You do not have to be good...
Mary Oliver died this week. I can imagine her shimmering as the moonlit leaves in a midnight breeze, fully merged with this world she loved so much...I am inspired to love more of this world every time I read her words. They call me back to my body and back to the exquisite beauty of the natural world. Yesterday I sat beneath a tree and read "Wild Geese" over and over again to the leaves and sky and grass.
Remembering Mary Oliver…
I first heard Mary Oliver's poetry 15 years ago while living and studying as a work scholar at Esalen. “Wild Geese” was the poem that opened my heart and soul, and continues to do so again and again...
I can feel the words move through me, touching upon some of my deepest longings - to release the pain of regret, to truly fully love the soft animal of my body, to shine like the sun and dance like the rain, to fly home in the clean blue air, to know my place in the family of things...
She writes: you do not have to be good...and just this, only this, can be so very freeing. If we do not have to be good, then we are free to be who and what we are - to embrace and emanate the infinite ways of being - to love what and how and who we love, soft and wild, harsh and exciting.
And I feel that more and more - all the ways of loving this life, of sharing in the despair and joy. It’s real, it’s full, it’s so much. And it’s richer when we gather together and support one another. Do you know what I mean? Do you feel it, too?
Over the next several months I will be co-creating and sharing with some absolutely magical people who I love so much! They are my Magical Allies for this Full Moon post, as they each carry a unique magic and medicine for the soul. Please join us whenever you can!
Magical Collaborations:
Awakening through Dreams, online course with Spirituality & Health (stay tuned for release date)
Imbolc Ceremony: the Eternal Flame of Eternal Love! with Jennifer and Olya Lakshmi at White Lotus Yoga, Poulsbo, WA (February 2, 3-5pm)
Dream Circle at Fettle Botanic, Bend, OR (February 9 and March 9, 5:15-6:15pm)
Freedom from Pain with Dr. Mike Lane and Brian King at 1440 (February 24-March 1) *technically not a collaboration with me, but Taliesin and I will be present and supporting everyone with love!
Luminous Body: Shine Your Light! with Jennifer, Edwina Ferro and Lydia Hwang at College Heights, San Mateo, CA (March 2, 3-5pm)
Beltane Soul Flame Gathering with Jennifer and Stephanie Bridwell near Mount Shasta (May 17-19)
Summer Retreat with Edwina Ferro (June TBA)
Maybe tonight or tomorrow you can step outside and breathe in the magic of this full moon, of all the seen and unseen powers that daily and nightly dream us all into being...open your arms, your eyes, your heart, your mind...for in the words of Mary Oliver: whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese - harsh and exciting - announcing over and over again your place in the family of things.
With Love and Full Moon Magic,
Jennifer
