April: Beauty – Wisdom – Alchemy

BEAUTY
In the Aghor Yoga tradition that I follow, the Spring Navaratri observance took place April 9-16. It is a time for turning inward, letting social media go, becoming still to meditate, pray and restore our inner well of energy, our Shakti. We focus our attention on the attributes within us of the Divine Mother, represented by MaKali, MaLakshmi, and MaSaraswati, for three nights each. Kali is goddess of time and remover of darkness, Lakshmi represents spiritual and material abundance, health and wealth. Saraswati is goddess of knowledge, wisdom, and patroness of the arts. On the third night, while meditating at my altar, three lamps cast these shadows of my Lakshmi and Kali statues dancing in the firelight.  Each night their dance was beautiful and unique. The shadows were never the same. 💃🏼 💃🏼 💃🏼

WISDOM
I’m thinking a lot about awe and wonder as I prepare my Beauty as Medicine workshops for The Chaplaincy Institute students, alums and ordinands in Santa Cruz CA this week.  We’ll focus on how to rekindle our childlike awe and wonder of beauty in nature, as a way to relieve some of the underlying distress our nervous systems are feeling in our every day lives due to the ‘polycrisis’ chaos in the world. We’ll spend time outside, slow-walking the beach, feeling all there is to feel through our senses in search of awe. We’ll practice being in dialogue with nature to explore the ways our internal beauty is akin to the elements, earth, water, air, fire and space, and what wisdom we can glean from our surroundings.  Then we’ll share how we can use these awe-inspired tools in service to others and ourselves.

Here’s a Wild Writing poem I wrote this month, that shares all the ways walking in nature impacts me… inspired by Morgan Farley’s poem Why I Stay.

Why I Walk
Because walking keeps me sane, four years running so far
Because I can’t go a day without the wonder and awe of nature’s beauty
Because I love my cats, 10 years old now, but they don’t go with me
Because the flowers I’ve met would miss me if I didn’t
Because you died three years ago. My mind forgot the date, but my tears remembered
Because no one can see the tears behind the sunglasses
Because the rough sand torches the soles of my feet, and the pain makes me feel alive
Because memories long forgotten pop up with familiar sounds and scents
Because you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl
Because I love the sound of a tree full of blossoms buzzing with busy bees
Because my desire to be one with Spirit, keeps me putting one foot in front of the other
Because you’re going to the Mediterranean and I’m going to the food bank
Because I can’t shake off the bad decisions that set me on a course of financial instability
Because I love the ocean, the sand, the surf
Because walking calms my soul, quiets my mind, brings me peace
Because it helps me remember. It helps me forget
Because it eases regret, pain. It wakes me up
Because I love solitude, even though I’m lonely. Both and also
Because walking connects me with the cycles of life––the seasons, the tides, the time changes
Because it makes me more sensitive, aware, open, happy, sad
Because it’s my only day-to-day friend
Because it reminds me that I’m still alive and have lots to offer
Because I can focus on my mantra, my breath, my stride
Because it’s easier to contemplate death in motion
Because I am able still… and grateful.

ALCHEMY
The combination of extended meditation time, retreating a bit from the world, focusing on my workshop content and being inspired by the online photo class I’m taking –Touching the Divine Through Photography with Doug Beasley, I seem to have entered my “sepia-toned” period, like Picasso’s blue period 😉.  Revisiting some of my most beloved photo books featuring Minor White, Ansel Adams, Paul Strand, Paul Caponigro, and other master photographers, I’ve been reveling in the richness of the images, all made back in the day, with 4×5 view cameras and chemistry in a darkroom. Aah, the analog era… I can still smell it!!  Below are some of my attempts to approximate that same depth and texture using iPhone raw image files and the magic of filtering, dodging and burning in the digital darkroom that is Photoshop. I’m enjoying the resonance the rich sepia-tones offer, making me feel more intimately connected with the Spirit of the subject matter. There’s something sensuous and intriguing about leaving color to the imagination, perhaps also inviting greater participation of the viewer. Would love to hear what you think!

Click on any image for gallery view.

Peace, love and blessings,

Rev. Lisa
Spiritual Companion/Guide
Contemplative Photographer
Interfaith Chaplain/Eco-Minister
Free Photos at Pexels
Inspirational Photography Books at Blurb

Beauty calls us beyond ourselves and encourages us to engage the dream that dwells in the soul. –John O’Donohue