Giving Voice

During the time when I was writing the first Giving Voice blog I had a dream. In this dream I see a vibrant, healing green stream that runs through women from head to toe. I am told that women need to find and recognize it in themselves, so that it can flow out into life. For the green expresses what I understand as a woman’s sacred relationship to life and to the divine. This blog is about how we live this in our lives and our work in community.

I loved seeing the blog post and reading the replies. Your messages are so essential for us and especially right now. They help dispel our feelings of being so terribly alone and afraid and help us to summon the courage to continue with our own unique ways of serving life.

Seeds of Life, Seeds of Light

It was the first day of a women’s circle at a small safe parking shelter in the town where I live. People who had nowhere else to live, except for

Tending Dreams

Many years ago, I was drawn to learn the language of the dreams and the way they spoke to me. Over the years, sitting in circles with women and listening

The Way of Prayer

In a dream a woman tells me how important it is that we pray each day, and that this way of being helps the children. She impressed upon the need

A Song for the Earth

It was quite a few years ago when I was in a small cabin at a hermitage in the Sonoma Hills. It was only for two days, and turned out

A Hidden Wholeness

Years ago I lived in a small fishing village by the South China Sea, working as a journalist, living with my partner. Our first child was born there. I remember

Once there was a stone…

Recently, I began working with women who are housed in a safe-parking shelter in the small town where I live. We meet in a large white tent. It’s exposed to

Through the Backdoor

A few weeks before the invasion of Ukraine I had an experience in meditation. Towards the end of the half hour, an unexpected image arose. It was of a young

A Steady Heartbeat

In a dream, I am looking at a river. The sound of the river increases until it surrounds me with the intensity of the water flowing by. And then, I

The Power of Silence

Many years ago I had a dream. This dream showed the Earth from a great distance, a luminous, blue jewel against the darkness of space. I saw areas on the

A still place within

I had a dream a year ago showing me the language of life. I was told: Speak about it, this language of life. How to hear it, how to decipher

I Remember…

I live in a modern sub-division at the edge of a small town. A ten-minute walk takes me to a field surrounded by oak trees, blackberries, oat grass. Neighbors see

This Smaller Linking Up

In this time of flux and change, there are stories that touch us. Stories that speak of a deeper stream inside life, helping us to notice, to remember, or to

The Power of Feminine Healing

At this time when we may feel uncertainty and anxiety about the future, our own lives, and those we love, can we challenge ourselves to step into a place where

When Women’s Hearts are Open…

Over the years I have had many dreams of the work of the feminine, dreams like seeds that carried an energy, a potential. I found the dreams couldn’t remain separate

Bringing Down Heaven

When I first began to work in circles with women, an image arose when I was deep in meditation. The image was of many circles across the country, each circle

A Square Inch of Silence

Eight years ago, when I first began to sit in circle with the women in the shelter, I talked a fair amount. I wanted to explain about the feminine. Then

Through Women the Birds will Hear…

Kathy is new to the women’s shelter circle.She said she had never meditated but she was willing to try. She has eight siblings she has always looked after, and has

I Rise and Greet You

For me, the day begins before the sun rises. It is a time I love, a time when I am alone, and the world begins anew. I usually open the

Slowly something comes alive

In our circles with women experiencing homelessness, we create a space for the women to touch a part of themselves so deep, a seemingly remote and unfamiliar terrain. Yet in

This Light in Life

When I first began working with the women in homelessness, it was a wonder to me how quickly the women responded and were able to connect to their deeper, inner

Communion with Heart and Soul

Listening…perhaps this is the most important time to listen. Listening inwardly as well as to our outer lives and life around us. This listening allows us to hear the heartbeat

Finding Strength in Silence

Over and over in our lives, when we sit quietly, in the night or during a brief moment in the day, there is always this question: where do we put

Light of Wisdom

How is it that in our deepest time of need, there comes a light of wisdom that helps us to see in the darkness? To see where our attention needs

Restoring the Sacred to Life

In my own life, I have experienced how a seed of possibility must be protected in order to grow. Protected from my own doubts, or fears. Many a time have

Once there was a seed…

We sit in circle… six women who are homeless and living in shelters, a colleague and myself. After a silent meditation, I offer a writing exercise that begins with the

Oh Holy Night, Every Night

Many years ago, when a dear friend of mine became ill, I took care of her one night. I seemed to lie awake all night, until the early hours of

The Way of Women

I returned from the 2015 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Salt Lake City last month. Over 9000 people from 80 countries attended. Walking through the vast complex where hundreds

Wisdom Surrounds Us

Always, life calls to us, speaks to us, if we can hear. Life, this living organism, has its own wisdom. I have heard in women’s dreams that there is a

Caring for the Sacred

How do we care for the sacred in life? Many years ago, when I was experiencing certain difficulties, I had a dream. In the dream, a male singer tells me,

A Story of Longing

There is magic in a story. Some stories can show us that the divine exists – that there are forces that make things happen. I share this story about longing.

Wherever I Stand on the Earth

At this season of the year, when we celebrate the point of the darkest time and the time of the returning light, I share about women and the earth. In

Why We Share

We share, because we are one. These are the words I heard as I awoke one morning. I had recently returned from a gathering of twenty women who came together

Waiting and Holding

I learned a lesson from the salvia plant in my garden. I was sitting on a stump with my granddaughter, beside this lovely bush with tiny purple flowers, watching a

An Undiscovered Landscape

I am deeply familiar with the beautiful side of devotion. What has been unfamiliar to me is the fierce side. One night, I experienced this other side of devotion in

There is a Way

In a dream I ask,“How can humanity endure the suffering that is taking place in the world? A teacher tells me, “There is a way, I believe, to relate to

The Water of Grace

One day I felt depleted and weary. Like many women, I wear many hats – in the home, out in work, with a need also for that quiet space before

Let It Be

The story of a woman runs deep like an underground river. Sometimes we catch a glimpse of it. Other times, it runs so deep that it lies forgotten – its

The Return of Knowledge

I have been reflecting on what it means for a woman to live her sacred power. For that is what life calls out for us to bring forth and to

Holding Fast

We sat in a circle again, with women at risk of homelessness.  It was not easy to listen to the women that day. Sometimes all we can do is listen. And

To Have and to Hold

A friend wrote to me of a woman’s love song to the earth. It touched my heart because I know it is true. It is a deep listening to the earth’s

Caring for Life

I have been thinking about how a woman can hold life in her heart. A few weeks ago at the daytime center for homeless women, I arranged the chairs in

Returning Home

Over time, through dreams and images, I began to understand how a woman’s life is connected to the whole. In our Western culture we are conditioned to feel separate and

The Hidden Invitation

I was chastened by a dream I had several years ago. In the dream I was told: There is ecological devastation, but worse is to think that we are not

The Sacred Coming Alive

What I know is that during difficult times, we are taken to the very edge of what is familiar. If we are true to the experience, that is, if we

Deep in the Heart

There is a woman who has come to our group meetings at the shelter for several months. But last week she sat on the grass in the parking lot. “I

How Women Give and Receive

As custodians of life, our families, our communities, the earth, we know the awe of responsibility. But how do we listen to the real need – both in ourselves and

The Song of the Sacred

A woman asks before going to sleep one night, “How can I help the earth?” She feels a sadness in her life. The next morning as she awakens, she hears these words that come from her depths: A song for the earth of joy.What does this mean? How can a woman live this song?I am reminded of a story that was written in the eighth century about Caedmon.

The Eyes of Mary

In our depths there is wisdom. I was told in a dream that we need to study the depths so that we can truly be of service to life.How do we do this, in our lives? How can we become more aware of seeing the depths where the healing comes from, where change can happen? 

The Heart Knows

What is so private, so inner, is the heart, where our prayers come from, our tears. Where mercy, compassion and love are born. Once I saw a seed in the night, in a dream. It was a seed of compassion. I have been thinking about the heart and the wisdom that lives within.

Holding Life in our Heart

Wisdom speaks to us, when we can listen deeply. Sometimes it comes through a dream.Here is a story about a friend who works in a public school kitchen making meals for young children. She works side by side with women who tell her their stories. Often she listens to tales of hardship and suffering.

The Power of Stillness

I had been thinking about prayer, about stillness. How, in everyday life, we need the power that comes from finding this quality.O Beloved, how do you wish me to be? What is the attitude needed, at this moment?  

Receptivity

I had a dream about how women can help life. I struggled with this dream, because on a deep level I could feel it, but my mind couldn’t understand it. It was too much of a stretch for my mind.

How Women Pray

One woman shared with me, “As a mother, sometimes I am able to touch that point of deep prayer that holds us in its love, and sometimes I still worry deeply and get caught off guard. ”

Working with the Sacred

I heard in a dream these words: Enter. Behold. I am above. I am below. It touched me deeply. When I silently repeated it over the next few days and weeks, I could feel its sacred quality.  I now look back at the timing of this dream and I feel it fresh and alive.

The Awareness of Surrender

In prayer I asked to understand anxiety. What was it that flowed through me in the middle of the night? What was it trying to show me? Was it just a personal anxiety or connected to something larger? It was uncomfortable. But I knew –  I remembered – how anxiety can cut us off from the healing that comes from the Sacred source. How it can cover over our connection to grace. 

Thou Art Returning

I had a dream one night when I had lost hope about a situation in my life. This was a few years ago during a time of loss. It was a little dream, but it had great meaning.Here is the dream:I was given a bottle of cologne. Written in calligraphy on the bottle is the name of the cologne – A Quiet Faith. It is in an elegant style that reminds me of devotional Arabic prayers.

Working with Resistance

One night I had just finished reading a book about the earth. I felt such love and compassion as I had never felt before, and I prayed with all my heart for the earth’s healing.

Golden threads

Today a woman spoke about angels. Her partner had been injured and now she is living in a shelter, trying to care for him in a San Francisco hospital.

What happens when women lead

 “I can see as clear as daylight that the hour is coming when women will lead humanity to a higher evolution.” This is how the 20th century Sufi mystic, Inayat Khan, saw the role of women in our time.

Our natural way

  I know many women who are trying to understand a fresh way of being in life, of how we become conscious of the feminine, of the sacred that is a natural way. I think about this deep, dark place in women that is our natural capacity to be receptive to love. I remember a woman being told in a dream, “Women have forgotten their capacity.”

Once there was a girl…

  I have been reflecting on this greening, so beautifully expressed in many of the dreams that women shared on the last blog. They have to do with honoring the sacredness of life – and how we weave this thread of light and love into our everyday world.

Benedictas Veritas

This woodblock print that you see here, Benedictas Veritas, carries the essence of what this blog is about. For the green expresses what I understand as a woman’s sacred relationship to life and to the divine.I once had a dream in which I see a vibrant, healing green stream that runs through women from head to toe. I am told that women need to find and recognize it in themselves, so that it can flow out into life. 

Our new blog…

Welcome! My name is Anne. A few weeks ago I saw an image of this blog page in a dream. On the left of the page was a profile of a pregnant woman. I knew that I had to hold the intention for this blog, and not fill it with my ideas about what it’s supposed to be.


Giving Voice