Theme: Magicians Reporting for Duty

Week 11: in which we stand in the paradox of death and life and ask for renewal

Beautiful Magicians,

We have all heard it said that to be mature—psychologically, spiritually, emotionally—it is necessary to be able to hold two competing ideas at the same time. From a mystical viewpoint, it’s the ability to tolerate paradox.

Paradox, Jung tells us, is where the divine lingers.

Or I might say, hides.

Right now, it sure feels like the sacred, the divine, the holy, is hiding. Hiding from us. Hiding from all the people around the world under assault. And hiding from any form of government restraint.

Do you feel it in your body?

I sure do. When the first bombs fell on Iran killing school girls, my jaw locked. It’s hard to bite or chew. And my poor digestive system doesn’t know what to do. It takes me a couple hours to finally fall asleep. And nightmares. So many horrible dreams.

I may be slightly more sensitive than most to the fear that poisons the air under a fascist regime. I grew up in a family that loved fascists like Franco, thought Eisenhower was a Communist, hated FDR with a passion, and revered Joseph McCarthy and his Committee on Unamerican Activities.

When I told Matthew Fox during an interview on my radio show who my parents were, he paused, took a deep breath and said, “Well, you’ve come a long way.”

I sure have. I have walked a decades-long, shrapnel-laden road, asking myself hard questions every step of the way. It took me until my seventies to finally feel truly free of the lies and strictures of patriarchal culture and religion. Only to wake in 2026 to a world that is more fascist, more violent, more racist, more misogynist, and more cruel than the one I grew up in.

So, OK, I’m hypersensitive.

But I’m not alone. It seems everyone I know is feeling sick. Physically. Emotionally. Mentally. Even spiritually. We are all exhausted.

So what do we do? Well, I think a good place to start is to stand in the impossible place of paradox. Two things are true simultaneously. Two things that appear to be at odds. See how this sounds and feels to you.

The first reality is that the world is on fire.

Our leaders are not just incompetence, they are relishing playing at war, as if it were a boy’s game of soldiers. Or a teenager’s apocalyptic video game. For the thugs in charge, it’s some kind of sick, uber-macho entertainment.

The second reality is that Mother Earth is turning, as she has for eons, into a new season.

Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Fall in the Southern. Earth is alive and she is dancing with her partner the Sun. In the North, Gaia is welcoming the first buds of spring, the first drops of spring rain, the first caress of warmth. You can see and feel her relishing the emergence of new life, the promise of renewal.

Can these two things be more different! And yet, here we are. Alive in both worlds, horror and renewal.

And we must somehow find a way to carry both. To see both. To embrace the promise of life bubbling up under our feet, while at the same time, acknowledging that power is destroying life.

Can’t get more paradoxical than that.

Jennifer DeVille Catalano, mistress of the bowls, will help us embrace that paradox next Sunday, March 22, at 2pm eastern, the day of the actual Vernal Equinox.

Just looking at the photographs of the life-celebrating green bowls she sent, restores my faith in the renewal of life.

Rather than me try to describe the bowls, I’ll let Jennifer tell you herself.

“Structures are falling and horrors are happening in the fabricated world, but in the natural world, renewal is occurring just as it does each and every spring in the Northern hemisphere. The snow is melting, the ground is softening, and glimpses of green are beginning to poke through the darkness.

This cycle of rebirth is the energy we will be bathing in during Sacred Sounds of Renewal.

A vast array of Crystal Tones Alchemy singing bowls will provide sonic sanctuary during our time together, many of which are green in color.

Alchemies of Green Goddess, Itoigawa Jade, Peridot, and Sage Forest Gold are among the many singing bowls that will help clear our physical and energetic spaces as we step into springtime.

Sacred Sounds of Renewal is an opportunity to realign with the innate wisdom of our planet.

This is not about doing, but about being. You are invited to allow the guided meditation and intuitively played Sacred Sounds bring you back in tune with the soft green heart of the planet and its vernal wonders.

Sacred Sounds of Renewal is like spring cleaning for the body, mind, and soul.”

Just reading her words relaxes my jaw.

Sacred Sounds of Renewal is a live event on zoom that will be recorded and sent to everyone who registers, so don’t be concerned if you can’t be with us next Sunday. Cathy Stevens Pratt hosts the event. Go to her site to register. The event is $25.

Sacred Sounds of Renewal

Options to pay are on Cathy’s site. Venmo is preferred. You will receive an email with the zoom link next week and again on Sunday a couple hours before the event.

Until then, step outside and witness the romance of life that is coming alive in Mother Earth. And do what is yours to do to make that romance available to everyone and everything that shares this precious green planet with us.

We will come through this. Life will win.

Life is Fragile, Handle with Reverence.
And relish the sacred sounds of life. 

Janet

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