Kate, your relationship with mystery helps me understand what’s missing in my life. Do you ever hold classes or gatherings about these topics? I feel you have so much to share that I want to know more about. Thank you for what your share through your writing, it is so valuable to me.
Thank you so much my friend. I do offer classes sometimes, it would be such a delight to have you there. If I do plan a class I’ll announce it by email 💗🙏
So beautiful, Kate, thank you for these tender, generous words. There's so much here I resonate with. I stopped using social media a few months ago, and I've also been working through what space has opened up within my attention to say "yes" to, in lieu of posting & scrolling. I too worry I have functionally "disappeared". And I still sometimes catch myself, especially in moments of profound overwhelm, numbing my attention & presence with scrolling elsewhere (amazing how we can still find outlets beyond social media for that mode of engagement). Thank you for offering the reminder of the mystery we can enter into relationship with, in those moments of loud embodied no's & overwhelm.
Ah I feel this so much. And yes to the mind finding other sneaky ways to engage in distraction!! It’s true, it reveals how much distraction is actually everywhere once we stop blaming social media apps for all our problems 😵💫 But in that numbness lives a profound depth of care and longing.. so if we can even name it in the moment, we’re not far from a tender revelation. A continual returning to that tenderness. I’m so thankful for your comment and connection as we navigate these mystery waters ❤️🔥🙏
This beautiful writing perfect timing for me, going through my own disintegrations and tower moments... its like you wrote a map that filled me with courage and clarity, thank you beautiful soul xx
Tower moments 🗿 yes. I am with you dear one!! So grateful my own rocky navigation could lend something to your fierce heart on its path. I feel so clearly your dedication to being here in that full hearted yes to mystery 💔🙏💌
Oh Kate , your writing is a balm for a sore soul. The heaviness of what is happening to our incredible precious Earth and all the creatures , great and small weighs hard on my heart. I wrote a long post to you , the words tumbling out and over each other but you already get it.....
I have always had a deep relationship to our Earth. She is what I carry in my heart and I am so thankful that she shows me all her beauty when the state of our man-made world weighs heavy. Focusing on the kind loving people who are nurturing her and saving her creatures while fortifying my heart with all her magic so I can still see her beauty through all the destruction. At the moment I am looking at bright blues skies and elecrtic purple flowers and a black cockatoo has flown over. They have a haunting eagle call. So beautiful. I am in Australia but your writing is a golden thread that shows me I am not alone in my aching love for our Mother Earth. Thank-you xx
Ah dear Marina, this comment makes my own heart ache in reply. I hear the eagle call rising from within you... taking the form of blue skies and electric purple flowers, and the black cockatoo's flight and calling! Wow, this poetry. No one can ever take this away from you, and in fact it is our way of honoring Earth to be able to see and to name this beauty, this loving intimacy we get to share with her. Thank you so much for being out there in the golden web of tender care!!! We are in this together.
"In a sudden whoosh like a flock of birds swooping close overhead, I felt those 140,000 loving hearts unlock themselves from the confines of a screen, and wash over me and the whole world like a waterfall of light. All the beauty I had shared there, that living digital art gallery I had created over a decade, all of it dissolved and became an invisible force of love that is no longer outside of me. And I vowed myself fully to this trusting of the love I cannot see."
I love the imagery of freeing the "likes" from their digital prison, to open space for fluid, evolving, embodied giving and receiving of love. I recently read a post from someone who is trying to release their own obsession with likes and followers here on Substack, so perhaps that is also a risk, but I have found this platform to be more open to genuine sharing and connection and have not paid much attention to the number next to the heart. I am grateful at least that it does not demand constant engagement, that I can write and read on my own time and I can easily revisit older writings of my own and others.
My own release in this time has been of a sense of needing to be chosen, committed to, needed in order to feel loved, to open my heart to loving. And in so doing, allowing love to expand, to see all of the ways that I am giving and receiving love in each day, in each moment.
"What are you saying yes to? What is your full-bodied way of saying yes to life on Earth? What is in the process of emerging?"
I am saying yes to healing, to immersion, to opening new connections. Though I am also feeling an openness, an emptiness of sorts, a kind of waiting or pregnant stillness, as if some new creation or inspiration or focus is ahead of me, when the time is right.
I see you.
I hear you.
I celebrate you, dear one, as one who cannot unsee Earth's beauty.
I am most grateful for all that you perceive and choose to share.
Also yes the situation here on substack is quite different from the social ladder that is (was?) instagram. I can post a note here and it can sit there unseen for days, so there is no chance of an instant dopamine rush from a deluge of likes 🙃 and then in the actual posts, it’s mostly up to people deciding to open the email on that particular day, which is far more mysterious than simply scrolling through a feed of endless information. I find this platform more nurturing to mystery and soul, although the ego could certainly still turn it into a validation based nightmare. I fully accept the challenge here to share from the heart and allow that to be enough…
something I noticed on Instagram from having such a large following was that when a post of mine would get many thousands of likes and shares, I instantly felt like I had failed in some way. Failed to guard sacred what was most precious to me. So in this way I feel proud when something doesn’t go “viral” or get wildly devoured through the screen… like I’ve honored some deeper truth. Thank you for being here with me to simply share what is true and curious.. I know that is what feeds the world soul.
My friend Markael, your words and reflection made me feel as though we are sitting in council and I had just told a story from a mystical encounter… and then received the most soulful honoring of that story. The attention you put into reading makes me feel deeply heard.. and then your reflection brings it to the level of new revelation. Wow, what a gift. I’ve told you before you are so skilled at mirroring but I’m just going to say it again, because it’s something I’ve studied and even trained in but some humans are just naturally gifted it at it. I had a mischievous thought, do you ever wander in nature and offer this gift to the wild others? I’m sure you do and I wish I could be present for those loving reflections of soul!!!
Kate, my friend, I am honored by your perception and mirroring of me as well. It is in my nature, I guess, to receive and reflect that which feels true or resonant on a deep level.
I have not thought of my explorations in nature this way, but I think it is true. You write often that humans can offer the gift of seeing, the gift of naming, the gift of being in conscious presence with life and beauty. And I think I am still learning to feel the truth in that, that I don't need to offer a birdhouse or a feeder in the more tangible sense of give-and-take reciprocity but that attention and love and perception is a gift in and of itself.
I am actually so relieved and delighted that you had no idea about that account and that we found each other through a more mysterious pathway…
maybe there is somewhere in between the offering of bird seed and the offering of your attention. or that the seeds are one bridge to that formless love.. I love offering the birds seeds and the hummingbirds nectar, as a small symbol of the immensity of wonder they bring me. I know you feel that too.. it reminds me of my favorite quote from lex hinton’s book on the heart sutra, “the relative is a full partner in mystic union with the absolute”
I’m really looking forward to reading the article you linked 💌🕸️
Your writing captivates me every time. This is no exception. I’ve been traversing much eco-grief these last few months. This was a nudge to open my heart even more.
It is so helpful to know we can traverse these strange landscapes of the heart together.. the earth grief is so big that we cannot do it alone, it has to be confronted and explored alongside others… thank you so much for meeting me there 💔🥹🙏🌏
🥰🙏 one of my current teachers says the only thing that matters is that we ask the right questions… and that the questions we usually ask are pointed in the entirely opposite direction of where we really want to go. Very mysterious stuff 🕵️♀️
Oh dear Kate, how grateful I am to read/hear/witness you in the unraveling dance weave of your ongoing beauty walk. Never frivolous, but rather invaluable. Your beingness matters so very much. Thank you for continuing to share your huge heart of mystery with us in the inspiring, creative, beautiful, majestic ways you do.. We are so very blessed, as is Earth~ I hear the wolves howling with applause!
Kate, your relationship with mystery helps me understand what’s missing in my life. Do you ever hold classes or gatherings about these topics? I feel you have so much to share that I want to know more about. Thank you for what your share through your writing, it is so valuable to me.
Thank you so much my friend. I do offer classes sometimes, it would be such a delight to have you there. If I do plan a class I’ll announce it by email 💗🙏
So beautiful, Kate, thank you for these tender, generous words. There's so much here I resonate with. I stopped using social media a few months ago, and I've also been working through what space has opened up within my attention to say "yes" to, in lieu of posting & scrolling. I too worry I have functionally "disappeared". And I still sometimes catch myself, especially in moments of profound overwhelm, numbing my attention & presence with scrolling elsewhere (amazing how we can still find outlets beyond social media for that mode of engagement). Thank you for offering the reminder of the mystery we can enter into relationship with, in those moments of loud embodied no's & overwhelm.
Ah I feel this so much. And yes to the mind finding other sneaky ways to engage in distraction!! It’s true, it reveals how much distraction is actually everywhere once we stop blaming social media apps for all our problems 😵💫 But in that numbness lives a profound depth of care and longing.. so if we can even name it in the moment, we’re not far from a tender revelation. A continual returning to that tenderness. I’m so thankful for your comment and connection as we navigate these mystery waters ❤️🔥🙏
This beautiful writing perfect timing for me, going through my own disintegrations and tower moments... its like you wrote a map that filled me with courage and clarity, thank you beautiful soul xx
Tower moments 🗿 yes. I am with you dear one!! So grateful my own rocky navigation could lend something to your fierce heart on its path. I feel so clearly your dedication to being here in that full hearted yes to mystery 💔🙏💌
Oh Kate , your writing is a balm for a sore soul. The heaviness of what is happening to our incredible precious Earth and all the creatures , great and small weighs hard on my heart. I wrote a long post to you , the words tumbling out and over each other but you already get it.....
I have always had a deep relationship to our Earth. She is what I carry in my heart and I am so thankful that she shows me all her beauty when the state of our man-made world weighs heavy. Focusing on the kind loving people who are nurturing her and saving her creatures while fortifying my heart with all her magic so I can still see her beauty through all the destruction. At the moment I am looking at bright blues skies and elecrtic purple flowers and a black cockatoo has flown over. They have a haunting eagle call. So beautiful. I am in Australia but your writing is a golden thread that shows me I am not alone in my aching love for our Mother Earth. Thank-you xx
Ah dear Marina, this comment makes my own heart ache in reply. I hear the eagle call rising from within you... taking the form of blue skies and electric purple flowers, and the black cockatoo's flight and calling! Wow, this poetry. No one can ever take this away from you, and in fact it is our way of honoring Earth to be able to see and to name this beauty, this loving intimacy we get to share with her. Thank you so much for being out there in the golden web of tender care!!! We are in this together.
"In a sudden whoosh like a flock of birds swooping close overhead, I felt those 140,000 loving hearts unlock themselves from the confines of a screen, and wash over me and the whole world like a waterfall of light. All the beauty I had shared there, that living digital art gallery I had created over a decade, all of it dissolved and became an invisible force of love that is no longer outside of me. And I vowed myself fully to this trusting of the love I cannot see."
I love the imagery of freeing the "likes" from their digital prison, to open space for fluid, evolving, embodied giving and receiving of love. I recently read a post from someone who is trying to release their own obsession with likes and followers here on Substack, so perhaps that is also a risk, but I have found this platform to be more open to genuine sharing and connection and have not paid much attention to the number next to the heart. I am grateful at least that it does not demand constant engagement, that I can write and read on my own time and I can easily revisit older writings of my own and others.
My own release in this time has been of a sense of needing to be chosen, committed to, needed in order to feel loved, to open my heart to loving. And in so doing, allowing love to expand, to see all of the ways that I am giving and receiving love in each day, in each moment.
"What are you saying yes to? What is your full-bodied way of saying yes to life on Earth? What is in the process of emerging?"
I am saying yes to healing, to immersion, to opening new connections. Though I am also feeling an openness, an emptiness of sorts, a kind of waiting or pregnant stillness, as if some new creation or inspiration or focus is ahead of me, when the time is right.
I see you.
I hear you.
I celebrate you, dear one, as one who cannot unsee Earth's beauty.
I am most grateful for all that you perceive and choose to share.
Also yes the situation here on substack is quite different from the social ladder that is (was?) instagram. I can post a note here and it can sit there unseen for days, so there is no chance of an instant dopamine rush from a deluge of likes 🙃 and then in the actual posts, it’s mostly up to people deciding to open the email on that particular day, which is far more mysterious than simply scrolling through a feed of endless information. I find this platform more nurturing to mystery and soul, although the ego could certainly still turn it into a validation based nightmare. I fully accept the challenge here to share from the heart and allow that to be enough…
something I noticed on Instagram from having such a large following was that when a post of mine would get many thousands of likes and shares, I instantly felt like I had failed in some way. Failed to guard sacred what was most precious to me. So in this way I feel proud when something doesn’t go “viral” or get wildly devoured through the screen… like I’ve honored some deeper truth. Thank you for being here with me to simply share what is true and curious.. I know that is what feeds the world soul.
My friend Markael, your words and reflection made me feel as though we are sitting in council and I had just told a story from a mystical encounter… and then received the most soulful honoring of that story. The attention you put into reading makes me feel deeply heard.. and then your reflection brings it to the level of new revelation. Wow, what a gift. I’ve told you before you are so skilled at mirroring but I’m just going to say it again, because it’s something I’ve studied and even trained in but some humans are just naturally gifted it at it. I had a mischievous thought, do you ever wander in nature and offer this gift to the wild others? I’m sure you do and I wish I could be present for those loving reflections of soul!!!
Kate, my friend, I am honored by your perception and mirroring of me as well. It is in my nature, I guess, to receive and reflect that which feels true or resonant on a deep level.
I have not thought of my explorations in nature this way, but I think it is true. You write often that humans can offer the gift of seeing, the gift of naming, the gift of being in conscious presence with life and beauty. And I think I am still learning to feel the truth in that, that I don't need to offer a birdhouse or a feeder in the more tangible sense of give-and-take reciprocity but that attention and love and perception is a gift in and of itself.
Along those lines, I'm reminded of this one: https://dendroica.substack.com/p/little-king
I had no idea you had 140,000 Instagram followers - now I sort of wish I had visited before it disappeared :-).
I am actually so relieved and delighted that you had no idea about that account and that we found each other through a more mysterious pathway…
maybe there is somewhere in between the offering of bird seed and the offering of your attention. or that the seeds are one bridge to that formless love.. I love offering the birds seeds and the hummingbirds nectar, as a small symbol of the immensity of wonder they bring me. I know you feel that too.. it reminds me of my favorite quote from lex hinton’s book on the heart sutra, “the relative is a full partner in mystic union with the absolute”
I’m really looking forward to reading the article you linked 💌🕸️
Your writing captivates me every time. This is no exception. I’ve been traversing much eco-grief these last few months. This was a nudge to open my heart even more.
It is so helpful to know we can traverse these strange landscapes of the heart together.. the earth grief is so big that we cannot do it alone, it has to be confronted and explored alongside others… thank you so much for meeting me there 💔🥹🙏🌏
“The simplest question, when posed at just the right moment, becomes the perfect key.” Merci.
🥰🙏 one of my current teachers says the only thing that matters is that we ask the right questions… and that the questions we usually ask are pointed in the entirely opposite direction of where we really want to go. Very mysterious stuff 🕵️♀️
Oh dear Kate, how grateful I am to read/hear/witness you in the unraveling dance weave of your ongoing beauty walk. Never frivolous, but rather invaluable. Your beingness matters so very much. Thank you for continuing to share your huge heart of mystery with us in the inspiring, creative, beautiful, majestic ways you do.. We are so very blessed, as is Earth~ I hear the wolves howling with applause!