Faith is not being sure, but betting with your last cent.

I want to talk a little about magic, even though I do believe that magic is shy and doesn’t like being talked about. In fact, if you boast about knowing magic, having magic, magic tends to leave your life, at least for a little while.

He who knows doesn’t tell, and he who tells, doesn’t know.

I’ve experienced magic a few times in my life. Magic definitely was around in the early days of Heron Dance. Money showed up whenever I really needed it. And magic was around when I was dealing with a terminal cancer diagnosis thirty-three years ago – non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. It showed up in the form of an experimental medicine smuggled in, in their luggage, by physicians who visited the US from Germany, and who worked there with the Red Cross. It kept me alive for years until a more effective medicine – Rituxan – was developed. And I’ve felt magic in my life lately. I know it’s around because I feel a deep sense of harmony and peace. And I feel strangely powerful, like the wind is at my back,

I’m a believer in the use of guides in a journaling practice. Guides have often provided me with new perspectives, and pointed a way forward that I not only hadn’t thought of but that appeared initially impractical or, most often, not fun. Guides can take many forms – people you’ve met whose wisdom and integrity had a profound impact on you but who then left your life, for instance. Or historical figures – someone like Gandhi or Jesus or the Buddha. Or yourself thirty years from now, having lived a blessed life. You imagine yourself in conversation with them, and ask them for advice.

Years ago I attended two Shaman workshops, and during one I went on a journey under the Earth where I travelled through a sub-terrain water world. As I travelled along, I came upon a council of Elders who represented the Greater Good. They represented the beauty of which I am capable in service to others. They offered advice, which I’ve outlined in my book, Nurturing the Song Within on page 26 (Am I Too Grouchy to Do This Work?)

More recently, I’ve met a guide who somehow represents that council of elders. This particular guide isn’t really a person or animate object. In fact, it is kind of a dark, amorphous somewhat rectangular, somewhat circular shape. This shape is a guide representing the Greater Good, and my potential to serve that good.

 This shape wants me to believe in it. The implicit, though not stated, deal is that if I serve it, it will remove from my life a degree of worry, of uncertainty, concerning financial, health and human connection or human relationship matters. It asks me to set aside self-protectiveness, including anger when hurt. It asks me to set aside what I think I want in the way of financial security, and instead serve it. It is asking for surrender, for faith. It is asking me to manifest the beauty within in service of its goals rather than mine. It asks me to understand that I don’t know, can’t see, the ultimate nature of reality. Things are going on, it says, that are beyond my ability to comprehend. Still, it asks me to follow.

 Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.
- Shakti Gawain

Faith is not being sure. It is not being sure, but betting with your last cent.
- Mary Jean Iron

A mockup of the first two pages of the new book, Meditations on Gratitude, Beauty and Mystery. It is available now as a PDF, and in the next few days as a hardcover.

A mockup of the first two pages of the new book, Meditations on Gratitude, Beauty and Mystery. It is available now as a PDF, and in the next few days as a hardcover.

A mockup of two pages of the new book, Meditations on Gratitude, Beauty and Mystery.

Front cover, The Pausing For Beauty Poetry Diary. PDF and Softcover (Lay Flat, wire-o binding) versions available. Visit here.

Two interior pages, The Pausing For Beauty Poetry Diary. PDF and Softcover (Lay Flat, wire-o binding) versions available. Visit here.

Below, two sample pages from my recent art journal, and the related diary/planner
Nurturing The Song Within

There are a few copies of the first edition (hardcover, dust jacket, premium art paper) still available. After they are sold out, we don’t plan to republish, at least in that format.

If you are not subscribed to either or both Heron Dance Art Studio Substacks, you can do that here:

  • Creativity as a Way of Life: The use of journaling as a tool in creative work; an exploration of the inner work underlying creative work.

  • A Pause for Beauty: a gratitude art journal celebrating the beauty and mystery of the natural world, and the gift of life.

    . . .

If you appreciate this work and can afford to support it, please do. In late October it will become a paid Substack:

  • $5 a month

  • $50 a year

  • $150 Founding Membership includes both Substacks and two upcoming books:

  • Meditations on the Beauty and Mystery of Life, A Gratitude Journal

  • Using An Art Journal to Probe Deep.

    . . .

    The cost of subscribing to both of my Substacks,
    A Pause for Beauty and Creativity as a Way of Life
    is twice that indicated above.

You can make a one-time or recurring contribution here.
Any contributions received prior in the months leading up to the launch will be credited against a subscription.

And thank you.

Recent Projects And Random Thoughts

  • Our new art journal, Nurturing The Song Within, explores the inner work that underlies creative work, and creating a unique life.

If you are not subscribed to either or both Heron Dance Art Studio Substacks, you can do that here: