Journeys of a Pregnant Virgin

I have been doing some wonderful reading lately and it's time to share some quotes again. More in DIVINE BEAUTY but also another book that has me very excited, SOUNDING THE SOUL. First, this lovely passage from the former, which delighted me a few days ago. John O'Donohue writes:

"Every heart is full of creative material. There are depths in us hungering towards the light. Many writers continue to excavate their childhood. For a writer, childhood can be a Grimms' forest of treasures, wonders and shadows. Childhood is that time of silence when the deepest impressions become imprinted. Everything a new infant glimpses is first intimation of mystery. The world is seen as if God were just creating it; it has the fresh scent of recent arrival. Later in life, when we begin to write, this is the kind of raw freshness and excitement of first intimations that we are seeking to recapture. The creative gift remains faithful to that rich strangeness of the world and the intimate strangeness of the self. As we journey through life, we gather a world around the heart. When creativity awakens, we discover that nothing is truly complete or closed in life. The deeper we attend to the soul, the more we realize what a treasure-house we have inherited."

What lovely thoughts, that "as we journey through life, we gather a world around the heart," and that the soul is a treasure-house yielding more and more richness, the longer and more faithfully we attend to it.

This has been a soulful weekend indeed. On Friday night I went to have dinner with Maya, the lovely Danish Body Soul Rhythms participant I mentioned in an earlier entry. We walked in the woods behind her apartment and talked deeply and at length about many things that matter most to us. And then she fed me a delicious meal. I will be there again in a couple of weeks when she hosts a potluck dinner in honour of Marion Woodman, to which the "BSR Ladies of the Alps" have generously invited Ursula and me.

Yesterday I dedicated to preparation, both internal and external, for the Body Soul Writing course in France. I began and ended with movement and the Proprioceptive Writing ritual. I'd invited Ursula to join me for the second one at 8 pm my time, 2 pm in Toronto, and so we wrote together across the Atlantic and then read to each other over the telephone. Just in case either one of us had forgotten how powerful this ritual can be, we were certainly reminded yesterday. And synchronizing our writing process is a gentle way to refresh our working collaboration in France again.

Today I met another BSR participant for brunch at Spruengli Cafe where we forwent (past form of "forego"?) croissant and butter and jam for a small bowl of Bircher Benner muesli, full of grated apple and berries. But lest I felt too virtuous, it had cream in it that probably more than made up for the croissant and butter I'd foresworn. Delicious, in any case. (And I will no doubt eat les croissants galore in Paris next weekend anyway.) Jodi and I visited for over three hours, strolled along the Limmat, compared impressions of the new ISAP program (she also studied in Kusnacht for several years) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Then I came back to my little pad and have been alternating BSW preparation with chocolate breaks all afternoon. The sun is shining after a grey morning and the birds are offering a late Sunday vespers. And I think this is a good place to end. I will save the quote from SOUNDING THE SOUL for another time.