"Every relationship you make, you’ll have to show readiness to adjust and make adaptations.
Remember, you can always come home.
You will go home again when the world knocks you down — or when you fall down in full view of the world. But only for two or three weeks at a time. Your mother will pamper you and feed you your favorite meal of red beans and rice. You’ll make a practice of going home so she can liberate you again — one of the greatest gifts, along with nurturing your courage, that she will give you.

Be courageous, but not foolhardy.
Walk proud as you are."

~ Maya Angelou letter to her Daughter (Excerpt)

Painting: "Marjory" (1913), by Alfred James Munnings (1878 -1959)

"In mythos and fairy tales, deities and other great spirits test the hearts of humans by showing up in various forms that disguise their divinity. They show up in robes, rags, silver sashes, or with muddy feet. They show up with skin dark as old wood, or in scales made of rose petal, as a frail child, as a lime-yellow old woman, as a man who cannot speak, or as an animal who can. The great powers are testing to see if humans have yet learned to recognize the greatness of soul in all its varying forms."

― Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Painting by Anne Siem

Each day is born with a sunrise
and ends in a sunset, the same way we
open our eyes to see the light,
and close them to hear the dark.
You have no control over
how your story begins or ends.
But by now, you should know that
all things have an ending.
Every spark returns to darkness.
Every sound returns to silence.
And every flower returns to sleep
with the earth.
The journey of the sun
and moon is predictable.
But yours,
is your ultimate
art.

~ Suzy Kassem

Art by Jules Breton "The song of the Lark" (1884)

“But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more.”

"The Mermaid Princess", after the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson (1805-1875) illustration by Percy Tarrant (1881-1930)

Gems for Dreamers

Moonstones are imbued with mystical properties of love and abundance.

Moonstones, gems named for their resemblance to the familiar glowing orb in the night sky, offer us more than mere beauty. Their association with moon goddesses throughout the world may explain why moonstones’ qualities seem to reach out to assist all those who find themselves under the moon’s light, from travelers and those at sea to lovers and dreamers. Throughout the world, moonstones have been imbued with mystical properties that extend the fabled powers of the moon into daylight hours.

Moonstones, sometimes likened to a raindrop or tear, have long reminded people in Asia that the moon cannot be seen during the rain, just as it is difficult to see through our tears. In India, they are thought to give sweet, beautiful dreams by night but have gained a reputation for enhancing intuitive sensitivity and spiritual vision of the “third eye” at any time of the day. This connection to the subconscious also was recognized in the Middle Ages in Europe, where it was believed that gazing into a moonstone would cause you to fall into a deep sleep that allowed you to see the future. Their power is also believed to be connected to fertility. In Arabia, women sew moonstones into their garments to enhance their fertility. This association with fertility even extends to the fertility of crops, which is why moonstone amulets have been seen hanging in fruit trees before harvest.

By bringing love and abundance into our lives today and helping us to see the future, moonstones allow us to see the hope of all good things in our lives. And to further enhance the power of your moonstone, try putting them outside in the light of the full moon so it absorbs its mystical power.

by Madisyn Taylor

Although I love flowers very much, I won’t see them when I’m gone. So in lieu of flowers:

Buy a book of poetry written by someone still alive, sit outside with a cup of tea, a glass of wine, and read it out loud, by yourself or to someone, or silently.
Spend some time with a single flower. A rose maybe. Smell it, touch the petals. Really look at it.
Drink a nice bottle of wine with someone you love. Or, Champagne. And think of what John Maynard Keynes said, “My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne.” Or what Dom Perignon said when he first tasted the stuff: “Come quickly! I am tasting stars!”
Take out a paint set and lay down some colours.
Watch birds. Common sparrows are fine. Pigeons, too. Geese are nice. Robins.
In lieu of flowers, walk in the trees and watch the light fall into it. Eat an apple, a really nice big one. I hope it’s crisp.
Have a long soak in the bathtub with candles, maybe some rose petals.
Sit on the front stoop and watch the clouds. Have a dish of strawberry ice cream in my name.
If it’s winter, have a cup of hot chocolate outside for me. If it’s summer, a big glass of ice water.
If it’s autumn, collect some leaves and press them in a book you love. I’d like that.
Sit and look out a window and write down what you see. Write some other things down.
In lieu of flowers, I would wish for you to flower. I would wish for you to blossom, to open, to be beautiful.

~ "In Lieu of Flowers" by Shawna Lemay

Painting: "The Soul of the Rose" by John William Waterhouse

On fairy tales -

'The child intuitively comprehends that although these stories are unreal, they are not untrue ...

For those who immerse themselves in what the fairy tale has to communicate, it becomes a deep, quiet pool which at first seems to reflect only our own image; but behind it we soon discover the inner turmoils of our soul - its depth, and ways to gain peace within ourselves and with the world, which is the reward of our struggles.

~ Bruno Bettelheim, "The Uses of Enchantment": "The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales"

Painting by Seymore Joseph Guy

Come away, O human child,
To the waters and the wild,
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

~ W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)

If this scene in Donegal isn't the stuff of fairy tales, then I don't know what is.

Photo: Irina Smith

Let’s never be “out of the woods”

"I feel a little alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit. I would fain forget all my morning’s occupation—my obligations to society. But sometimes it happens that I cannot easily shake off the village—the thought of some work—some surveying will run in my head and I am not where my body is — I am out of my senses. In my walks I would return to my senses like a bird or a beast. What business have I in the woods if I am thinking of something out of the woods."

- From Thoreau's Journal; November 25, 1850.

Thoreau would use this passage almost entirely verbatim in his lecture, "Walking; or, The Wild."

Photo by Richard Smith.

THE MOMENT OF AWAKENING

“Until yesterday, I was a meat-eater and it seemed to me that I did not contribute to the cruel acts that take place in farms and slaughterhouses. In fact, I used to use fast food restaurants all the time and didn't realize that I was the one paying for this kind of cruelty and evil.
All this changed yesterday. While returning home from a business trip, I noticed a small injured piglet lying on the side of the road, waving its legs helplessly. I couldn't believe that none of the passing drivers stopped to help this crippled little guy.
He lay there bleeding, alone, like some useless piece of trash. I noticed a number tattooed on his bloody ear. His childish body trembled with fear, and he tried in vain to get up to escape.
I carried him to the car where I cleaned and tended to his wounds as best I could. My wife and I started looking for someone by phone who could provide him with veterinary help, but we quickly realized that none of the vets wanted to bother with him.
This is how our uncaring and inhumane system works.
After some time, we finally managed to find a vet who agreed to help Otis, because that was the name we gave him... that number tattooed on his ear was not enough for this little innocent and defenseless creature.
We don't know yet if Otis will survive, but we will do everything we can to help him... and we will do everything in our power so that his brothers and sisters no longer have to live in such a cruel world."

Words and photo: David Stiger via Ryszard Piotr

The legend of Narcissus

The alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about Narcissus.

The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth who knelt daily beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty. He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which was called the narcissus.

But this was not how the author of the book ended the story.

He said that when Narcissus died, the goddesses of the forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.

'Why do you weep?' the goddesses asked.

'I weep for Narcissus," the lake replied.

'Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus,' they said, 'for though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand.'

'But... was Narcissus beautiful?' the lake asked.

'Who better than you to know that?' the goddesses asked in wonder. 'After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!'

The lake was silent for some time. Finally, it said:

'I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.'

'What a lovely story,' the alchemist thought.

- Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Painting: Narcissus (1912) by English painter John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)

"Growing, ripening, aging, dying — the passing of time is predestined, inevitable.

There is only one solution if old age is not to be an absurd parody of our former life, and that is to go on pursuing ends that give our existence a meaning — devotion to individuals, to groups or to causes, social, political, intellectual or creative work.

In old age we should wish still to have passions strong enough to prevent us turning in on ourselves."

~ Simone de Beauvoir

Hello all, here is my latest painting ( the first of 2024 ) called " Sailing Through a Sea of Flowers". I enjoyed painting this one and hope you enjoy it too. Light & Peace,

Josephine

The Official  Josephine Wall

Fear can accumulate in our body, causing stress and tension. Rest is a precondition for healing. When animals in the forest get wounded, they find a place to lie down, and they rest completely for many days. They don’t think about food or anything else. They just rest, and they are able to heal themselves quite naturally. When we humans become fearful and overwhelmed with stress, we may go to the pharmacy and get drugs, but we rarely have the wisdom to stop our running around. We don’t know how to help ourselves.'

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Painting by Anna Christine Roda - French Contemporary realist artist

At a certain age, the light that you live in is inhabited by the shades…I’m very conscious that people dear to me are alive in my imagination…These people are with me. It’s just a stage of your life when the death of people doesn’t banish them out of your consciousness, They’re part of the light in your head.'

~ Seamus Heaney

Photography: Artimis Dreaming

Don't fall in love with a woman who reads,
a woman who feels too much,
a woman who writes...
Don't fall in love with an educated,
magical, delusional, crazy woman.
Don't fall in love with a woman who thinks,
who knows what she knows and also knows
how to fly; a woman sure of herself.

Don't fall in love with a woman who
laughs or cries making love, knows how
to turn her spirit into flesh; let
alone one that loves poetry (these are
the most dangerous), or spends half an
hour contemplating a painting and isn't
able to live without music.

Don't fall in love with a woman who is interested
In politics and is rebellious
and feels a huge horror from injustice.
One who does not like to watch television at all.
Or a woman who is beautiful
no matter the features of her face or her body.

Don't fall in love with a woman who is intense, entertaining,lucid and irreverent.
Don't wish to fall in love with a woman like that. Because when you fall in love with a woman like that,
whether she stays with you or not, whether she loves you or not,
from a woman like that, you never come back.

~ Martha Rivera Garrido

Photography: Angelica Houston

Art by @jenniferelson

For many, January is a hard, cold month…

When everyone is setting new goals, laying down righteous ground rules and striving to become a better version of themselves, some of us are fighting to find ourselves each day...

You see, December is a month of giving, and some of us, come January, are completely and utterly spent.

A month of remembering everyone, and remembering absolutely everything.

A month of including everyone and of reaching out to each and every person we have ever known.

A month of reaching breaking point every day trying to have fun, to be the ultimate hostess, to be the perfect guest.

A month of stretching ourselves financially, emotionally and of letting our boundaries be breached by many... in the spirit of the season.

And then January hits and bam... before we can even begin the arduous task of clearing away the festivities, we are expected to jump on the ‘new year, new you’ bandwagon and transform ourselves entirely.

For some of us this is just too much.

January is the darkest and most depressing month of the year and for many sensitive souls, the barrage of ‘advice’ on how we ‘should’ be living, is just too much.

So perhaps this is a safe place to say that maybe it’s okay to take a week or two to recover and to just be kind to ourselves before demanding better.

And for those of us who really do fall low in the darkest month of the year. For those of us who have given too much and to whom the future looks bleak - perhaps this is the right place to say - you are absolutely fine the way you are. Just stay.

Take some time to breathe.

Take some time to not think about anything much at all except breathing in and breathing out.

Take some time to build back up, not tear your yourself down.

For many, this month is a mountain that looks unclimbable.

Be kind, my friends. Always.

~ Donna Ashworth

CLOSING Cycles 2023:

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through.

Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters – whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished.

Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden?

You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened.
You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that.

But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister.
Everyone is finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.
That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home.

Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts – and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.

Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them.

Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.

Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood.

Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the “ideal moment.”

Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back.

Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person – nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need.

This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life.

Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust.

Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.

~ Paulo Coelho

One of my best memories of Christmas Eve was when I was a young child of six or seven.

My father was visiting his uncle in the nearby village. When he returned, it was dark, and he wore his winter coat. He said he saw Santa Claus making his way over the road as he was visiting the neighbouring houses.

I was so dumbfounded and struck with complete awe. Santa Claus saw my father. I remember staring at my father’s coat sleeve, thinking, “Santa Claus has just seen this very same coat sleeve as I am looking at now.” I was trying to absorb it, to take it in. That memory of wonder and awe has stayed with me ever since. Perhaps that can be the invitation for us all this Christmas. To connect to a sense of wonder, of ordinary moments, to try to see through those eyes, of the child spirit in us all.

I hope this Christmas brings you closer to that sense of wonder and awe, of love, gratitude, contentment and that place inside of you that lets you also love yourself.

Beannachtaí na Nollaig libh go léir. Christmas blessings to you all. Grá mór, Eileen x

Painting by Eutro Pegagnon

*excerpt from my New blog on my website www.teallach.com. You are welcome to subscribe there for new Reflections and updates through the year

My favourite fairy tale - "The Snow Queen"-

'I can give her no greater power than she has already," said the woman; "don't you see how strong that is? How men and animals are obliged to serve her, and how well she has got through the world, barefooted as she is. She cannot receive any power from me greater than she now has, which consists in her own purity and innocence of heart. If she cannot herself obtain access to the Snow Queen, and remove the glass fragments from little Kay, we can do nothing to help her'.

"The Snow Queen", Hans Christian Andersen
Illustration (1911)