02.03.2025. The Kitchen Table
Hello dear Friends,
“At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.”
— Joy Harjo from her poem "Perhaps the World Ends Here"
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In the dream tending world, some would say the ‘Kitchen’ is the symbol of great alchemical transformation. The place where broccoli, hard and crunchy, gets cooked and softened to become a delicious vegetable to eat. The place where raw is transformed to digestible. The place where Rumi’s chickpea gets spiritually cooked, boiled three fierce times. The place where bread dough rises, our hearts are kneaded open again and again.
Think of all the conversations you have had around your kitchen table: all the late night cups of tea shared, all the waiting (pensively at times) for a loved one to return home, all the not-supposed to eat late night snacks, all the heartwrenching tears shared, rooted in exuberant joy and trembling sorrow.
The kitchen, the sacred temple of home and heart; the place where acts of creation occur, where poems and prayers are measured and heard, where love prevails.
May you not miss eating the last sweet bite of love today.
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Today is Metta (loving-kindness) Monday at 2pm.
All Welcome. No meditation experience required.
Come as you are, open heart and all.
Drop-in Meditation Practice: 2-3 pm
Sacred Sharing: 3-4pm
Where: 1765 Glenview Road, Glenview in the Patio Shops
Cost: No Fee. Donations and poems appreciated.
So grateful we are here together.
Love,
Wini
🌸 Below offerings to inspire warmth and care for your heart: 2 Poems. 3 Quotes. 1 Spiritual Pep Talk. 2 Upcoming Events. 1 Closing Song & links to meander in… ♥️
🌸 Two Poems to Share
A prayer for reconciliation | Padraig O'Tuama
Where there is separation,
there is pain.
And where there is pain,
there is story.
And where there is story,
there is understanding,
and misunderstanding,
Listening
and not listening.
May we — separated peoples, estranged strangers,
unfriended families, divided communities —
turn toward each other,
and turn toward our stories,
with understanding
and listening,
with argument and acceptance,
with challenge, change
and consolation.
Because if God is to be found,
God will be found
in the space
Between.
The Thing Is | Ellen Bass
to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.
🌿 worthy of repeating, “and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.”
Love even when you have no stomach for it.
Even when everything crumbles —
And even so, you choose
You choose to say yes,
To love yourself and life again.
(that is a Holy. amen.)
🌸 Three Quotes | Fred Rogers. Annie Dillard. Lawrence Kushner.
“The older I get, the more convinced I am that the space between people who are trying their best to understand each other is hallowed ground.” — Fred Rogers
“You were made and set here to give voice to this, your astonishment,” — Annie Dillard
“It's possible for a person to be created and live an entire lifetime just for the sake of uttering one word or making a single gesture that he performs for the Holy One.” — Pinchas of Koretz in The Way into Jewish Mystical Tradition by Lawrence Kushner
🌸 Something to Inspire | A Spiritual Pep Talk from the Shores of the Potomac
This came my way via Rosemary Wahtola Trommer’s Poem of the Day (yes, you too could receive a poem for your day, link is here). The shook we all felt, the heaviness of the tragedy this past week of the plane crash into the Potomac.
Sharing here and sending on Rosemerry’s words for those of us that could use a little pep talk:
“I was so grateful today when a friend sent me this talk by historian and Christian spiritual leader Diana Butler Bass, whom I greatly admire, talking about relentless love, what's happening in Washington, and how each of us can make a difference. And then, amazing, she reads one of my poems from The Unfolding about loving as if our lives depend on it ... what a thrill! An example how one small voice (mine) can join another voice (hers) ... which can join with yours! This is how we make change. Here's the fifteen-minute video.” (listen here on spotify or watch of Substack. Here is Rosemerry’s poem BECAUSE)
A sweet note to share:
Rosemary is coming to Chicago! ( yes, I know it's beyond exciting) So put aside Saturday, September 27. (more details will be posted on my website)
She is a keeper of what is true in the heart. This event is for anyone that tends to the language of soul found on blank pages of paper, playgrounds and skinned knees and sharing a cup of tea. Add your name to the list.
PS from video: Diana Butler Bass here are her TEN W’s mentioned at the beginning of the video.
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🌸 TWO Upcoming Events | Ask For A Word & Healing Vessel
"Winter is the slow-down. Winter is the search for self. Winter gives the silence you need to listen. Winter goes gray so you can see your own colors.”
—Terri Guillemets
There will be a second offering of Ask-For-A Word to guide your year on this Friday February 7, 2025, 10-12pm for those not able to attend in January. Learn more here.
There is an upcoming Healing Vessel on next Tuesday, February 11, 6-8:30pm.Join me along with Julie Fedeli and harpist, music-Thanatologist Margaret Pasquesi for a gorgeous evening of sacred time. A meditative evening to tend to your heart.
Come, take part and receive.
Bring your presence, energy and heart.
(Limit 9 people)
Sign up here
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🌸 Closing Song | Into the River by Starling Arrow
Something to Share. A vocal treasure find:
“Starling Arrow is an all-star cast of sentient-folk songstresses featuring Leah Song and Chloe Smith of Rising Appalachia, Ayla Nereo, Tina Malia, and Marya Stark. The members of the female-fronted super-group Starling Arrow share a common devotion for the love of songwriting, which they elegantly captured in their debut album, Cradle, released in February of 2023.
These artists are brought together by a deep mutual love of beauty, the power of music as a sanctuary, and the deep joy of encountering the muse. Powerhouse songwriters in their own right, and innovative leaders within the industry, this joining is a potent gift of synergy.”
Listen on Spotify here (4:17 min)
Listen on YouTube here (4:18 min)
Lyrics:
I wanna lay my bones down
In the water
I wanna lay my body down
On the earth
Lean in Lean in
Lean into the River
…
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May you lay your bones
of worries and prayers down on the earth.
Have a blessed day,
Love,
Wini
🌸 Thank you for being here! Please share on, to a friend who might need dollops of goodness for their heart. Click here to subscribe
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✨ bloom more Light
💞 more Goodness
🌎 more gorgeous-tenderness on our planet.
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….Until next week. 💖 ✨
