Tag Archives: balance

Calendar Year Reflections

Relationships, spiritual skills, values, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Blog by Valerie
Honour all ancestors – of land, lineage and spirit. Live in balance. This is a steady life’s mission.
And even after years of this commitment, I can still feel profoundly torn at times, like I’m being called to discard a deeply engrained aspect of identity. Coming up lately have been some foundational traumatic experiences that caused me to feel unsafe in the world. My father, an reliable ancestral helper, recently apologised for being cowardly in not tackling his trauma, and I was reminded/warned to keep honouring (demi) goddesses like Freyja, Inanna and Changing Woman. (Image of Changing Woman from a Diné sand painting)
I have also recently gotten the message that I have been doing well to ground on the land here and honour Mother Gulaga. And I have also been aware that I need to continue to do more to honour my totemic responsibilities with earthly non human kin, including supporting healthy marsh habitats and birds (my middle name is Schwan, swan in German, after all). I recently joined a local wildlife rescue group, and I’m visioning additional plants for our dams as visiting herons and ducks have been asking me to make the ‘ponds’ more comfortable for them, as well as water storage for us.
Similarly, I feel the need to honour food and medicine plants more. I’ve been working in the garden here, and collecting and drying herbs for teas and smudging. I have found that small acts can make a big difference; that plants and animals have pretty endless compassion and low expectations of us humans, and each intentional act of honouring is noticed.
Strengthening social connections honours our ancestors too. I heard someone recently refer to reading the news as a vice. I don’t see it that way. I see it as a social responsibility to the collective to do my best to hold compassion, give grace and send love each morning when I read ‘the news’. I am also in the process of becoming a citizen of Australia to deepen my social commitment where I am now.
We said goodbye to our dear Chloe last year, and welcomed a couple of cute guinea pigs. We are ready to let another dog into our hearts and home.
Nurturing my self, child, partner, and friends, sharing my medicine with community, and stabilising our survival and well-being continue to underlie all of these activities. I look forward to further home schooling and home steading, and Earth Ethos-ing with Jos and all of you reading this.
May you and we all be healthy and well and live even more fully and authentically in this time we refer to as the year 2026.
Reflection: What life’s mission is steadying your journey?
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Honouring lack

healing, Indigenous Science, relationships, values, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Blog by Valerie
It is autumn here, and at the recent equinox we did a ceremony of thanksgiving. I like to read the Thanksgiving Address of the Haudenosaunee peoples. I find it really beautiful. We also asked for a few things, which later felt wrong to me, like it was the season of giving thanks for what we had, not to plant seeds and ask that they grow; so we did another ceremony expressing gratitude for what is working for us related to the area of life where we asked for change. That felt more balanced.
Lack of Support and Destruction of Health and Life - Symbolized by Word ...As much as I have and am truly grateful for, this experience highlighted how much lack is in my life at the moment. I started to reflect on that. I realised that I have had a belief that ‘I always have what I need’, and so if something isn’t present in my life, then I must not need it. But that belief doesn’t feel like it is honouring my life. It feels like trying to reject or mentally trick myself out of being in lack. In new age-y and positive psychology thinking, ‘light’-ness is privileged, and we are pushed to look at the bright side. There is value to that, but not, in my opinion, if it feels forced or rejects our lived experiences. Sometimes life feels heavy and dark, and it’s important to make space for that. (Image from here)
Dams and water supply schemes suffer due to lack of rain | Utility MagazineOn the planet right now, so many plants, human and non-human animals are lacking safety, security, healthy food, clean water, shelter, etc. Why would I be any different? I would expect there to be some lack in my life given our collective environment. Lack teaches me to appreciate what I have, and to cherish what comes into my life when lacks are transformed. (Image from here)
There are some areas of my life where I feel so deeply in lack that I feel pain and impatience even as I experience them healing. It is as if I’m coming from so far behind what I need that I can’t yet relax and feel at ease that it’ll keep going in a healthy direction. I need to keep it on my radar to pray about and act to improve within my power.
lack-of-motivation | Born RealistAs I am still breast-feeding and being a full time carer, Lukas has been looking for employment for a few months. That struggle has brought stress, fear, and lack for both of us, along with moments of finding deeper faith and trust, as well as gratitude and joy for extra family time. Another example: the more I parent my toddler, the mirror of my own childhood continually brings up grief and lack for me to be with, along with the joy and relief of breaking patterns as best I can by giving my child what I didn’t receive. (Image from here)
The love of money. stock image. Image of crumpled, quarter - 76482929In the Jewish family and the secular capitalist culture I was raised in, people believed not in reciprocity and gift economy, but in transactions. As a non-Zionist Jew, my understanding from my family was to place faith and trust in accumulating gold, jewelry and money for survival, not land, because we could carry those things with us if we were forced to move. They saw me as a commodity too, which felt incredibly de-humanising. It confused me for a long time, how I could feel so much love and pain at the same time. It also existentially denied my spiritual gifts and strengths. But that’s how they saw the world and what they believed in. And I’m not in the business of trying to change anyone’s beliefs but my own. Beliefs are very personal things. (Image from here)
So I have decided that I no longer believe that I always have everything I need. It feels untrue and unkind to carry that belief. I believe my responsibility is to discern my needs as best I can and act within my power to meet them; and that dignity requires me to honour Life by allowing all energies that arise within me to be celebrated. At the moment, that means honouring lack, and so here’s my blog celebrating that. I hope you find value in it.
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