The Soulistry Blog

A friend wrote: "I don’t know how the world is going to manage four years of this. I really honestly don’t know, because if this is just the beginning, what’s going to happen from here?" Neither does anyone else know what's going to happen.But whatever happens, we...

Dear friends, This is not like the kind of post you would normally expect to find here on "Soulistry-Artistry of the Soul". And yet - and yet, when I think about Soulistry, (its origins, purpose, raison d'être), I think of spirituality and recognize that for me, the...

Another month begins ... February 1st ... and this year, it's a day and month with a number of things to mark ... St. Brigid's Day (more about her, below) ... Imbolc/Imbolg, a Gaelic festival which celebrates the arrival in longer, warmer days and early signs of...

There she was,perched on the fenceas I drove by.She looked so peaceful.I hadn't noticed her beforethough I'm sure she was there when I had driven by that place, many times before.She was a welcome respite in a dayseemingly empty of peace. Images of peace are...

It's difficult to be grateful~ when going through a difficult time personally; ~ when politics seem to occupy the attention of news and social media; ~ when phones become a barrier to conversations between parents and children, between friends and are even a safety...

Fear.It's palpable.And it's growingand growingand growing.Fuelled by conversationsand social mediaand political actionsit is a word that resonatesand leaves little space for anything other than fear. What to do? We could let the fear grow and grow until physical,...

She spoke on January 21, 2025 with courage. Feeling self-confident or not,she stood before Goliathusing the 'sling and stones' of word, of gentle voice, of eye-to-eye contact.Her sermon has been shared countless times. Her words have been quoted and debatedand...

I will never forget the conversation. "You are so lucky to be a Canadian and living in Canada. We are terrified of what will happen with our country if Obama doesn't get into the White House." The fear expressed at the time was palpable.  I could feel it! That was...

aches and painscan become realitynot always easydeathcan become reality not always easygrieving personal lossescan become realitynot always easysaddened by losses of others who have lost family/friends/homes/employment/relationshipsnot always easypoliticsbecomes...

January 20, 2025 is Inauguration Day in the United States. It is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day.It is not a co-incidence that the two are happening on the same day this year.While it is true that what is coming is darkness,it is also true, as Martin Luther King Jr...

Laughter --- it is SOOOO good for the body and soul. Sadly, there's not been a lot of that these days. Politics ... anger ... fear ... seem to have taken over.Our soul needs regular doses of laughter!When my Dutch-born husband, Hans, was alive, there was a lot of...

Long ago, it is said, that a star appeared in the sky - a star that was unlike any other. All were amazed - and perhaps, even the lambs. Years and years ago, I made this banner for Epiphany, the season of light - which began January 6th for many around the world.The...

I love the word ‘epiphany.’    Epiphanies are those "ah-hah!" moments in life when we suddenly 'understand' … 'get it’ … 'gain insight' into the nature or meaning of something (or someone) we hadn't grasped or understood previously. Many around the world are...

Ahhhh, words - I love them.   Every year during the Season of Epiphany (the season in Christianity that remembers the star that is said to have guided the Magi to the Christ Child), I love to choose a "Star-Epiphany Word": SEW.  My SEW is a word I hope will ‘guide’ me...

It’s Twelfth Night!  Tonight! Twelfth Night is a festival for those following the Gregorian calendar that takes place on the last night of the Twelve Days of Christmas and marks the coming of the Epiphany tomorrow - January 6th. What is Twelfth Night...

Have you ever noticed a mysterious series of letters and numbers which looked like a math equation, inscribed in chalk over a doorway (or at your church, or at the home of a friend) at/around January 6th - Epiphany - and wondered “What is that?” It's called "Chalking...

Merry Twelfth Day of Christmas! We've come to the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas and it's time to  "drum possibilities" because on this day, as the song goes, the drummers were drumming. Why?  What?  Music ethnologists remind us that every culture has utilized...

On this day, the Eleventh Day of the Season of Christmas (part of the Twelve Days of Christmas), the Pipers were piping! I was intrigued by the story of Scottish Infantryman and bagpiper Daniel Laidlaw who became known as the Piper of Loos in the Battle of Loos in...

Merry Christmas - Tenth day!On this day of Christmas, the lords are a-leaping! Leaping?   Ahhhh, of course!   They were young.    But, what about those who never could or can no longer physically leap?  'Leaping' can involve more than 'physical' movement. Leaping can...

Merry Ninth Day of Christmas! Yes, we're still in the Season of Christmas and we've just begun a new year.   What of this New Year? What of the future?  The 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Samuel Beckett, wrote: "Dance first.  Think later.  It's the natural...