Thanksgiving

[Rob]

Thanksgiving feels less commercialized than other holidays to me, a feeling that enhances this holiday as does the paradox of the approaching winter: typically viewed as a dark season, the winter solstice actually brings us more daylight, assuming your in a particular part of the world of course. In the Pacific Northwest, we usually don't see much of winter's daylight due to cloud cover and the fact that many of us leave our offices to meet a darkened sky (after setting the clocks back for D.S.T.).

This Thanksgiving, as the damp and dreary winter sets in, the outer rituals of lighting a beeswax candle and the warmth of a fire in the hearth will illuminate my inner life, allowing me to explore the soul's darker corners. It's necessary work, and it helps us face the paradox of spring and summer, when color and scent return to the soil and we frolic under sunny skies. These are "lighter" months, often less overtly introspective for me, even though, after the summer solstice, our nights grow longer, the days of summer shorter.

Thus Thanksgiving becomes a time for me to light a torch in order to explore the cavernous labyrinth of my soul, exposing demons and eventually, the gods be willing, casting them out through the rites of spring to watch them wither under the summer sun.

Paradox is powerful and poetic indeed. I give thanks for the thoughts shared in this forum. May your holidays be "holy", a time of sacred healing.

Rob

[Eileen]

What a lovely Thanksgiving blessing, Rob. Because you wrote of darkness and light, I am encouraged to share a thought about being a light wherever we are. Recently, I listened to an author speak about this as our soul's purpose in life, not the job we so much are searching for. Your (my) purpose in life is to be a light to others wherever we live. Good news for this unemployed woman, discouraged at finding a paying job at this time, in this place. But I certainly can be a good friend, a loyal volunteer, and a light to others in their darkness with my kindness, care, and compassion. My name means "light" so the message has particular meaning AND my birthday is December 21st, the darkest day of the year. Talk about paradox!

May we all be lights to one another on our journeys. And special thanks to Thomas Moore for the book, Dark Nights of the Soul from which I continue to draw wisdom and insight.