Kristin, this was the 1st time I got it and I thought I had a mild case. But apparently it was enough to kick up the fatigue and the blood pressure as I already have CFS/Fibro. The BP is a new thing and that just threw me for a loop. I put a call into my PCP this afternoon, again. They are sending me for some blood work. I am going to once again postpone my cataract surgery and hope that with some rest I am feeling well enough for shoulder surgery in a few months. Way too much!!!
I am really glad you enjoyed this post and it resonated with you. That means so much to me as a writer.
Kristin, Sorry to hear about the lupus. I know also comes with fatigue and pain and more. These chronic illness that people don’t see or understand are so hard. I have friends who have literally told me they don’t believe in Fibro and then wonder why I don’t go out. At this point the other issues can wait…
People can be very… Well you know. Spirituality changed my life in so many ways. I am working on some new posts about that for the coming weeks and months.
Pamela, first I send you love. I hope you are feeling better soon.
The synchronicity of this post really hit me. My last few posts talked about how we could be spiritual doulas to each other and how writing our spiritual autobiographies and memoirs could be a gift we leave for others. This is what you have done here.
Decades ago, I had a dark night of the soul but had no idea what it was, which made it all the more difficult. Later, the books I needed to read enlightened me about that experience. I wonder now how it might have been different if I knew "this is normal...this will pass...this is necessary to get to the next part of the path." At the least, it may have dissolved some of the terror that made me resist rather than sink into the experience with trust that, though painful, all would be well.
This past summer I was rereading the Manual for Teachers in A Course in Miracles and, as typically happens, a video popped up that illuminated the section on Trust in a way that allowed me to go much deeper with it. The stages of Trust presented in that section reminded me so much of that dark night of the soul decades ago. Here's a link if you're interested in reading it: https://acimce.app/book/M-4.I
Thank you for this most important post. Your final words are a comfort we can carry with us:
"Call out to the Holy Mother and she will be there to wrap you in her arms of love and comfort you. The dark nights will pass. There will be light.
"And, remember too, to look to the Grandmother Moon when she is full and bask in her glow... For when she is full, she has come to guide you back from the dark nights of the soul..."
And once we remember that all is well, your reminder will kick in:
"Tired as you may be, you must Rise Up, because you have work to do. There are those who need the healing and wisdom of which you have been gifted..."
Hi Paula, I just catching up with comments! Yes, Katherine May's "Wintering" did speak to me. Actually all of her books did. I read them all starting with "Wintering" and then "The Electricity of Every Living Thing" and then "Enchantment." I keep meaning to revisit "Wintering" but have not gotten around to it.
I’m re-reading it again this winter. It seems like a good tradition to instill every winter. It’s speaking to me differently this time around, but it could be that I don’t have a long memory for the details of what I read anyway.
I think I might pull it up on my Kindle. I certainly could use some “Wintering” by @Katherine May wisdom in my life again. Thanks so much for the nudge Paula!
Thank you for sharing this, Pamela. I find myself in a good space at the moment, but I have certainly had my share of dark nights of the soul when it feels like life is pointless and there's nothing to grasp hold of, and when I've felt so terribly alone.
I wish you strength for your health struggles and hope that you're able to feel better soon. Sending lots of positive energy. 💚
Oh so apt today as last night was indeed a dark night of the soul for us two. But we rise and we will face more I know in this path through life. Wishing you strength, energy and many thanks as always for your wise words.
Thank you Ambermoggie. I am sorry to hear you have been struggling with the dark nights as well. Wishing strength and and energy too! I am so glad this resonated with you.
Beautiful post, Pamela. The photo series of the full moon is outstanding and so reflective of the deeper theme of the dark night of the soul. Thank you for the reference to Lynne Redmond as that is a book I haven’t read and will look into it. Really love the music video, she’s a favorite. Women Who Run With The Wolves is an outstanding book. This week, the full moon has been in alignment with the parade of planets, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and I’ve been lucky enough to see them with clear cold skies. I hope you have, too, and that their light brings you inspiration.
Thank you so much Heidi. I am so glad you enjoyed both the post and the photos. I felt the photos encapsulated the dark and the light, and theme of coming out of the dark nights of the soul and into the light.
I think Layne Redmond’s book has been re-released. I need to get a new copy. I loaned mine out and never got it back. Loreena is incredible. I am so glad you enjoyed the video. Women Who Run With The Wolves was life altering for me. I still revisit it from time to time. I caught part of the parade of planets a week or so ago with the half moon, I think. It was spectacular. I am looking forward to longer days and brighter times for us all!
My library app, Hoopla, has Layne Redmond's book so I checked it out right after I read your post. Thanks so much for mentioning it. I get the feeling the Women who Run With The Wolves is being discovered by a younger generation. It's a great book. You know, Venus was next to the crescent and half moon. Spectacular.
I need to get Hoopla! I haven’t read Layne’s book since the 90’s. She called me to the Goddess. I write about that in my unfinished memoir. I hope you enjoy reading her book. I know you will. I noticed the new Barnes & Noble in my area had copies of Women Who Run With The Wolves. That made me so happy. Having a new Barnes & Noble in the area is also a very big deal. I went in before Christmas and just could barely contain myself. And then my daughter and I went in together and it was the same reaction. It’s a small B&N compared to what we were used to in L.A. but it is awesome to have it nearby! I did get a few pics of Venus and the moon on my camera I think. I need to download them.
Hoopla is a good app. I listen to a lot of audiobooks. Check what apps are available through your lib. I can get Libby and Cloudlibrary too. I love bookstores and am happy you can enjoy a local B & N. We also got one here, but they have it lit up like a stadium. I'm really impressed with Layne's book as it has so much spirituality, musicology and cultural history.
Thank you for a wonderful, insightful post. And thanks for the music of Loreena McKennitt. I used her music in a class on Mysticism in World Religions that I taught many years ago at SUNY-Buffalo. I think I have all of her cds. I will reread you post again in the next few days. I have a feeling that is more to it than I got on my first reading. Peace, LaMon
LaMon, Can I just say, I so would have loved taking your class. That is obviously right in the midst of my wheelhouse. I have a lot of her cd’s too. My daughter and I saw her perform out in L.A. in 2007.
I’m really glad that you enjoyed this post. I hope you will let me know if you catch anything else on another read through.
I am thinking of you Pamela and sending you love and the light from a full moon here in NZ.
It takes courage to still post when you are feeling like this. I relate to what you say : "I stay busy here with my Substack because I must. The diversion, the work the community is everything to me."
I have lost my writing spark of late as you know. It was the last thing to go and it was the most important. When I create I am most connected to spirit. Creativity gives us purpose and a spring in our step.
Here though, in this very special Substack community we can still connect while we rest and restore and come back to our own full glow.
Thank you for sharing of yourself still during this time.
Maureen, Thank you for saying that. I’ve been through so much in my own life, I have been compelled for many years to try to light the way for others.
Thank you!
Kristin, this was the 1st time I got it and I thought I had a mild case. But apparently it was enough to kick up the fatigue and the blood pressure as I already have CFS/Fibro. The BP is a new thing and that just threw me for a loop. I put a call into my PCP this afternoon, again. They are sending me for some blood work. I am going to once again postpone my cataract surgery and hope that with some rest I am feeling well enough for shoulder surgery in a few months. Way too much!!!
I am really glad you enjoyed this post and it resonated with you. That means so much to me as a writer.
Kristin, Sorry to hear about the lupus. I know also comes with fatigue and pain and more. These chronic illness that people don’t see or understand are so hard. I have friends who have literally told me they don’t believe in Fibro and then wonder why I don’t go out. At this point the other issues can wait…
People can be very… Well you know. Spirituality changed my life in so many ways. I am working on some new posts about that for the coming weeks and months.
Pamela, first I send you love. I hope you are feeling better soon.
The synchronicity of this post really hit me. My last few posts talked about how we could be spiritual doulas to each other and how writing our spiritual autobiographies and memoirs could be a gift we leave for others. This is what you have done here.
Decades ago, I had a dark night of the soul but had no idea what it was, which made it all the more difficult. Later, the books I needed to read enlightened me about that experience. I wonder now how it might have been different if I knew "this is normal...this will pass...this is necessary to get to the next part of the path." At the least, it may have dissolved some of the terror that made me resist rather than sink into the experience with trust that, though painful, all would be well.
This past summer I was rereading the Manual for Teachers in A Course in Miracles and, as typically happens, a video popped up that illuminated the section on Trust in a way that allowed me to go much deeper with it. The stages of Trust presented in that section reminded me so much of that dark night of the soul decades ago. Here's a link if you're interested in reading it: https://acimce.app/book/M-4.I
Thank you for this most important post. Your final words are a comfort we can carry with us:
"Call out to the Holy Mother and she will be there to wrap you in her arms of love and comfort you. The dark nights will pass. There will be light.
"And, remember too, to look to the Grandmother Moon when she is full and bask in her glow... For when she is full, she has come to guide you back from the dark nights of the soul..."
And once we remember that all is well, your reminder will kick in:
"Tired as you may be, you must Rise Up, because you have work to do. There are those who need the healing and wisdom of which you have been gifted..."
❤️
I wonder: does Katherine May’s “Wintering” speak to you, or is that on a somewhat different track?
Hi Paula, I just catching up with comments! Yes, Katherine May's "Wintering" did speak to me. Actually all of her books did. I read them all starting with "Wintering" and then "The Electricity of Every Living Thing" and then "Enchantment." I keep meaning to revisit "Wintering" but have not gotten around to it.
I’m re-reading it again this winter. It seems like a good tradition to instill every winter. It’s speaking to me differently this time around, but it could be that I don’t have a long memory for the details of what I read anyway.
I think I might pull it up on my Kindle. I certainly could use some “Wintering” by @Katherine May wisdom in my life again. Thanks so much for the nudge Paula!
Thank you for sharing this, Pamela. I find myself in a good space at the moment, but I have certainly had my share of dark nights of the soul when it feels like life is pointless and there's nothing to grasp hold of, and when I've felt so terribly alone.
I wish you strength for your health struggles and hope that you're able to feel better soon. Sending lots of positive energy. 💚
Oh so apt today as last night was indeed a dark night of the soul for us two. But we rise and we will face more I know in this path through life. Wishing you strength, energy and many thanks as always for your wise words.
Thank you Ambermoggie. I am sorry to hear you have been struggling with the dark nights as well. Wishing strength and and energy too! I am so glad this resonated with you.
Beautiful post, Pamela. The photo series of the full moon is outstanding and so reflective of the deeper theme of the dark night of the soul. Thank you for the reference to Lynne Redmond as that is a book I haven’t read and will look into it. Really love the music video, she’s a favorite. Women Who Run With The Wolves is an outstanding book. This week, the full moon has been in alignment with the parade of planets, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and I’ve been lucky enough to see them with clear cold skies. I hope you have, too, and that their light brings you inspiration.
Thank you so much Heidi. I am so glad you enjoyed both the post and the photos. I felt the photos encapsulated the dark and the light, and theme of coming out of the dark nights of the soul and into the light.
I think Layne Redmond’s book has been re-released. I need to get a new copy. I loaned mine out and never got it back. Loreena is incredible. I am so glad you enjoyed the video. Women Who Run With The Wolves was life altering for me. I still revisit it from time to time. I caught part of the parade of planets a week or so ago with the half moon, I think. It was spectacular. I am looking forward to longer days and brighter times for us all!
My library app, Hoopla, has Layne Redmond's book so I checked it out right after I read your post. Thanks so much for mentioning it. I get the feeling the Women who Run With The Wolves is being discovered by a younger generation. It's a great book. You know, Venus was next to the crescent and half moon. Spectacular.
I need to get Hoopla! I haven’t read Layne’s book since the 90’s. She called me to the Goddess. I write about that in my unfinished memoir. I hope you enjoy reading her book. I know you will. I noticed the new Barnes & Noble in my area had copies of Women Who Run With The Wolves. That made me so happy. Having a new Barnes & Noble in the area is also a very big deal. I went in before Christmas and just could barely contain myself. And then my daughter and I went in together and it was the same reaction. It’s a small B&N compared to what we were used to in L.A. but it is awesome to have it nearby! I did get a few pics of Venus and the moon on my camera I think. I need to download them.
Hoopla is a good app. I listen to a lot of audiobooks. Check what apps are available through your lib. I can get Libby and Cloudlibrary too. I love bookstores and am happy you can enjoy a local B & N. We also got one here, but they have it lit up like a stadium. I'm really impressed with Layne's book as it has so much spirituality, musicology and cultural history.
Thank you so much for sharing this post, Pamela. Dark nights of the soul are intense, but so worth the journey if one surrenders.
Alicia-Marie, I am glad this resonated with you. Thank you!
Thank you for a wonderful, insightful post. And thanks for the music of Loreena McKennitt. I used her music in a class on Mysticism in World Religions that I taught many years ago at SUNY-Buffalo. I think I have all of her cds. I will reread you post again in the next few days. I have a feeling that is more to it than I got on my first reading. Peace, LaMon
LaMon, Can I just say, I so would have loved taking your class. That is obviously right in the midst of my wheelhouse. I have a lot of her cd’s too. My daughter and I saw her perform out in L.A. in 2007.
I’m really glad that you enjoyed this post. I hope you will let me know if you catch anything else on another read through.
Deep challenges, heartbreak and weary bodies. I walk alongside you with compassion and great patience for this process. 💕
Teyani, I always appreciate your friendship and knowing that we walk side by side in the challenges, heartbreak and weary bodies!
I like this message of the full moon guiding us back from the dark nights of the soul. Well-said.
Thanks so much Neil! I have found the full moon so comforting many times in my life. I love that her feminine energy is there for us.
Pamela, I’m think of you!!
Your talents amaze! These photos are stunning!
Thank you Caroline! You are so sweet! Happy to have you as a friend here!
Thank you all for your comments... More responses tomorrow!
I am thinking of you Pamela and sending you love and the light from a full moon here in NZ.
It takes courage to still post when you are feeling like this. I relate to what you say : "I stay busy here with my Substack because I must. The diversion, the work the community is everything to me."
I have lost my writing spark of late as you know. It was the last thing to go and it was the most important. When I create I am most connected to spirit. Creativity gives us purpose and a spring in our step.
Here though, in this very special Substack community we can still connect while we rest and restore and come back to our own full glow.
Thank you for sharing of yourself still during this time.
❤️
Wow
Thank you Allan!
Video came out well!
Thank you Jill!