12.23.2024. Stars Wrapped In Skin
Rumi said,
“We are stars wrapped in skin. The light you are seeking has always been within.”
We are stars wrapped in skin. We are a luminous point in the night sky. We are a large, remote incandescent body like the sun. We call it names: Celestial body. Heavenly body. Luminous body. Wandering star.
When did we forget? The cosmic dust in our bones. Created inside a star before the Earth was born. Billions of years old.
Did we forget hanging bright in the eastern night sky, a luminous guide sent by Heaven to the Magi? A conspicuous sign, the Three Wise Men journey with gifts in hand for the foretold king; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Traveling tirelessly for many moonless nights in cold and weary driest of desert sands to Jerusalem to Bethlehem, until our star body halted. Stood ablaze, bowing in silent prayer, bathing the place–a humble stable where Christ was born; swaddled in simple cloth. Loved whole, a baby nestled on his mother's swollen chest. When did we forget our name was once – the Star of Bethlehem.
May we remember we are stars wrapped in skin.
Merry Christmas.
🌿
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: 3-4 pm. Bring a journal. Sometimes we write.
Where: 1765 Glenview Road, Glenview in the Patio Shops
Cost: No Fee. Donations and poems appreciated.
So grateful we are here, together. May the offerings here be balm for your heart
Love, Wini
Note. Three Upcoming Events: (see below)
✨ Healing Vessel on January 14 & March 1. Sign-up for one or both
✨ A mini-retreat Ask for a Word on Friday, January 10, 10-1pm.
🌸 Below, lovely offerings for your Heart: 2 Poems + 2 Videos. 3 Quotes. 3 Dates to Note. 2 Closing Songs.
🌸 Two Poems to Share.
LET THERE ALWAYS BE LIGHT (SEARCHING FOR DARK MATTER) | Rebecca Elson
For this we go out dark nights, searching
For the dimmest stars,
For signs of unseen things:
To weigh us down.
To stop the universe
From rushing on and on
Into its own beyond
Till it exhausts itself and lies down cold,
Its last star going out.
Whatever they turn out to be,
Let there be swarms of them,
Enough for immortality,
Always a star where we can warm ourselves.
Let there be enough to bring it back
From its own edges,
To bring us all so close we ignite
The bright spark of resurrection.
🌿 This poem and video posted on Maria Popova’s The Marginalian, if you do not know about oh, please subscribe. If you know about it, you know it is filled with treasures that permeate awe and wonderment into the mind, heart and body.
Video: Rebecca Elson. Reading: Patti Smith. Art + animation by Ohara Hale (1:39 min)
Do Us Good | Amanda Gorman
(inspired by Wicked)
Watch video here (3:02 min)
Are we born wicked or do we have wickedness thrust upon us? Are we born bad or brave?
There is a world we miss when we misbehave, but we miss just as much when we misconstrue. When we distrust what is different, and detest what is new.
History is written by the victors, and villains are embittered by the forcible and the few. But how we live, our children learn: What we earn when we’re earnest and what we forge when we forgive. Only with a decency do we discover: People are not born evil, we are born equal; green not with envy, but what we envision in each other. A sentimental mankind finding ourselves even in the dark.
There is a goodness that knows in our hearts: No one is wicked at birth. We are born to light the wick of the Earth. We are all that girl: when something changes within us, something changes within this vast world. We will never be the same, this feeling fervid as a flame has a name: Unadulterated Loving.
Rushing, flooding, together we will stare down the Emerald Tower, we will not cower. We will not let our power take over us, but let ourselves take back our power. We won’t just say we’re sorry now, rejoicify that we’re glad and grateful just to be seen and not listened to. We’ll dream, soar into the blue, rise up to a new reality because defending the good is how we defy gravity.
So if you dare to find us, look to our West turned eyes! Everyone won’t do good deeds but all deserve the chance to try, to be understood as we should and by this they would mourn as wicked, then let this wicked do us good.
🌿 “We are born to light the wick of the Earth.”
“May we each remember this, especially on December 25. Where Christmas and Hanukkah share the same day, bowing in holy prayer the miracle of Light born bright, increasing on the planet.
May we keep the flame of unadulterated loving ablaze and dedicate our life to embodying and birthing our Light for the benefit of all.
🌿
🌸 Three Quotes | Joyce Rupp. Kent Nerburn. Krista Tippet.
“If I stay in the darkness long enough, my eyes become more accustomed to the dark, and I begin to see things of beauty and freedom that I never knew were present.” —Joyce Rupp from her book, The Star in My Heart: Discovering Inner Wisdom
“We live in a world alive with holy moments. We need only take the time to bring these moments into the light.” — Kent Nerburn
“Whatever sadness in your life and for the world that you are holding as this year draws to a close, I hope you are also able to tether to what you love, as Nikki Giovanni and all the wise souls I’ve interviewed commend — to cleave to what brings you joy and move forward without being consumed by bitterness. This is spiritual discipline.” — Krista Tippet, The Pause
🌿 Plus a powerful honoring watch PBS News Hour: Remembering the fierce and lyrical voice of poet Nikki Giovanni June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024. (5:07 min)
🌸 SIGN-UP A Mini-Retreat | Anchor Into A Word for 2025 ✨
It all begins with a Word.
Ask yourself:
What do I long to bring with me into the New Year?
What am I ready to release?
What is the word that is unfolding in me, calling in me, asking me to live into in 2025?
🌿
Come Join Us!
Friday, Jan 10, 2025
10 am - 1 pm
An ancient practice to anchor in a begin anew 2025
Learn more details and sign-up here
(Space limited to 18)
🌸 TWO DATES | Registration Now Open for Healing Vessel
“In the depths of your soul, there is a sacred flame of awareness waiting to be ignited. The spiritual journey is about awakening that flame and allowing it to guide you.”
– Paulo Coelho
🌿
Registration is now open for two Healing Vessels evenings
January 14 and March 11, 2025
Sign-up for one or both!
Join me and my two dear friends, Julie Fedeli and harpist and music-thanatologist Margaret Pasquesi for an evening rich with gentle-beingness, meditative prayer, poetry, music and silence.
Healing Vessel is an evening of receiving and relaxing into your inner quiet to receive warmth and care from the Universal Energy Field and Divine Grace that flows forth encompassing all the intentions that each participant holds in their own hearts.
Space is limited: 9 people max.
🌿
🌸 Two Closing Songs | Blessings Songs for the Winter Solstice + Christmas
A song to enliven your heart as we move from the shortest day and longest night of the year to the brightest, as we celebrate increasing light on the planet. In The Bleak Midwinter by Loreena McKennitt (2:44 min)
Here, the song Breath of Heaven originally written by Chris Eaton. Amy Grant asked Chris to record it and if she could rewrite some of the lyrics from a woman's perspective, namely Mary. Chris agreed. So this is Amy's version (Mary’s Song) on YouTube (5:23 min)
“I am waiting in silent prayer…
…
Lighten my darkness
Pour over me your holiness
…
I offer all I am”
🌿
🌸 Thank you for being here! What an extraordinary year.
May your heart be full. Thank you for filling mine with your generosity, support and love.
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✨ blooming more Light
💞 more Goodness
🌎 more gorgeous-tenderness on our planet.
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Zelle: wininim@gmail.com or 847.312.9313
….Until next week. 💖 ✨
