“Journeying is the predominant means of developing one’s self in this culture, not the habituation of place…Yet at this phase of my life, when I look at my house at the edge of a marsh, I want to learn how to *be* in it. I want to behave like a finder as much as a seeker. The irony is that I had to go on an elaborate journey to figure this out. So much of my growing older seems to be about paradoxes. The reconciliation of opposites. The bringing to balance. For my fiftieth birthday, Sandy gave me a card with the moon on it…It read: ‘I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.’ It’s true, I wasn’t. Yet the rest of the story is that it’s just as possible not to be the same after seeing it over my backyard. At fifty, I want to be the finder of the commonplace moon.” (p. 121)
—Sue Monk Kidd, Traveling with Pomegranates
I bought the book Traveling with Pomegranates after Caryn MacGrandle of the Divine Feminine App suggested to me in a comment on another post. She mentioned a quote from the book in which Sue Monk Kidd describes the value of “giving consent” for menopause and lamenting the lack of “ceremonies of consent” in our culture. In the online circle I am co-leading for midlife women, Wondering and Wise, I then developed a “ceremony of consent” to share with women as they navigate the confusing and multifaceted perimenopausal years.
In the quote above, it was the “commonplace moon” that got me. I love that phrasing so much. I want to start a new Sisters of the Commonplace Moon group, write a new book called The Commonplace Moon, or something. I. Love. It.
What are you finding in the commonplace that sings to your soul?
I am also finishing the writing of a second volume of the Goddess Devotional, tentatively titled “Whole and Holy.” Another quote from Traveling with Pomegranates that spoke to me was with regard to prayer, in which Sue writes:
“The words were unexpected, but so incisively true. So much of prayer is like that—an encounter with a truth that has sunk to the bottom of the heart, that wants to be found, wants to be spoken, wants to be elevated into the realm of sacredness.”
What wants to be elevated into the realm of sacredness for you?
What do you feel rising from the bottom of your heart?
Notes:
- Wondering and Wise is an ongoing circle for women and registration remains open here.
- TheDivineFeminineApp is a wealth of resources for women’s circles, divine feminine events, and connections around the world. You can access most features for free via the site–there are both News and Blog sections now, for which I am pleased to be a Fire Tender (you can use code “new day” for complete access). You can also help support the development and continued maintenance of the app via paid memberships on the Apple or Google stores.
- Our Red Tent Initiation program reopens on July 20th! Waiting list is here.