The LIGHT approaches and the annual ritual of Christmas and Epiphany repeats today in ever new ways – darkness itself is lifted into the presence of Light.

In the presence of light there can be no darkness, which leads us to the question, where is light’s presence in our world today?

One aspect of seeing the world through the lens of plant communication is to see the constant hope and love expressed by the world of plants, an expression that can become accessible to us.

While facilitating the plant communication workshop series, Through the Green Door, it became clear that involvement of the heart is central to the exploration of communication with plants. The heart is a place of receptivity.

There is snow on the ground in Manitoba and many people are wringing their hands at its early arrival.  Somehow the protracted warmth of this autumn had many of us lulled into believing it might just go on forever.  We fell into a temporary forgetting that nature has her seasons and that the inevitable change is unconcerned with our little wills and desires.   

“If you are feeling hungry, drink a glass of water, because you are probably just thirsty”

I was given this piece of advice about 20 years ago and it drifts in and out of my consciousness like most anecdotal pieces of advice. Sometimes I will actually try it and, to my surprize, I find that my hunger is indeed fulfilled for a short while.

This past week I began a journey with a small group of people interested in exploring the Karmas of the Enneagram. The first karma to be worked with is the karma of Non-Attachment. In the simplest of explanations, the work in this karma is to “let go!” We all attach in some way. We attach to thoughts, emotions, timeframes, stories, sensations, hurts, judgements, fears, etc. And we do this for all kinds of reasons.

Once again the fall has arrived. More of our time is being spent in darkness and we begin to naturally turn inward. And as we do, will we pay attention to what is going on below the surface? Spring and summer have been all about our outward experience, but the darker seasons of fall and winter have us spending more time tending to our inner activity. And here, below the surface, is where I have been spending my time.

When I learned of the enneagram I was humbled by how little I really knew about myself and how I moved in the world. I remember saying to my good friends that attended the workshop lead by David Walsh... “I don’t think I am angry, do you think I am angry”… they both laughed and rolled their eyes.. At that moment I knew that I had been asleep to how I really am and how I meet the world.

Spring moves quickly into summer and we all begin to emerge from our winter dens. This spring it is a bit different from the last two, Covid 19 has been downgraded to something a bit less than a pandemic. At least in most of Canada. In Manitoba we have seen less infections and less severe symptoms from contracting the virus. So we now start to move out into the world with a bit of caution and a pinch of trepidation. To mask or not to mask… Will I get my fourth dose? These are just a multitude of ways we are learning to adjust ourselves, once again listening to our inner authority on our next move.

I received a gift from a friend, to livestream the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra concert last evening. Daniel Raiskin the WSO’s Russian born Music Director opened the performance with an impassioned speech, via video, about the suffering of the Ukrainian people, the culpability of the Russian regime, and perhaps most surprisingly, the possibility of forgiveness. The message was poignant coming from Raiskin, whose wife had just made a harrowing escape from her childhood home in Ukraine.