In my own case, I literally wiggle and squirm in my body when I sit with the reality of loss. It is hard to believe in such times that loss leaves open a space within us for something new to fill. Rebirth: that is the truth of loss, too.