Episode 31: Clark Strand

Clark Strand: Now Is the Hour of Her Return

Real Conversation

This is a conversation unlike any other on Praying at the Speed of Love. Because the conversation isn’t really with Clark Strand. It’s with Ma Kali herself. And She’s quite the conversationalist! In the gentle hands of her boy, Clark Strand, we meander through some deep and even dark prophetic territory, hearing Kali speak in Her own voice and seeing Her in both her terror and beauty.

Real Person

Clark Strand is the former senior editor at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and the author of Seeds from a Birch Tree, Meditation Without Gurus, Waking the Buddha, and Waking Up to the Dark. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. With his wife, Perdita Finn, Strand is also the author of The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary. Purchase Now is the Hour of Her Return at bookshop.org.

Real Prayer Action

Ma Kali and Clark gave us much to take into our hearts to ponder:

Chant the opening prayer to Ave Maria and Mother Kali (words are in the transcript)

Clark asked Mother Kali what to do with the first poem. Her answer: “To those who give hearts, words are given in return.” Reflect on to whom or to what you have given (or not given) your heart. And what might happen if you did.

Ma Kali has a formidable (OK, terrifying) appearance. (Open the second gift bag to see an image). Sit with this image and ask Her in deep soul writing or aloud, “Why do you look like this?”

Clark spoke about Kali’s right and left foot: loving protector, destroyer of worlds. But then, at the end, he read that She said her right foot is her left foot and her left foot is her right foot. What is She telling us about our world right now?

Clark read several stunning poems. Open the transcripts to read them in their correct format. Pick one. Sit with it for a while. Read it aloud. Return to it again. Let it enter your heart and dwell there. And see what She does.

Open your first gift bag to see the cover of Now is the Hour of Her Return.

Then, come to our Praying at the Speed of Love Facebook community and share your own experiences with these sacred poems direct from Mother Kali.

And please, press any of the social media share buttons at the top of this page and introduce your friends to this timely podcast on the radical power of prayer.

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