Christmas with Two Older Brothers
(Dec 2005)

I changed the front image from a Christmas card greeting that was designed by David Balcolme of Nelson, BC to a photo of my two bothers as I lost that image. It was a sphere similar to the earth via a satellite image. I read that one of the astronauts wept after seeing the earth from this larger perspective. A planet that was alive with clouds swirling impacted him deeply as he saw his home from this larger perspective for the first time.

In Davids image the white doves encircling the earth, symbolizes the love that surrounds us and the peace we all long for and which starts within us. The lace reminds me of the delicate beauty we are surrounded but I feel the lace is ragged and torn as the earth shudders under the weight of our collective foot print.

We have become a mechanized society that is losing its instinctual side. In the film Mondo Cane it showed 400 year old turtles climbing the sand dunes after laying their eggs and dying because they didn’t know the way back to the ocean. This happened in 1945 when the USA tested the atomic bomb in the middle of the ocean unaware of what it would do to the sea creatures. Since then we have continued with more environmental damage than most of us can imagine. We need to ask ourselves “Why are so many humans sick and why is the auto-immune function of our body turning on itself. Why does our body become its own enemy?” What is the bigger picture that we are we failing to notice?

I believe that each of us reflects back the health of the planet, for she is entwined within us, for better or for worse. Like the turtles, whose internal compass’s went haywire we too, as a society, are losing our connection to the Earth. If things go wrong we just adapt and buy filters for our water or air and barely think about our tinkered with tomatoes. As each of us hunkers down and buys vitamins for our denatured foods we forget the bigger picture. We may feel safe but we are creating personal prisons. If we don’t relate to the cancer that is affecting so many, as a reflection of the health of our planet, then all may be lost but I am a optomist and hope that more awareness will bring more change.

The sun and the seasonal changes are a natural process that should slow us down as we turn inward to sort through our experiences and lessons of the past year. The solstice was meant as a time of healing, the darkest hour before the sun changed its course. When I want to bring peace to myself, because I feel hurt or get caught up in some old programming, I take some quiet time, usually a walk in nature and meditate. I ask my head and my heart what they both want. Deep honesty within myself usually works wonders. Once I understand why I am not at peace with the situation, I find the courage to speak my truth and trust my angels will help us find the solution. Compared to thirty years ago when I could barely find a book on self-empowerment, now they are published by the thousands, each with a unique understanding that we are all One, and that God is within each of us, and that together we create the tapestry of life. I also believe that we will have to learn to communicate our differences and discuss solutions in a fair manner as we learn to harmonize the masculine and feminine principles, first within ourselves and then as concerns to the greater whole.

I have also learned that the voice of my spirit and soul speak as loudly as my willingness to listen. I now know that I have a choice; either to open my heart to the love that holds this planet together or reject it and believe that I have no power to change myself, let alone the world. May this season give you the grace to continue your journey inward.