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To respond authentically to what we encounter: this is how we all reacted as children, before we were punished or shamed for doing so. To respond authentically to what we encounter -- how hard it is for adults to do something that sounds so simple.

To do so, we only have to be inwardly attentive, we only have to know what we feel, we only have to be able to respond with an innocent, spontaneous, instinctive receptivity that is a finely attuned discriminating consciousness, a body and soul reaction to the world around us.

~ from CROSSING TO AVALON by Jean Shinoda Bolen

September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

Mary Ann Welter

Dear Friends ~ Summer brought a small respite from covid restrictions and many were able to visit family and friends, relishing once again seeing our loved ones in person. While planning a get-together with a group of long-cherished women friends, an idea percolated to invite a group of contemporary and historic women to share nuggets of women’s wisdom with you, dear readers, male and female. All are welcome. Come in. Pour a cup of tea or glass of wine, put extra sugar in September lemonade just this once, extend your summer travels and welcome visitors old and new. Pour a libation and toast our inspiring sisters. ~ Mary Ann

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To Have Without Holding

Marge Percy | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

Learning to love differently is hard
Love with the hands open, love
With the doors banging on their hinges
The cupboard unlocked, the wind
Roaring and whimpering in the rooms
Rustling the sheets and snapping the blinds
That thwack like rubber bands
In an open palm.

~ Marge Percy from "To Have Without Holding" in THE MOON IS ALWAYS FEMALE

Knowing what must be done does away with fear

Rosa Parks | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

~ Rosa Parks with Gregory J. Reed in QUIET STRENGTH

When sleeping women wake

September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

When sleeping women wake, mountains move.

~ Chinese Proverb

The tide'll turn

Harriet Beecher Stowe | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

When you get into a tight place,
and everything goes against you
till it seems as if you couldn't hold
on a minute longer, never give up
then, for that's just the place and
time that the tide'll turn.

~ Harriet Beecher Stowe in OLDTOWN FOLKS

The mysteries of life and spirit

Clarissa Pinkola Estes | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

From the time we are born there is a wildish urge within us that desires our souls lead our lives, for the ego can only understand just so much. Imagine the ego on a permanent and relatively short leash; it can only go so far into the mysteries of life and spirit.

~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés in WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES

Find ecstasy in life

Emily Dickinson | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.

~ Emily Dickinson in a letter to T.W. Higginson

God's World

Edna St. Vincent Millay | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!

~ Edna St. Vincent Millay from "God’s World" in RENASCENCE AND OTHER POEMS

Never has a time been as this

Janet Hurley | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

See a time for inspiration.
See a time blessed in God’s Love.
See a time given to the children of God.
While you pray see a time...
Never has a time been as this...
{The Holy One} blesses and comforts you and gives you inspiration.
Earth children, sing so sweetly.

~ Janet Hurley with Matthew Fox in PSALMS FROM THE HILLS OF WEST VIRGINIA

In beauty may I walk

September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

All day may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With beauty may I walk.
With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty all around me, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.

~ From "In beauty may I walk", Traditional Navaho Blessing Way Prayer

Life is short

Sarah Louise Delaney | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet.

~ Sarah Louise Delaney in ON MY OWN AT 107

The Moment Before Everything

Claudia Serra | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

To get to you,
I traveled light years
Through cosmic storms and dust,

Only to find you sleeping
on your simple cot.

Stepping back,
I folded,
Quietly,

My gray ragged wings.

I could see why he chose you,
The glow of your pure breath...

I didn’t mean to frighten you,
Just wanted to keep looking...

I wanted to breathe in your innocent air,
Look at your soft,
Surrendered hands...
Another second ...
Before I told you the news.

~ Claudia Serra from "The Moment Before Everything" in ANNUNCIATION edited by Elizabeth Adams

Shine forth into the heart

Nan Merrill | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

Eternal Listener, give heed to
Your people,
You, who dwell amidst the angels,
Shine forth into the heart of
All nations!
Enliven your people with compassion
That peace and justice
Might flourish.
Restore us, O Holy One;
Let your face shine upon us,
Teach us to love.

~ Nan Merrill from "Psalm 80, Verse 1" in PSALMS FOR PRAYING

Never throw out anyone

Audrey Hepburn | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

~ Audrey Hepburn

Your journey into God

Macrina Wiederkehr | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

For your prayer
your journey into God,
may you be given a small storm
a little hurricane
named after you, persistent enough
to get your attention
violent enough
to give you to new depths
strong enough
To shake you to the roots
majestic enough to remind you of your origin:
made of the earth
yet steeped in eternity
frail human dust
yet soaked with infinity.

~ Macrina Wiederkehr in A TREE FULL OF ANGELS

God’s other name

Mary Oliver | September 2021 (Vol. XXXIV, No. 8)

I am thinking, or trying to think, about all the
Imponderables for which we have
no answers, yet endless interest all the
Range of our lives...
Mystery, after all, is God’s other name...

But, but---
excuse me now, please; it’s morning, heavenly bright,
and my irrepressible heart begs me to hurry on
Into the next exquisite moment.

~ Mary Oliver from "Trying to Be Thoughtful in the First Brights of Dawn" in SWAN