Notes on Writing...

Writing is. It exists, and it breathes, and it is a part of everything around us. Like the air that flows around the earth, writing is the soft current of emotions, hopes, dreams, histories and aspirations into which we all must delve on a regular basis to feed our ever-changing and evolving psyches.

This blog is about writing. Not just written words, but every form that writing can and will take if you learn to write as you breathe. To write, you must exhale all that is within you and let everything go, carrying with it the hurt, happiness, heartache and joy that you have been hoarding--and trust that you will be filled anew when you inhale. Writing with passion and intensity comes from that place in between the breaths, in between the exhale and the inhale full of the raw potential all writers seek in the creation of every piece of work that has been given life and borne unto the world.

Writing is. Let it be for you.

Guided Meditation for Letting Go of Negative Emotions

Take a moment and find your center. Feel yourself in your own skin, aware of all your parts from toes and legs, hand and arms, stomach and back, to neck to head and beyond.

Feel your mind, and as you do so, allow the stress and discontent to drain down your body and into the Earth Mother who is waiting to carry them away.

Feel also your heart. See the places where there has been damage and focus your energy on healing those wounds. Even though you cannot heal them completely in this time, open yourself enough to allow the healing process to begin.

Once you are in full contact with all you are, mind and body, focus on your spirit, the YOU behind you. Feel your inner self grow until you are full and you are one.

Now, see in your mind’s eye the expanse of the heavens above you, like a starry blanket of night enshrouding the world. Focus on a single star, a single point of pulsating light and allow your vision to blur until you can see the rays emanating from its center. Draw those rays down upon and feel the warmth of the light covering you, bringing new hope and healing.

Allow this light energy to enter your mind, to enter and fill you, pushing down all that is ailing you, all the hurt and loss and sorrow, pushing it down through your head, through your neck until it pools in your heart. This sadness that runs deep, this pain and suffering lingering here are not serving you any longer. Gather them all together into one ball of hurt and sorrow.

Draw down once more from above and continue to push down, keeping your grief contained in this ball. Push it down through your loins, through your legs and into the waiting hands of the Earth Mother.

Once you have pushed the hurt and sadness into her hands, once she has reached out and accepted what you are giving her, you must let go. Watch as she takes this carefully tended and intimate part of you and places it in the pools below, the Underworld waters beneath the Earth.

Emptied and drained, you need only breathe in and allow the Earth Mother to begin to fill you with the Waters of Life. Feel them trickling up into your feet, up your legs and into your belly. Feel them filling you, revitalizing you.

Feel them as they enter your heart, bringing their cool, healing touch to all those places that you marked for repair. Feel them transferring the physical love the Earth Mother has for you into your heart and infusing it into your life’s blood.

Feel this Earth Power draw up, through your neck and into your mind, bringing peace and contentment, bringing acceptance and new beginnings. Feel your mind relax and float in the gentle Waters of the Earth Mother as though she is holding you in her hands. Commune with her there, show her your residual pains and give them to her to wash away.

With one last deep breath, feel the Earth Waters fill you completely and spill out over your head, running down your body and back to the Earth, carrying away the last of the sorrow and pain you have been harboring.

When you are ready, open your eyes with peace

Through the Fire: A Song for One Passed

Sleep, My Love. Rest, My Dearest Friend.
Close your eyes now, and let the Kindreds take your hand.
The time has come to leave this world and go,
To stand up, to step out, to wander about, so let your spirit roam

And find your way to the Fire in the Otherworld.
Take your place among the Ancient Wise.
Through the Fire in the Otherworld
Hear me calling you, look into my eyes through the Fire.

When we are born, our breath comes from the Earth,
When our days are through, to her we all return.
She fashions us to shape this world anew,
And it’s more beautiful because it was touched by you.

And we pray through the Fire in the Otherworld
That you take your place among the Ancient Wise.
Through the Fire in the Otherworld
Hear me calling you, look into my eyes

The world is darker now that you’ve moved to a higher place.
Overflowing love for you in streams running down my face.
Though I know we’ll be together in the end,
Doesn’t make it easier to accept your loss, my friend.

So I pray through the Fire in the Otherworld
That you take your place among the Ancient Wise
Through the Fire in the Otherworld
Hear me calling you, look into my eyes (2X)
Through the Fire.

YouTube Video in honor of Rev. Raven Mann

Hidden

You’re with me when I wake each day.
You’re with me when I sleep.
You crowd my thoughts throughout the day—
A secret I must keep.

I think of you as I retire,
Call out your name at night.
I see your face in all my dreams.
Your face is my life’s light.

Pre-chorus:
But darkness comes in somber waves
As I reach for your hand.
Mirage, a figment of my mind.
Alone, alone I stand.

Chorus:
I stand and watch you watching her,
Hoping you’ll see me.
When she’s around I don’t exist.
I am not pretty.

Friendship has its benefits.
In me you do confide.
I listen quite objectively
And put my heart aside.

I tell you all I’d want from you
If I were in her place,
And smile, smile, smile on
To keep truth off my face.

Pre-chorus:
I don’t have to fake the joy
I find in your success.
I want you to be happy, I
Just want it to hurt me less.

Bridge:
I’ll keep it hidden.
I’ll keep it hidden.
I’ll keep it hidden from you. (2X)

Chorus:
I stand and watch you watching her,
Hoping you’ll see me.
When she’s around I don’t exist.
I am not—
Pretty as a picture like
She is in your eyes.
And one more day I stand alone
With a smile as my disguise.

So go to her and be as one.
I’ll stay here where I sit
Content to know there’s still a place
In your life where I do fit.

A Soul's Journey

Restless, conflicted and broken
Naked, before you I stand
Consumed by what was and what never shall pass
Hair cascading down my back

Silent tears I refuse to spill
Your touch inflaming my flesh
A heart once wide open, bound now in chains
Hesitate, then embrace

Pain for the loss, for the wounds on my soul
Reflections of me in your eyes
So cold is the silence that reigns now inside
Your kiss awakening my soul

My soul, my soul flies in raven-cloaked glory
Alight on the wings of my dreams
Carried away by your sweet song of hope
For nothing exists as it seems

Who are you that hides when you stare in my face
I yield myself to your desire
Telling me I’m just a piece of myself
Illuminating, inspired

Memories stirred plague my dreams through the night
Wandering hands fan the flames
Deafening silences bounce round my room
Everything, everything
Everything, everything
Everything, all falls away

My soul, my soul flies in raven-cloaked glory
Alight on the wings of my dreams
Carried away by your sweet song of hope
For nothing exists as it seems

Alone one more night, alive one more day
As one, all the world fades away
I turn up my face to the sun and the sky
And fly away, fly far away

My soul, my soul flies in raven-cloaked glory
Alight on the wings of my dreams
Carried away by your sweet song of hope
For nothing exists as it seems

My soul, my soul flies in raven-cloaked glory
Whispers of hatred now fade
Carried away by your sweet song of hope
Into the future I’ve made
And into the future I fade

Apart

I treasure all those moments
Wrapped within your arms
Content and spent and heaven sent
Safe from fear and harm
I linger in those memories
Let them fill my mind
To try and keep my tears away
When your hand can’t reach mine

Chorus:
I drive too fast on my way to you
On my way to your embrace
I race toward your loving arms
To see the smile upon your face
But when I leave you, I drive slowly
With an ache inside my heart
For every mile I’m closer to home
Is one more we’re apart

Alone inside my room at night
The coldness in my bed
The emptiness that creeps inside
My weary, lonely head
Are constant when you’re far away
So very hard to take
For loneliness and sorrow do
Poor companions make

Chorus

Bridge:
I cry myself to sleep at night
While memories put up a fight
To keep me up when I’m alone
Without you here, it’s not a home

And then we stand as one once more
As trees whose roots entwine
Rooted deeply, we stand strong
In love that’s touched divine
Our branches reach up through the sky
Beyond the loftiest height
Where Gods and Angels make their homes
It’s there our love takes flight

Chorus

Silent Anticipation

Here I stand,
Waiting so patiently.
My mind wandering,
Seeking, hoping, dreaming.
Remembering what has come before,
Looking on toward what is yet to come.

And then it happens:
A quickening of my pulse,
A sensual catch in my breath.
All so seemingly slight,
Yet deep and satisfying.

A soft smile creeps onto my face
As I slowly recognize this sensation,
This set of responses
Lost and suppressed for so long.

I rejoice in the return of the butterflies
And all they stand for
As I continue to wait
In silent anticipation
For you.