Inner and outer fire

As I sit on the eve of the Summer Solstice, I am preparing to go into my final day of a week of seasonal workshops with Lorna Penney - a remarkable, gifted, wholeheartedly generous and loving teacher. 

We have been exploring the element of Fire. Claiming our wildness. Standing in our own power and visibility. 

And going very, very deep. Through poetry, movement, voice, touch, breath and body we women have shared the deepest parts of ourselves, to be witnessed and held and claimed and released.

And where Lorna goes - one of my other guiding lights is not far away...this is one of the texts she shared and one I also share. 

For Longing by John O’Donohue

Blessed be the longing that brought you here

And quickens your soul with wonder.

May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire

That disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.

May you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease

To discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.

May the forms of your belonging–in love, creativity, and friendship–

Be equal to the grandeur and the call of your soul.

May the one you long for long for you.

May your dreams gradually reveal the destination of your desire.

May a secret Providence guide your thought and nurture your feeling.

May your mind inhabit your life with the sureness with which
your body inhabits the world.

May your heart never be haunted by ghost-structures of old damage.

May you come to accept your longing as divine urgency.

May you know the urgency with which God longs for you.