Third Series – Issue 3
A Love Letter from Sage-ing International
Era of Awakening
Stepping onto New Ground with Blessings
The Executive Circle of Sage-ing International sends our very best and hopeful wishes to our beloved community in the spirit of inspiration and encouragement as we now virtually move hand-in-hand into 2021. At the beginning of the pandemic last winter, SI leaders immediately came together to imagine ways to provide encouragement and offer support for our community. One of many new ideas was to share A Love Letter from the Executive Circle on behalf of Sage-ing International. As we begin a New Year, and continue with an intention of keeping our feet on the ground and our vision high as we keep true to the mission of SI, we will continue with periodic Love Letter messages. We hope that together we will discover renewed purpose, novel and life-affirming concepts, and a deepening of connection as heartfelt sojourners.
Thankfully, we have now passed over the threshold of 2021. We have suffered great losses to varying degrees, and continue balancing challenges precipitated by a moving target of managing a relentless virus, by transitions of leadership in nations, and the intolerance of tolerance relative to longstanding racial injustice. Mysteriously, there are elements of hope inherent in the aftermath of many dreams now scattered like a shaken snow globe. As little characters glued to the bottom of the snow globe, one thing and then another has scattered around us; before one thing settles, another shake has happened.
We continue to look for stability while imagining a future that sooths our souls. In the poignant Winter Solstice Ritual that was sent to our community in December by SI’s Ritual Team, there were two meaningful questions posed: What is one thing asking to be released to allow for new birth (in your life)? What gift within you is asking to be brought into the light? These are meaningful questions for us to take into the New Year. Rephrased,
What is it that you are being called to release from 2020 to allow for new life to emerge in 2021?
What gift(s) within you are asking…waiting…to be uncovered or discovered and brought into the light this coming year?
At the beginning of this particular year, many of us may find answering these questions is complex; perhaps others find them simple to answer. In either case, it is an indisputable truth that our answers can be considered Divine truth if we indeed listen deeply to the wise inner voice to discover how our hearts are prompting us to lead forward in our lives.
During this past holiday season, many of us were confronted with a myriad of difficult feelings and emotions as we negotiated in our heart the risks and potential outcomes of our decisions to gather or not with our family and friends. It was also likely challenging to carry on with meaningful sacred practices that we hold dear. Amidst disarray, folks seemed to have been drawn more so to “lights” this season—from candles in their windows and decorating with an abundance of lights inside and outside of their homes, to novel ways to integrate light that has always been part of celebrations and rituals. The ultimate outcome is for each of us to truly recognize that no matter what is happening in the physical world, we can celebrate the truth that each of us is indeed an incredibly essential light in the midst of transformative times. Once we acknowledge this, imagine if we collectively combine our lights and carry our illumination into 2021—shining forth our authentic gifts with blessings of love, joy, harmony, peace, protection and gratitude?
Literally, we can shine our mighty light by using our words in loving action to impart blessings for a better world. It may be well to take thoughtful moments to ponder, “Why is blessing ourselves and one another profound?” Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi taught:
“If you want to learn how to say a blessing, every time you feel something really good happening, or even something rough or painful, say, “Thank you for blessing me, you make the sun shine,’ or, ‘Today is a beautiful day.’ Each time you focus in this way, feeling blessed becomes a reality…”
While many spiritual practices expect blessings to come from the God of their choosing, we have a universal capacity to extend love, support and prayers of protection for one another. We can extend our gratitude, and offer words that support another’s well-being. We can “see another” soulfully, and uphold them with loving intention. In a recent gathering of Certified Sage-ing Leaders, a metta meditation was offered which supported this concept. A metta meditation provides an opportunity to exponentially expand the power of blessing. We invite you to pause here to enter into a Blessing Meditation for the beginning of this New Year.
In John O’Donohue’s renowned book, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessing, his “For One Who is Exhausted, a Blessing” gives comfort at this new dawning. An excerpt of this blessing aligns with the value of quiet, stillness and the attributes of winter as we move into hopeful renewal this New Year. O’Donohue’s message serves not only as a bridge between the past difficult year and the possibilities before us, but also a bridge between the inner journey and outer life:
You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken in the race of days.
At first your thinking will darken
And sadness takes over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.
You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.
Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.
Rabbi Stan Levy reflected on how his dear friend, Reb Zalman, guided him on his own journey. His wise words give us guidance as well:
Sit there where you are …,
as real as a rock, a tree, a bird, your hand, your heart,
as real as your inner you, where your secret feelings are,
your pain and fear and wonder and hope and longing and love and strength and weakness.
Open your heart and say with every cell 
and awareness of your being,
‘Here I am, this is me, I accept the world,
I ask the world to accept me, please.’
Now begin to ask for the things you need and hope for…
And when you make a request, seal it with ‘Thank you.’ 
As we try to accept the world we live in, ask for what we need and hope for, and bless those who truly need our love and care, let us remember how magnificent it truly is to be alive at this time. Can you imagine all of the highly unlikely things that had to happen in order for you to even have been born and live right now on planet Earth? It is difficult to imagine the strange, against-all-odds things that had to happen to make this miracle occur. Imagine, as a community, that we collectively were born in the 20th and 21st centuries; we speak the world’s most common language, and we’re walking around with small devices in our pockets that can connect us to almost the entire history of human knowledge. Even though there are more than 7 billion people alive on the planet, that doesn’t make this gift of life less unique. Consider the blessing of this breathtaking opportunity to be alive here, now. Yes, let us each pause and say “Thank you.”
In closing, please take a moment to light a candle—beholding the light from its flame as representing the wisdom within you, and the wisdom within all of us in the Sage-ing International community. May we hold our lights high—boldly and courageously. May we be grounded in the transformative power of blessing one another. May we support each other in loving kindness. It is time to unfold the future, delicately into the space in which we find ourselves and each other—stepping onto new ground with blessings.
Please enjoy our gift to you, an inspiring video celebrating the blessing of our beloved home—Planet Earth.
Happy New Year!
The Executive Circle of Sage-ing International
Marilyn Loy Every, Co-Chair
Jerome Kerner, Co-Chair
Nancy Gray-Hemstock, Secretary
Cindy Siemers, Treasurer
Katia Petersen, Member-at-Large
Note:
Sage-ing International COVID-19 Resources: https://www.sage-ing.org
Sage-ing International Education Updates: https://www.sage-ing.org
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