I have a feeling that my boat
has struck, down there in the depths,
against a great thing.
                  And nothing
happens!  Nothing. . . . Silence . . . Waves . . .

--Nothing happens?  Or has everything happened,
and are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?

                     -- Oceans----Federico Garcia Lorca, trans, Robert Bly

In November we enter fully into fall.  October weather has been mostly sunny and warm, lulling us into the slow realization that the year is turning toward winter.  Olives are ripening; grapes are juicy and sweet; the first winter greens are in the markets. Now we must acknowledge the shortened days made obvious by the switch from daylight savings time to standard time. Deciduous trees now brightly colored by the end of the month will stand bare. Rain is coming, sweeping in from the west as the storm door opens for the next four to five months. 

November begins with All Saints’ Day on the 1st followed by All Souls’ Day on the 2nd. Both of these holidays honor the dead and our understanding of death as part of our life’s cycle.  November’s new moon is at 5:24 pm on the 1st.  The new moon is thought of as a time for planting and for putting down roots.  It is a time to begin new projects, entertain new ideas that can root and grow.  This November the new moon coincides with the day of the dead holidays creating a powerful call to consider endings and beginnings—the point in the cycle
when the old passes away and the new is begun.  We have been working with this idea all during the month of October beginning with our SoulStudio session on Death and the Continutiy of Life.  These essential questions return once more at the beginning of November:  What are you ready to release?  What is waiting to enter your life?
November SoulStudio

At the end of the month we celebrate the harvest with Thanksgiving.  In Spanish, this is el dia de la accion de dar gracias—the day of the action of giving thanks.  SoulStudio looks at the action of giving thanks from the point of view of nourishment—what is nourishing to you, how you give and receive nourishment.   SoulStudio will meet on Saturday, November 12, 9am-noon and at a new time on Friday, November 11,

6:30pm-9:30pm.  I hope the addition of an extra session will allow more of you to share this experience of introspection and art making. Remember that SoulStudio enrollment is limited to seven partipants per session.  Investment is $40. materials, snacks included.

Working With Both Hands

In Tracy Kidder’s profile of Paul Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains, a Haitian patient of Farmer’s refers to him as a doctor who “works with both hands” meaning that he is a person equally proficient in science and magic—or one who is both a rational and intuitive problem solver.  Often we put our trust in one or the other, effectively forgetting that each perspective can powerfully complement the other.  As you go about your work, notice how you are working. Are you exclusively following your rational mind?  Do you trust your intuition above all?  Or are you, like Farmer, “working with both hands”?

New Email address

Above The Door has a new email address: sara@abovethedoor.com

More Changes…

Above The Door is changing this month.  The Coaching+Mentoring, About Sara, and Scheduling sections have been revised.  A new section for newsletter archives has been added.  Next month look for Sharing—a section devoted to books, movies, CDs and links of interest to all.  If you have recommendations for this new section, please send them to sara@abovethedoor.com 

You’re invited…Mark Your Calendars:  Solstice SoulGathering
All SoulCollagers are invited to gather at Sara’s home, 604 Barbera Place in Davis, on Wednesday, December 21 at 6:30pm for a celebration of the Winter Solstice.  Please bring your cards and a snack to share

Looking ahead…The winter SoulCollage schedule will be out in mid November. In addition to two SoulStudio sessions for seasonal introspection and card making on the second Friday evening and Saturday morning of each month, there will be two new groups forming in January of 2006. We’ll start a second SoulCircle group for card reading and writing and begin SoulDreams, a group for imaging and fulfilling a special dream.  Are any of these special groups calling to you?

November 2005 Newsletter
Above The Door News © Sara Post 2005