With Mother’s Day a mere four days away, I’ve been pondering motherhood. People around the planet celebrate their mothers on different days and in varied ways. Because really, where would we be without our mothers? Well – without our birth mothers anyway – the answer is simple. So, yes! Let’s celebrate our birth mothers in creative ways.

Beyond that, I offer an idea: let’s consider another level of celebration . . . for the greater Mother Archetype.

Carolyn Myss, internationally renowned author and medical intuitive shares this explanation:

“The Mother is the life-giver, the source of nurturing and nourishment, unconditional fountain of love, patience, devotion, caring, and unselfish acts. This archetype is the keeper and protector of life, from children to the family to the greater Mother Nature archetype whose province is the Earth and all life. Mother Nature, also known as Gaia, is the Goddess of Life, the caretaker of the living environment of this planet. She is recognized as powerful, and when storms leave death and destruction in their wake, she may be referred to as wrathful. The power of compassion and the endless capacity to forgive her children and put them before herself are essential to the Good Mother. The Devouring, Abusive, Abandoning, and Working Mother each represent different aspects of this primal archetype within the entire human community.

The qualities that are associated with this archetype can be expressed in other than biological ways, such as giving birth to books or ideas, or nurturing others.”

Blossoming Renewal

I love how in just this short passage, so many facets of the Mother Archetype come alive. The good and challenging. This is surely inspiring material, to inform ways in which we can celebrate Mother’s Day beyond the old bouquet of carnations. Many women either have not birthed or adopted children (myself included) or have had a child die or do not have a living mother. This could leave some of us adrift come Sunday.

Although in this time of springtime blossoms, of hope and renewal in the human spirit, I see myriad ways we may celebrate Mother’s Day. We can begin with honoring the creative~nurturing~unselfish archetypal mothers that surround us everyday.

We can even look within ourselves (male or female!) to find and celebrate those ways we’ve given birth to fresh ideas, stories, ventures, relationships or lives (plant or animal). We have so much to be thankful for and celebrate. I’d love to hear how you will choose to say ‘hooray for mothers’ this Sunday, May 8th.

With love, especially to my own Mama and her Mama and all of our mothers stretching eons before us,

Kristine

As I write this, a winter storm is rolling into the Sonoran Desert. It is a dark skied and chilly afternoon.  What a rare treat for desert dwellers! Sitting cozily under my thickest blanket, I am grateful to have led a couple of small and intimate ceremonies this week. (I even have the faint smell of sweetgrass smoke – a most healing scent to me – in my hair!) In reflection today, I’ve thought about how to make New Year’s Day special for me and my beloveds. Naturally, my thoughts extended to my larger community, so here I am posting a few ideas.

This transition time between the winter holidays and the beginning of the New Year is a rare time, isn’t it? It seems to present a poignant mixture of celebration, remembrance and reflection. Exhaustion may well have set in with many folks. Hopefully though, a breather is possible. A healing message I have received recently from friends, colleagues and clients alike, is a rising importance of simply being gentle. Gentle with thought, speech and action. Gentle with ourselves and others. I am inspired to list a few ritual ideas for welcoming 2011, with this theme of ‘gentleness’ in mind:

• Rest. Whatever this means to you: nap, read a book all day, meditate, be quiet – while holding a gentle and non-judging spirit. (This may be the most supreme of simple nurturing rituals!)

• Revel in beauty. Yep, I said revel! Get down with beauty – via our natural world or a scenic film or your favorite artist or your best beloved (two-legged or four) or a timeless album. Gently bask in it. Beauty reminds us of how human or mother nature can radiate a gentle goodness, instead of wrath.

• Raise the roof with noise. Make sound! Whether you do this at midnight on New Year’s eve, as is custom for so many, or create a jam session on the first day of the year, make noise! Use your voice to chant, hum, sing or pray. Get your drums, beat box, rattles, pans or flutes out – whatever! This kind of movement gently stirs up our molecules and clears out stagnation.

• Reveal your gratitude for the bitter and the sweet. Reflecting and giving thanks makes us stronger, especially if it takes an effort. Gratefulness for the good comes naturally, doesn’t it? Be brave and look at the bitter, too. Think how losses may have provided an opening, even if only slightly. An opening in opportunity or flexibility, maybe? Writing these thoughts down may be cathartic. A few steps further may be to read them aloud, shred, burn or bury them, too.

• Ready your intentions for the New Year. Yes, ‘resolutions’ are usually set this time of year. Yet I think that sounds so strident. A gentler way with ourselves may be to prepare and speak our intentions for body, mind and spirit in this new year. So hopefully, these intentions manifest joy, wellness and abundance! (Rather than metrics by which we may become disheartened.)

• Rest. (See above.)

• Repeat.
  

I have no idea why these all came out as words or phrases beginning with ‘R’. (Maybe because I should have taken a nap instead of committing to write this afternoon????!) If you have rituals for yourself to welcome the new year, I hope you enjoy enacting them. And if you would like to share some of those with a comment, please do!

Cheers to a Gentle New Year!

Kristine

This afternoon, I will go caroling with friends from Valor HospiceCare. We will visit patients who are in care facilities and may benefit from hearing cheerful voices. We might not all sing in tune, yet who really cares? As a result, I’ve been reflecting upon how important carols are to us across the world during Christmas. Dare I say, maybe even more so than food?

Just play this timeless Charlie Brown clip. See what it triggers for you: Remembrances of Christmas celebrations in your past? Smells of favorite hot yuletide drinks? (Here is my family’s favorite!) Images of decorations in your childhood home? Sounds of your friends and relatives talking, singing or laughing? Or maybe watching Snoopy skate just makes you plain laugh?!

Hhhmmmm . . . I wonder what you experience. Even if I feel the slightest bit Grinchy, this song will set me into a mellow and giving holiday mood. Maybe you are not caroling for hospice patients, yet I wonder what giving a listen to a few of your fondest Christmas tunes does for your heart. (Of course I’m not talking about being subjected to canned music in the grocery aisles!) I mean dig a little. Find your nostalgic sweet spot, those songs that stir your heart and your memories. Turn off the television. Stop moving. Maybe get yourself a hot yuletide drink and really give a listen. You may enjoy a purely unhurried time of listening and feeling transported somehow!

Yep. Christmas time is definitely here. That can mean a million different things to just one person. In any case, I hope there is something in a simple carol that can transport you. A melody that can open up your heart and help you ease into a celebratory, peaceful, still, giving or receiving space for this holiday.

And mostly, I wish you wellness and love!

Merry Christmas,

Kristine