Luscious Soulful Beauty: October 10, 2016
(Signs, Stories, and Shadows begins this Sunday October 16. If you feel called to celebrate the joys and shadows of the the season, I hope you will join us.)

Hello Beautiful,

I use to think I didn’t have any stories. I had an ordinary, boring, nothing special life. I would have stories when I became an artist! When I ran off to Paris with a dashing Frenchman! When amazing things happened and I traveled to exotic places. Then. Then I would have stories to tell.

I would be a woman of great experiences!

I thought stories came from outside of me. From places I went and things I did. From things others would find interesting. I now know that stories, good stories, the important stories, come from inside of me. They are born from the way I see my word, not from the way others see it. And if the world is lucky I share my stories and they become the lens through which I let others know me.

I have not gone to Paris. I have never dated a dashing Frenchman, nor am I likely being happily married. I have been to exciting places perhaps, but not exotic. Although that is in the eyes of the beholder, yes?

And yet, I have become a woman of great experiences.

I have grand adventures lived through an ordinary life. Mythic themes and archetypes weave through my days and inform my sleeping dreams. I let the world speak to me, translate it for myself and share this with others. These are my stories.The harvesting of my life and how I experience it. 

There is something about this time of year that pulls me to see my transforming stories. Some of my darker stories and heroine stories. Some of my stories of choices past and future. Maybe it is the year end nearing, but I think it is one of the magic energies of the Fall season in particular. There is so much ripeness, so much harvesting, and so much shedding and dying happening in nature. We are at the seasonal tipping point between life and death. The season of Hecate and crossroads, getting a peek into the underworld and ancestor realms.

Which stories am I keeping and which will I let die? 

​​​​​​​It feels more than a bit heretical to claim a life of grand adventure when I am most often a homebody of uneventful routine. Yet I claim it none the less, for it is my story to weave. This quiet life of mine comes to a particular kind of awaking in the Fall. Cozy comforts slow me down, lead me to reflect. The thinning veil and longer nights bring in both dreams and shadows wishing release. I want to look at the wisdom held by experience rather than fresh new ideas.

I reach for my Crone self. Each year she ripens. Her stories, my stories, deepen. They guide me into the winter’s stillness and make safe next years new growth. Such is the magic of the seasons, each bring special rewards. She is not always welcomed. We often have harsh judgments towards the old women, preferring the vibrancy of youth and innocence. The flash of new and different verses the slow simmer of time and trial. But hers is the welcoming, solid, wise whisper I hear as I craft my current stories.

I wonder, what are your stories? For you have them. The stories this season is telling you and ones of your life of grand adventure being lived right now. Take time to honor them.

May you be cozy and transformed by the magic of this season.

Much love,

Sandi