Due to unfortunate turns, Spirit Living will end publication with the May 2009 issue.  All of the past issues of the magazine will be available in cyberspace. Details will follow shortly.

We will endeavor to continue the best of Spirit Living’s content in a FREE Spirit Passages e-newsletter. All of you who have subscribed will receive the first issue when it’s ready. A new version of the Spirit Passages website is also under construction and will have interactive content. 

We thank all of you for your submissions, support and kind words. You have made this adventure a delight and we are grateful!  

Until we meet again, you can follow us on:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ShamamaBear  

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Evelyn-Rysdyk/1390296839

Plaxo: http://www.plaxo.com/profile/show/197568933145?pk=89888094f80f6f8aef40c082375dee1f4b62c6cc

Here’s to new horizons and a bright future!  

Blessings to you,

Evie & Allie

We saw our first grackles and that means the red wing blackbirds can’t be far behind!  The chipmunks are out and about, the sap is running and you can smell the soil again. Spring is such a treasure with its rush of returning life!  May this Spring bring many blessings to all of you!

This wide-reaching, East coast storm is making it hard for those early birds that have already flown north. I’m entreating all of you to follow our lead and make sure your feeders are cleaned of snow and full of fresh seed. If you also have a source of water for the critters, keep it full, too. I also recommend that you put out a suet cake. (These and the holders for them can be purchased very inexpensively at–of all places–the Christmas Tree Shops!)  Suet is a treat that provides high calorie nourishment that will keep our feathered friends warm and healthy!

As the snow falls, cuddle those that you love and open your heart to the Spring!

Gosh, just as the early robins are making an appearance we’re having to shovel our roofs again! This is certainly one of the snowiest winters I can remember. Even with a few days of melting, the storms bring enough new snow to keep at least two feet on the ground.

Allie keeps the bird feeders topped off for the hardy birds and squirrels and their presence helps cheer our winter-weary hearts. Having originally come to Maine from a bit warmer locale, I’m longing for Spring in a big way. I find it hard to remain patient for the change of seasons, while still having to bundle up and shovel out.  Yet, wait and be patient, I must!

How are you keeping your selves safe and sane as we wait for Spring?

Evie

February is the season we celebrate LOVE with hearts, flowers and the occasional gift of chocolate!  It is also the time of year we notice our deep longing for Spring as the Winter creeps along slowly.

Perhaps it is this time of year with its gray days and bitter cold that we need the warmth of LOVE most!  Right now, take a moment to LOVE all those around you.  Let your heart fill with gratitude for all the wonderful people you know.  Send them loving thoughts and feelings in a shower of warmth and blessing.

Chances are, the act of loving will make you feel so delicious, you’ll want to include more and more folks to the list. Let the wave of love gather speed and strength until you feel its echoes radiating back to you!  Bathe in its brilliance in the recognition that you are loved more than you realize!

Happy Valentines Day!

My Norwegian relatives would have greeted each other this time of year with a hearty “God Jul!” These words are a reminder that even though the snow is swirling outside of my window, the promise of growing warmth is present in each winter day. With the celebration of Yule on the Winter Solstice, we honor the return of the Sun. From December the 21st forward until the Summer Solstice, the days will be getting longer here in the Northern Hemisphere.

If you can, please join Allie and I at this year’s Winter Solstice celebration. This December 21st will mark our fifteenth year facilitating the ceremony for Maine Audubon. We’ll be making a collective gratitude bundle–called a despacho–and listen to a seasonal story, music and share cookies and hot cider! For many folks, this evening is a chance to step out of the hustle and bustle of holiday madness to pause and reflect on all that is good in our lives and on the Earth. Remembering that our lives are truly blessed is a way to spread good cheer. We not only honor the light of the returning Sun, but the LIGHT in all of our hearts!

Please join us from 7PM -8:30PM on December 21st.
(There is a small fee and remember advance registration is necessary!)
Maine Audubon
20 Gilsland Farm Road
Falmouth, Maine 04105
(207) 781-2330 x209
lduffy@maineaudubon.org

Wow!  It’s so hard to believe that it is Thanksgiving time already!  This is the season for gratefulness and I’d like to take a bit of this space to say ‘THANK YOU!”

I am grateful for my loved ones–family, dear friends(you sweeties know who you are!) and especially my partner Allie.  I’d also like to express my gratitude to our clients for their courage to keep moving their lives forward and to our students who are always delighting us with their magnificence! 

In the wider circle, I’d like to thank all of you who who have shared the gifts you have received from our magazine and my columns.  Bless you for your kind words and encouragement.

I extend my gratitude to the widest circle that contains all of us and fills my life with the strength, love and fullness–the world of Spirit! With the constant support and unconditional love of my spirit teachers and helpers, I am capable of far more than I believe is possible!

As I write this, the leaves are swirling around the house.  The sound of them skittering down the sidewalk reminds me of small critters foraging on the forest floor!  Papery whispers fill the air as the last messages of the growing season are passed from tree to tree.  At dusk a long formation of geese honks its way south.  My heart, tugged by their calls,  responds–”Be well, good flight, God speed!”

This is a time to rediscover the breadth of nature’s colors.  I breathe them in letting them soak into every cell and enfold every organ to sustain me over the more subtle palette of December.  Too soon a gray eiderdown will get pulled across the sky tucking us in for the Winter and the snow will fly. We may wonder, “What will the dark season bring us this year?”

For now, any worrisome questions are muffled by the wonder of these exalted days! The blaze of the sugar maple warms us, the tang of wood smoke fills the air.  Lifting our gaze, we watch the hawks drawing lazy circles over seamless blue skies while the crows noisily share their comments on the state of things.   

All in all, it’s a glorious time to be alive!

Evelyn

July and August are the months when many people make the trip “up to Maine.”  And who can blame them!  Maine has some of the best access to rivers, ocean and wilderness areas on the east coast.  We are also just an easy hour’s drive from mountain vistas.

What this adds up to is an influx of visitors coming to our state and often to our homes as well. While some of our families and friends dare a visit in the WInter, most take advantage of warmer weather for their trips. Our natural wonders and great festivals offer a chance for a bona fide vacation along with a family catch-up, so we admit it’s pretty hard to resist.

Allie and I are always looking for new things to share with our visitors.  If you have favorite Vacationland inspirations, let us know!

Meantime, enjoy all that Summer has to offer!

A & E

As I am writing this, the sounds of drumming fill our home.  Visiting Nepalese shaman, Bhola Banstola is working on patients in our front parlor.  The repetitive rhythm of his drumming pervades both the house and my consciousness.  

Bhola, whom we met last Summer in New York at the SSP conference flew into Boston on Tuesday to spend a few days here with us in Maine.  One of the true joys of Allie’s and my life together is to share rich experiences with the many wonderful people we have met on our path. Spending time with Bhola is certainly one of them!  

Bhola is by nature a cheerful and loving person.  He is generous with his time and energy and blesses both the spirits and the people with his work. He is also a terrific playmate!  Since it felt like four o’clock in the morning to his body when he landed, we took a lovely day of rest and play together on Wednesday.  We had a ball being “tourists!”  Since all three of us are usually pretty busy in our shamanic practices, it was fun to simply spend time driving around, going to the beach, having coffee and cooking together.  I can’t remember laughing so much in one day!  (We have decided to develop a program to help others to learn to “do nothing” as a spiritual practice!)

Today and tomorrow will be about performing healings and then some more rest and play before the weekend.  On Saturday and Sunday, he’ll facilitate a workshop of Nepalese shamanic ritual and healing at the Audubon center in Falmouth.  

We’re thrilled to be able to provide the opportunity for folks in our community to meet and learn from Bhola. It looks like over 40 people will get a chance to share the blessings we’ve been receiving!  What a joy!

Watch the pages of Spirit Living for articles about this special visit!

Blessings,

Evelyn