A Prayer for Light

We gather to pray for the return of the light. Teetering on the thin edge of light, entering fully into the darkness, there is no way out but through. Each year, we wrestle with this unwilled descent into shadow, each alone with it, facing down our individual darknesses.

And yet, we can, and we do, gather to pray for the return of light, for lightness of heart, for the luminescence of a full-throated summer sun, for a light spirit treading lightly in the world.

We cherish and trim our candles, and hold them high in the darkness. In this hearth-keeping, this light-kindling, we feel a long connection with women down through the ages who have worked, mightily, to do the same for the ones they love, and for themselves. And the light does not, did not, illuminate only—no, it throws off warmth as well, to thaw the deep chill and unfreeze the mind.

I wish so fervently to nourish an illuminating, warming life force in myself, to fan it into a bright flame, letting it penetrate all my being and all my doing, and then to project it bravely beyond myself. I pray for the return of the light, in my world and in the world.

Mary for the Poplar Grove Muse 
from Our Solstice Sampler, December 19, 2013

Yo-Yo Ma Makes Me Cry

A couple of weeks ago, I was thrilled when my on-screen guide announced that the PBS Great Performances series was airing a show with the New York Philharmonic playing Carnegie Hall. I hit the record button faster than you can say Yo-Yo Ma, who was one of the featured artists. When, at last, I had time to sit down and give the recorded concert my full attention, I was not disappointed. Ma would be playing Beethoven, one of my favorite composers, who managed to incorporate every instrument in the orchestra, no matter how large or small in both bold and subtle ways.

Alan Gilbert is the New York Philharmonic's current conductor. He's engaging and drew me into the music immediately, both as a listener and as a musician. I began taking piano lessons when I was four years old and studied until I graduated from Connersville Senior High. I was one of three pianists in our orchestra all four years of school and enjoyed every minute of it. You wouldn't think it, but an orchestra has a smell. It's a combination of rosin, different kinds of wood, metallic brass, the musty smell of old sheet music and people all packed into a sound proof room. The music conjured up that happy memory. I love the idea of all the individuals, each with their own personality, talent and ability, forming the whole of the orchestra to become one.
As I was savoring the music of Beethoven, I was brought back to those high school days with their joy and sense of belonging to a like-minded community.

I was adrift in that reverie when Yo-Yo Ma appeared on stage and then things got even more magical. He began playing and my whole being was riveted to the television screen. His eyes were closed and his entire body took on an other worldly aura. He wasn't just playing the music, he was in the music. The music wasn't coming from his cello, it was coming from his core, his very essence. Yo-Yo Ma was smiling and crying at the same time. I realized I was crying too, because I knew that this is what bliss looks like. The bliss of doing what you love to do best, perhaps, what you were put on this earth to do.

I haven't played the piano in years, but when I'm writing and really lost in the words and the story, I feel blissful. I don't know if it shows outwardly, but I certainly feel it inside. It is a precious gift. My hope is that after we die our energy transforms into a state of bliss, whatever that bliss is for each of us.

Rebekah for The Poplar Grove Muse

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Freshen Your Soul for 2010

"Jump out into the water and freshen your soul."

(Photo Courtesy of David Snodgress at the Herald-Times)

This comment was left by an anonymous reader on the local paper's website in response to a story about citizens taking the annual polar bear plunge into Lake Monroe.

It amused me because whenever I read stories like this, I can't begin to imagine why someone would plunge their scantily clad body into freezing water except to say they had done it. But then, I read the comments listed after the story and I realized, ahh, soul freshening. That's it!

I guess it is that time of year. The lights and excitement of the holidays are over. Two solid months plus of cold winter weather and darkness awaits us. If you are like me, you are hunkered down to face the winter onslaught with a huge stack of books and something hot to drink. I think that this is the time of year our souls could use a good freshening.

I'm thinking of the polar bear plunge as a metaphor now because there is no way I am sticking my big toe in anything less then a 160 degree hot tub, but there are plenty of ways to freshen your soul without having to get fitted for a thermal bathing suit.

Here are a few of my favorite soul fresheners:

1. Read some poetry. I was given this book of poems as a holiday gift and I love it. I open it up to a new poem every day. If there is a better way to air out the stuffy corners of my soul I would like to know what it is.

2. Sing in the shower. I had the great fortune to see The Cardinal Stage Company's production of The Sound of Music last weekend. Listening to me belt out the song "Favorite Things" really opens up my family's soul, too.

3. Eat really spicy food.

4. Laugh a lot. Try this funny book. Or this classic crazy movie.

5. Go square dancing or take a belly dance class or learn to dance thriller. My soul really gets fresh when I move the body it lives in.

6. Go 1980 and write a letter to an old friend. Remember letters? Remember stationary? Remember what it feels like to write your thoughts in more than 140 characters? Stamps are only 0.44 cents and you can make a personalized stamp with you own artwork.

7. Spend a weekend and cook a big feast for your closest friends. Make something you would never make with that old stale soul. Try roast duck or risotto with truffles or something from Mastering the Art of French Cooking with pounds and pounds of real butter.

8. Write a pantoum.

9. Grow an indoor herb garden.

10. Check out this new Women Writing for (a) Change class.

See you on the other side of March. Hopefully we'll all have fresh souls and we won't have to get a bikini wax to do it!

--Amy for the Poplar Grove Muse