Everyday Mysticism: Grace Cathedral, Hildegard of Bingen, and Labyrinths

Hildegard of Bingen: Spiritual BadA**

Hello! After a long and much needed break, we're back and ready to chat about mysticism, astrology, and more!

What is everyday mysticism?

Everyday mysticism means to live your life in a conscious way. It means finding the small miracles in the world because small miracles are always there. Find the silence. Understand your heart. Listen, and if that doesn't work, listen again. And again. And again. (Turn off the cell phone to really listen to your soul.)

How can I do that? 

Journal. Even five minutes of writing can reconnect you with your true purpose. Meditate. Silence isn't just golden, it's the key to unlocking what you really need in the moment. Carve out time for YOU. In our hectic, tech-driven world, it's important to power down so we can plug our souls into something bigger than us - universal energy and love.

Sacred labyrinth power  with
Dr. Lauren Artress

On Happy Ganesh's Facebook and Twitter pages, you mentioned a book called Walking a Sacred Path by Dr. Lauren Artress. What made you recommend  that book to your hundreds of followers?

I'm a big fan of what I call "meditative walking" - when I throw on some sneakers, grab my iPod, and talk a very, very long brisk walk. I love either walking in our neighborhood or walking in the local woods. Trees inspire and revive me. Nature gives me a feeling of excitement and adventure: my inner five year old goes, "Where are we going?"

That love of contemplation and nature drew me to Walking a Sacred Path - but, as the universe truly works in divine and perfect ways, usually when I least expect it, I didn't know I was being "drawn" to it. I bought it at a book sale because it was fifty cents! Much to my great surprise, I learned later that Dr. Lauren Artress , the author, is  responsible for the labyrinth at the welcoming and wonderful Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, one of my favorite spiritual spots!

 I had a chance to visit Grace Cathedral over Christmas 2013 and I was so moved by the beauty and tranquility of the space that I began to cry. Due to the holiday festivities, I didn't have a chance to walk the labyrinth but I look forward to doing so very soon. Movement is sacred. And at the heart of the labyrinth lies awareness, answers, visions, truth? All of the above, perhaps.

 One of my favorite quotes from the book is about the spiritual philosophy of Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century mystic and theologian:

Hildegard of Bingen was [...] an author of theology that knitted together nature and spirit, cosmos and soul.  She described the [Spirit] as the greening power of God. Just as plants are greened, so are we as well. As we grow up, our spark of life continually shines forth. If we ignore this spark, this greening power, we become thirsty and shriveled. And if we respond to the spark, we flower. (Walking a Sacred Path, Artress, 1995, p.15)

What will you do this week to contribute to the "greening" of your soul and inner life? Will you use walking or hiking to hear your spirit? Or will you choose another form of awareness?

Writing Wednesday: The Universe and You

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(Note: This article contains YouTube videos. If you're reading this entry in an email, please click through to the blog to see the videos!)

In honor of this week's Writing Wednesday, let's talk about the eternal divine within. I believe the sacred is in you, and learning how to connect to our deeply personal and individual spiritualities is, I believe, a lifelong and intensely personal process.

1. Do you believe in a Higher Power? If yes, does it have a name? Do you call it God? Goddess? Jesus? Luck? Chance? Fate?

2. What is your personal sacred code?

3. What does talking to a Higher Power mean to you, if you pray to one? Do you call your communication prayer? Does it have another name?

4. Describe the face of your own inner divine being. What does it look like? What is the feeling associated with it?

5. What is your favorite communication or "prayer" with the divine? Some of my favorites are "I'm lost", "Help", "F-- This!", or "Thank You."

Some book recommendations are

The Feminine Face of God by Sherry Ruth Anderson and Patricia Hopkins: Anderson and Hopkins explore women's views of spirituality, including testimony from nuns, Buddists, pagans, female rabbis, and women of all kinds, creeds, and belief systems. From the questioning stay-at-home mom to the woman leaving her relationship after fifty years, the book delves into our eternal questions: If God is me, what am I doing here? What is meaning? What applies to me?

The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie: Self-help household name Melody Beattie wrote this as a daily book of meditations to help us let go, find health, and trust our inner timing. (Melody Beattie also gave the children's book I edited rave reviews. To learn more about April Claxton's wonderful Goodnight Just the Same, click here.)

The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris: The poet Kathleen Norris went to live with Benedictine monks for two years. "Here, she compresses these years of experience into the diary of one liturgical year, offering observations on subjects ranging from celibacy to dealing with emotions," says Amazon.

Women, Food, and God: Geneen Roth was featured on Oprah for this one and it's fantastic. She connects our intimate relationship to food to our intimate spiritual relationship. Wonderful meditation on the ways that our relationship to food parallels our own abundance or perceived lack of  support from a higher power.

The ways that we feel into - or don't feel into - our individual paths can often make or break us in small ways. Here's to loving and accepting our own personal paths, whatever they look like and whatever questions they pose.

And here's a song, "Universe and You" by KT Tunstall.



For any Gray's Anatomy fans out there, here's the "very special musical episode version" that aired last week.  Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) sings to her partner Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) , now in a coma. (Who was a weepy mess? That would be me.)



Love

Marissa