It's almost mid September and I've had a barn burning realization today as I read one of my favorite magazines, UU World, as it commemorates the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. I've written zillions of times about the fear involved in racism. I finally get it consciously that the issue underlying racism is white supremacy and the utter fear-based contempt for difference!!!! This is the issue underlying police brutality toward the African American community. As I consider this holy season where all spiritualities celebrate their Understanding of Holiness it means so very much to me to move forward in deep Compassion, Peace and Understanding so we can leave behind the viral illness that fear is! There's no place for that in the 21st century or ever!! What is called for is a vitalizing Awakeness to the sanctity of our being where all lives matter! What we do to others we do to ourselves. This feedback loop either uplifts or poisons the entirety of our lives!!! It's our Choice what we choose to be and do now and always!!!! It so matters that we are awake to our fears, ignorance, and prejudice and a new day!!!!!!

I'm riding the cusp of great Awakenings. I had another barn burning realization today as I celebrate Pagan Pride Day in my home community. I felt like never before that just on the other side of the chaos and depression is the dawn of the Great Awakening of new Awareness. It's rather comical that my Great Awakening came as I was doing the simple act of folding clothes that have been hanging on the edge of my bed for seeming eons. I had this need to simply clear the Energy, clear the space. I didn't want to be just reading, even though I immensely enjoy reading. It was time to be physically active and move some things, make some space, clear some Energy. It makes me laugh how simple and yet profound it is to do simple things and get such a huge Awakening!!! I know I'm literally setting the stage for more blessings to come. I even realized I had more money in my checking account than I thought. The relief is profound… the gratitude immense!!!!!

Even though it's still September as I write into the future once again I celebrate the dawning of the Light that the Winter Solstice celebrates. I love the Winter Solstice. Often before It even gets here I already feel like the longest night has passed and the Light is getting longer even though It hasn't even happened yet. I know that's the Power of Faith, the Power of Hope. It's a contemplative time and it's a Joy-filled time when we're called to honor the dawning of the Light within us and all around us. We're asked to consider the sanctity of our being. All the progressive spiritualities honor the immanence of Deity knowing we live in a world of holism not dualism. In honoring the immanence of Deity we honor Integrity, Compassion, the Truth that we are one world, one community. As I've said countless times all the "isms" are born out of the belief in duality where Divinity is outside of us, separate from us, instead of realizing It is the very Nature of our Being. We are sacred. We are holy. We are Expressions of the Infinite!!! Our lives matter!!! Our "tribe" is everything and everyone!!! Not just those who look like us, act like us and believe like us but the deep Integrity and Strength to know that we are all one!!! When we separate anything or anyone out for any reason we all die inside and our world reflects that in violence, chaos, numbness, blindness and the incredible unequal distribution of wealth that is poisoning our worldview of each other!!!! We cannot declare ourselves superior and someone else inferior without impacting the Integrity of the Whole!!! Wholeness and Wellness disappear when we do any of that!!! Misuse of Power poisons the entire Integrity of our World!!! It matters how we see ourselves!!! It matters what we do!!!! This is a feedback loop of Continuity!!!!!!!!!! It is a feedback loop of Community!!!! It is a feedback loop of Caring for our one World!!!!!!

As we celebrate the re-dawning of the Light in this winter season I want to celebrate the life of an African American woman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who lived from 1825-1911. I want to borrow Maya Angelou's wording "phenomenal woman" to describe Ms. Harper's life. She utterly defied the "racial and gender-based expectations of her day" and I'm so very thrilled to know of her life and her work. She worked tirelessly to abolish slavery and to work for women's right to vote and civil rights for all people!!! "In May 1866 she delivered an address to the National Woman's Rights Convention in New York saying before thousands, "Justice is not fulfilled so long as woman is unequal before the law. We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul." She further said, "the soul of liberal religion---and the nation---was on the line." I couldn't agree more!!! Her words are still true and waiting to be realized in our lives. I found her story in UU World, the magazine of Unitarian Universalism, which I read cover to cover every issue I receive. Her work almost got lost until "scholars and Unitarian Universalists resurrected her legacy in the last twenty-five years." I'm so thrilled to claim this brilliant courageous woman as one of my new heretic-heroes. I'm so thankful her work didn't get lost!!! I can't imagine what she must've gone through in her day to make the mark she did on our society!!!! In 2011 "scholars gathered in Philadelphia to honor the 100th anniversary of Harper's death. Professor Melba Joyce Boyd, a panelist at the celebration, said, "Harper's insight, developed during an era rife with violent enforcement of racism, sexism, and classism, constitutes a viable ideological framework for contemporary radical thought." I wholeheartedly agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I go forward today feeling uplifted, strengthened, blessed and grateful. I don't know the specifics of what each day holds. I do know that as I stay connected with the sanctity of my being I will always have the Strength and Vision I need to move forward in Grace, Peace and Understanding. Blessings to all of you!!! Peace and Joy today and always!!!! I hope you take time whenever you need it to remind yourself of the sanctity of your own being. You are Spirit in Expression, as we all are. You are profoundly loved. As you love yourself you will change your Life forever and you will experience the Magic and the Holiness within you and all around you. Your Life is Art. You are beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you deeply feel the sanctity of this Truth within you. As you feel the sanctity of your being you will have all the Confidence and Faith you need to be your very best Self now and always. I look forward to sharing the blessings of every day with you!!!