It’s my birthday too! (Well, on the 30th.)

Here’s my wish list, Mom!
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The Official Shoe of a Magpie Girl:
Converse Custom

Handmade Wallet: Chirp

The Perfect Patch for a Wannabe Readhead

Bird Obsession Necklace

I’m sitting at home in the living room and there are the after-leavings of Monkfish Abbey and Friday morning pre-school countdown prep verywhere. From where I am sitting I can see:

• an handthrown tea mug, empty, with a sticky spoon on the floor besides it
• a vintage gold-coloured wine glass hiding behind the footstool
• several folding chairs
• the dinning room table, both leaves extended, covered in crumbs and one soggy bowl of Cracklin’ Oat Bran
(Cate’s – who ‘gets distwackted’ from clearing her place 3 mornings out of 4)
• a jar of gummy bear vitamins
• heaps of half-burned candles with wicks in need of trimming
• throw pillows … {read more…}

Looking for a good book? Check out this new list in of recommendations here. You’ll find some great spiritually-minded novels and a collection of non-fiction texts that have shaped Monkfish Abbey into the unique community that it has become. Plus, if you order your book by clicking on our titles, you’ll be supporting life at the Abbey!

Check out the new yummies here and new parenting advice over at minti!

“Looking back at some of these essays – “essay” in the sense of “attempt” – I feel I might write them in another way if I were writing them today. But then, I’d be unlikely to write them today. Everything we do is embedded in time, and time changes not only us, but our point of view as well. Also, you find out what happened. One year’s prophecy becomes the next year’s certainty, and the year after that, its history. …We’re always looking over our shoulders, wondering why we missed the clues that seem so obvious to us in retrospect.”

Margaret Atwood
Writing with Intent

I have lost many days of writing in my life. Days lost due to illness and the … {read more…}

I have an article up at the Huffington Post today! It’s about becoming fearless again after being sexually abused. Writing it was a very empowering experience. May it in some way, bring healing to all who hear part of thier story in the telling of my own.

You can click on the title below to read and comment on my piece: Fearless Bodies Fearless Voices.

I work as an artist/writer everyday.

Every. Day.

I have chronic migraines, so some days, like today, my work day is very very short.

In What Her Body Thought, Susan Griffin describes working as a writer with severe chronic fatigue syndrome. She says that often, her work day goal was to read seven pages.

Seven. Pages.

Today, my seven pages looked like donning dark glasses to drive to the nearest art supply store for paper and this:

I’m finally realizing that a real artist/writer need real tools. I know. I’m a little slow.

Here’s to showing up at the page!

Rebecca’s bath tray is beautiful – a deep dark-stained wood covered with mysteries. There is a large bottle of oil with a stopper. A small hand-blown vial with a twisted lid in the colors of fire. A squat round jar with a lid of woven silver holds pale blue salts. A candle burns in the middle, the same soft shade of buttery yellow as the lotion bar molded into the shape of the smiling moon.

“I like your bath tray.” I say, as she carries it through the warm afternoon light of the dining room.

“I don’t take a bath,” says Rebecca, “I have a ritual.”

I love rituals. They mark holy time, holy space. I have so many of them … {read more…}

The Invocation
With the lighting of the candles the host invokes:
“Eternal Father and Mother, Spirit, Word.”

The Grace
Sung together as you are comfortable with the content and/or as you learn the tune.

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at eve’n,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my … {read more…}

Eden’s Image of the Holy Spirit.
Read about it here.

Okay, I promised to tell you about the other forms of prayer we use during our Morning Cuddle time, so here are two more:

Rhyming Prayer:
When the kids are feeling giddy and not ready to settle into a time of focused prayer or meditation, they often request that I make up a ‘rhyme-y prayer.’ To do this I just pick simple things that they will be doing on that particular day and give thanks or ask a blessing for them. For instance, one bright morning in October I prayed something like this:

“Thank you God … {read more…}