February/March 2007

Tall Tales, Sara Post, 2005

Above The Door News © Sara Post 2007


 

 

…every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it. 
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.
Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
 
     Wendell Berry, excerpts from “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front”

From Winter Into Spring

It’s been cold! All the subtropical plants we northern Californians tenderly place in our gardens, with some reservations, but seduced by their beauty and with high hopes for abundant blooms, are hanging in tatters. Even the south facing bouganvilla, which has

endured ten winters by arraying itself against the sunlit back wall has succumbed to the hard cold. In a few more weeks we’ll know which hearty roots have survived sending up faint green shoots.  All of us endure at one time or another seasons of bitter frost.  The deeply rooted parts of us lie quiet and in due time, send up new tendrils searching for warmth and light.  It’s a subversive act, one that affirms hope and life in the face of devastation.  It’s a way to “Practice resurrection”.
Reviving Love, committee, Sara Post 2007

February SoulStudio: True Love!

Friday, February 2, 6:30-9:30pm
Saturday, February 3, 9am-noon
Investment: $40.
Registration, information: Contact Sara tspost@omsoft.com or call (530)219-2379

What touches us about Love? From Mr. Rogers’ tender song, “It’s You I Like”, the very human and passionate poems of Pablo Neruda, the funny, explicitly sexual and compassionate films of Pedro Almodovar, the mystical passion of Hafiz to the ancient myth of Cupid and Psyche sometimes subtitled “The Soul In Search Of Love” we are moved by the depth of connection that marks the experience of true love.

In February’s SoulStudio we’ll go in search of love and where we find it, make a card in its honor.  Whether you can join with one of these groups or not, take a quiet moment for love in the next few weeks.  Perhaps you’ll make a card for love or someone you love, read your favorite love poem or story or just sit quietly to reflect upon your experiences of love. In songwriter Kate Wolf's words, "open up your heart / to the tears and laughter / and give yourself to love..."

1st Chakra Elephant, companion, Sara Post 2006

March SoulStudio:
Exploring The Animal World

Friday, March 2, 6:30-9:30pm or
Saturday, March 3, 9am-noon
Investment $40.
Information, registration: tspost@omsoft.com or (530)219-2379

Early spring is a good time to be looking around.  Birds are on the move; small mammals are becoming more active; lizards creep out to enjoy spring sunshine.
It’s a good time to examine the animal world—our world. Are you aware of some particular connection with animals—or a special animal.  How does its energy inspire or inform you?  We’ll meditate on the chakras in our March SoulStudio and take time to discover animal companions found there.  We’ll also work with totem animals and animal friends.
Fondly Filleting Yourself, committee, Deborah Luthi 2006
Love In The Larger Community: Anne Lamott

Deborah Luthi’s Community Card for writer, Anne Lamott, is one of my favorites. Lamott is the author of many funny and wrenching novels and memoirs, among them, Crooked Little Heart, Blue Shoe, Tender Mercies, Plan B and a wonderful discussion of writing, Bird By Bird.

Deborah writes about this card: “I am the one who…comes to remind you to not let others define, dissect you.  Like Anne LaMott, be courageous and bravely bare your soul even though that can, at times, be painful and messy. Expose, love and revel in your true self.” 

Thanks to Deborah for this reminder that love demands a lot of us—not the least sometimes painful honesty—with others and with ourselves. 

Cupid and Psyche Antonio Canova. 1793

Links to Love:

"All night I have slept with you/ near the sea, in the island / Wild and sweet you were between pleasure and dream / between fire and water." Capri, May 3rd, 1952, Pablo Neruda, The Captian’s Verses. Nobel Prize winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda wrote wide ranging poems about the earth, everyday objects, his personal experiences and often, memorably, about love.  This book is among the best known collections of his love poetry: http://www.amazon.com/Captains-Verses-Pablo-Neruda/dp/0811215806

Pedro Almodovar’s latest movie Volver has opened in Davis.  Reviewers have given it raves and Penelope Cruz has an Oscar nomination for best actress. Although Almodovar is quoted as saying that this film is about death, the interactions between the characters speak movingly about the difficulties of love. Almodovar’s films are explicit powerful and surprisingly tender. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volver

Fourteenth century Persian poet Hafiz often writes about love in both sensual and spiritual terms. Although little is known about his life, his work seems to have been marked by his deep love for a beautiful Turkish woman, Shakh-e Nabat, and his passionate mysticism. http://www.hafizonlove.com/  The Gift is a modern translation of many fine poems by Hafiz.

The myth of Cupid and Psyche is a fairy tale with a deeper meaning. (Is that the definition of myth?)  Psyche (soul) finds Love, looses it and with courage and tenacity completes the task of recovering that which she has lost. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_and_Psyche  A beautiful telling of this myth is found in The Arbuthnot Anthology of Children’s Literature.

Kate Wolf wrote and sang her songs in Northern California in the early 1980’s.  She died of leukemia in 1986 just as her work had begun to reach a national audience. “Give Yourself To Love” is one of her best known and most loved songs.  It was written for the wedding of friends. Her son,Max Wolf, recalls the story: "She wrote it for two good friends on the afternoon of their wedding in Nevada City. She was supposed to sing a couple Bob Dylan tunes, but she had a couple hours to kill before the wedding so she went into a bedroom with her guitar, closed the door and just churned it out in a couple hours. She sang it at the ceremony, and her friend Nadine who was getting married cried. The minister cried. And Kate cried…” This site lists Kate Wolf songs and has a link to her official website: http://spikesmusic-folk.spike-jamie.com/Kate-Wolf.html

And something very special for animal lovers…
Egret, James Audubon
When I was very young, my grandmother gave me an elegant copy of Audubon’s Birds of America.  I believe it was her idea of a picture book. I loved it and it terrified me.  The birds pictured were not in the least soft and sweet, but wild, alert, real, predatory. This beautiful website in French and English offers an imaginative index to some of Audubon’s images.  Be patient, it may take a few moments to load, but it is certainly worth your time:   http://www.mcq.org/audubon/menu.html
Last Words

                   What
       
                   Is the

            Root of all these

                   Words?

             One thing: love.

   But a love so deep and sweet

     It needed to express itself

      With scents, sounds, colors

           That never before

                   Existed

                                           --Hafiz, The Gift

New Year: Raking Rocks, committee, Sara Post 2007