A Bowl Full of Frogs...

Frog Song... Call the Rains...

Washing Away 
What no Longer Serves. 

Gently Watering... 
The Emerging Growth...

I am at Harmony Hill Retreat Center facilitating a 3 day retreat for people living with cancer. We began with lunch today. 

Today is the Spring Equinox, the first day of Spring. It is also the dark of the moon. It is an auspicious time to plant our seeds of intention & desire, deep in the fertile and gently warming soil. Here at Harmony Hill, the gardens are waking up, with buds and sprouts all around. I arrived last evening and had a lovely experience this morning in The Cottage, where faculty stay while we are here.

Melody, who is facilitating yoga for this retreat, found a little frog in the Cottage kitchen. When I went to catch it, I found 3 more. As they were hopping around with me chasing, I got a bowl to put them in. Quickly they began trying to hop out of the bowl… What will remain in my memory is the sight and feeling of covering the bowl with my hands while trying to keep them inside. Little frogs jumping against my hands. I took them outside and released them into the ferns. 

Frogs symbolize, cleansing, renewal, mystery and the element of water. Frog song calls the rains and teaches us to honor our tears. Through those tears, they invite transformation. The perfect messengers for this day. 

One of my favorite symbols is the bowl. A bowl represents infinite possibilities, it can hold anything. A bowl full of frogs, jumping for freedom. What a delight!!!

New growth, cleansing tears, transformation, infinite possibilities and the wisdom of uncertainty, the wisdom of mystery. All of this with The Heart of Retreat… The magic of a circle. When sitting in circle, we invite the collective weaving of everyone. Inherent in a circle is being seen, is being heard, is the wisdom of community… Is Amazing Grace. The right people always show up.  

I embrace these messages into my Heart, on this rainy day on The Hill… 
I offer them to you as Blessings… 

For a ‘New Beginning’ indeed!!!

Heading to a new hOMe

Just before the opening circle... I Bless the Space.

For a New Beginning... by John O'Donohue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

~ John O'Donohue ~

(To Bless the Space Between Us)