maintain your optimism: turn the knob and open the door (classic)

May 8, 2010 by rachel

Here’s another classic post that seemed appropriate to bring out for another round. It originally appeared – with a different Landsat satellite image — on March 19, 2009. This is what I lay at your feet: The elevation of your sin above my joy Your immutable commitment to your own swirling Charybdis Your lust to live a life predicated on lies And an insatiable appetite to manipulate Every tender expression into a gamble against unbeatable odds. This is what I […]

Categories: inspiration, poetry, spirituality, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: awakening, body mind & spirit, consciousness, mysticism, NASA Satellite Photos, optimism

rachel’s newest collection of “intelligent inspiration”

February 21, 2010 by rachel

My newest book has hit the warehouse and should be in bookstores and online any day (or minute) now. This lovely book (96 pgs) features the heavy art paper, beautiful illustrations, and richly layered color that have distinguished Blue Mountain Arts products for more than 35 years. Each page of inspirational prose offers a powerful way in which you can reinforce your faith. Read a passage whenever you’re in need of a little support, comfort, or a gentle reminder of […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, personal growth, Rachel Snyder, spirituality, transformation, uncategorized, writing & creativity • Tags: faith, higher consciousness, words of well-being

patience (mine and yours) is a virtue

April 22, 2009 by rachel

Apologies for not posting anything new in a while. If you noted my recent post (see below), I’ve been without a working computer for, oh, a couple of months now. I’m borrowing here and there to check email and moderate Comments, but it’s been hard to maintain a consistent creative flow. This, too, shall pass – and I’ll be back with fresh, new inspirational poetry and more, before you know it. Thanks for your patience and your trust. In the […]

Categories: uncategorized

online rent party: help keep rachel writing!

April 10, 2009 by rachel

Mackenzie, my trusty classic Titanium Mac PowerBook G4 (c. 1999/2000), has finally given up the ghost — after months of band-aid fixes, excrutiatingly-long stretches of inoperation, rampant unpredictability, and a valiant battle on behalf of all who loved her. My local, friendly Mac guys (Insert Plug Here for Boulder MacRepair) are ready to transplant her relatively new hard drive into another, younger powerbook G4 — so I can keep on writing, keep on blogging, and keep on keepin’ on. So […]

Categories: uncategorized

this Rumi poem & video ought to be rated R for Ravishing!

September 27, 2008 by rachel

These are challenging times for many, on many different levels. You may feel scattered, untethered, fearful, or filled with deepening sorrow. It may feel harder than ever to stay connected to loving, ecstatic Spirit. Here is a soulful and sensual video (5:30) that offers up ancient Persian poet Rumi’s “Like This,” set to Anoushka Shankar’s “Prayer in Passing” and accompanied by various paintings by Pre-Raphaelite artists, renowned for their obsession with classical mythology, muses, and nymphs. The video is by […]

Categories: inspiration, love, poetry, spirituality, uncategorized, video • Tags: Anoushka Shankar, beloved, divine love, fine art, inspiration, love, mysticism, poetry, pre-Raphaelite, Rumi, spirituality, Sufism, video

prayer for radical forgiveness

September 21, 2008 by rachel

Forgive me for not sharing fully in your pain for my own basket has been filled with seedpods of blossoming sadness and ripened fruit dripping with disappointment Forgive me if I do not remember your name or the light aching for release from your crown for I have been searching too long simply to remember my own name and the codex that bears the story that is mine If I have seemed aloof, apart, forgive me, for my sense of […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, health/healing, inspiration, personal growth, poetry, spirituality, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: body mind & spirit, forgive, forgive me, forgiveness, inspiration, life, personal growth, poem, poetry, prayer, spirituality, Thierry Ona

your personal evolution is not a solo act

September 12, 2008 by rachel

I have just been assisted through a challenging, transformative period by two extraordinarily gifted women — once again reminding me of the unquestionable importance of skilled and compassionate support at critical junctures along the pathway of the soul’s journey. In a day or two, I’ll tell you more about them, but for now, a poetic reminder. The mosaic NASA image is “the sharpest wide-angle view ever obtained of the magnificent starburst galaxy, Messier 82 (M82). Throughout the galaxy’s center, young […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, health/healing, inspiration, love, personal growth, poetry, spirituality, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: ascension, body mind & spirit, higher realms, inspiration, life, NASA photo, personal growth, poetry, transformation

making love to god: part six

August 4, 2008 by rachel

This is the sixth in a series from Making Love To God, my memoir of Divine Union and contemporary spiritual relationship. The series began on July 29, 2008, with the Introduction and Chapter One, and will continue through completion. You may resonate with the material more powerfully if you follow it in order; all posts are categorized in the Making Love To God category in the sidebar to your right. May we all find the courage to strip away anything […]

Categories: inspiration, love, making love to god, spirituality, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: awakening, dark night of the soul, divine union, ecstatic union, God, love, mystic, mysticism, opening heart, spiritual relationship, spirituality, surrender, transformation

catching breath at the rest stop of existence!

July 17, 2008 by rachel

For those of you who have wondered whether my roadtrip buddy (Michael) and I were trapped in some 9th-dimensional slot canyon, you’re right! For those of you who took the high road, presuming that we were safe and well and having the experience of several lifetimes, you, too, are correct! After 24 days on the road, we have landed in the Denver/Boulder area, where we have been blessed for several days with a beautiful house in which to slowly re-assimilate […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, eclectica, health/healing, inspiration, spirituality, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: body mind & spirit, road trip, southwest US, spirituality, transformation

what will you create from today?

June 21, 2008 by rachel

Today, create the opening Heart Unshroud your inmost Desires and lay them down gently in a field of dew-kissed wildflower Let flow a river of Forgiveness For yourself, for others And revel in the soft waftings of a breeze as it carries away the unlatched chains of soul’s oppression Create the keys that unlock your ancient Rememberings Take them down from the nail on the wall Feel them slip with ease into their appointed hallways And know that you have […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, health/healing, inspiration, love, personal growth, poetry, spirituality, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: body mind & spirit, consciousness, creation, inspiration, life, love, peace, poetry, prayer, soul, spirituality, transformation

field notes from the wake of a tornado, part 2

June 17, 2008 by rachel

Some of you may remember that on May 27, 2008, I posted some “field notes” from my experience as a volunteer in Windsor, Colorado, a town of about 18,000 that was hit hard by a tornado just before Memorial Day weekend. You can read the original post here if you like. Since then, I’ve been back to Windsor on numerous occasions, working with The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services in its efforts to provide three hot meals a day plus […]

Categories: astrology, body mind & spirit, inspiration, personal growth, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: body mind & spirit, disaster, disaster recovery, divine service, inspiration, Mother Earth, service, The Salvation Army, transformation, volunteer, volunteerism, Windsor-Colorado

voice lessons: finding your inner writer

June 6, 2008 by rachel

No word yet from the NYC agent who requested (and received) the complete manuscript for my first work of literary fiction. In honor of my continuing patience (and said agent’s ongoing health, wealth, and happiness!), here is a piece I wrote back in 1999. Other than a few changes aimed at de-genderization, it appeared in the August issue of The Women’s Times, a monthly newspaper based in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and distributed throughout areas of western Massachusetts, northern Connecticut, eastern […]

Categories: humor, inspiration, uncategorized, writing & creativity • Tags: creative expression, creativity, humor, inspiration, journal, morning pages, motivation, newspaper, novel, publishing, voice, writer, writing, writing process

rise up! a poemanifesto for people of integrity

June 1, 2008 by rachel

Now is the time for you to step up! Now, as the world sets to ridding itself of liars and thieves who ply their nefarious trades in the name of liberty and all that is good and true. Now, as the bright light of day shines into darkened corners and illuminates the misdeeds of those who claim to selflessly serve the downtrodden and vulnerable, even as they inflict pain and the horror of untold suffering. If you can speak the […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, personal growth, poetry, spirituality, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: ascension, inspiration, manifesto, personal integrity, poetry, Rise Up!, transformation

tiny love story for this full moon night

May 19, 2008 by rachel

Short and sweet. The beautiful print, “Red Rose,” is by Anna Flores. See it in a larger version here. the prince walks his path carrying the heart of the queen in his left front pocket when he is certain he cannot go another step he sips gently inhaling roses like some sacred relic of transcendent time

Categories: inspiration, poetry, uncategorized • Tags: Anna Flores print, love, poem, poetry, rose, tiny love story, writing

the best gift: a storypoem about receiving

April 22, 2008 by rachel

Now added to the Pages section in the right-hand sidebar, a story-poem that I often share during the winter holiday season. Even though spring is busting out all over, Now is a time in which each of us is called to uncover, discover, recover, and unabashedly share our unique personal gifts. You never know what your offering might mean to someone eager to receive — or how your gracious receiving may foster a deeper desire to give. Available for your […]

Categories: inspiration, poetry, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: flight, folklore, giving and receiving, inspiration, personal gifts, poetry, prince, song, sparrow, story poem, transformation

what there is to love about a man: courage

April 15, 2008 by rachel

What, then, is the courage befitting a man? A man’s true courage rises from his heart and infuses his spirit. It strengthens him to fight for what matters, or to choose not to fight. To be the fifth of his line who attends the academy, or to be the first in the family who will not go. One kind of courage leaves his warm bed and cries out Who goes there? in the darkened night. Another peers into his darkened […]

Categories: inspiration, men, spirituality, uncategorized • Tags: celebrate masculine qualities, courage, cry for help, heart, honoring men, inspiration, men, poems, spirit, Vet Center, What There is to Love About A Man

why giving up hope in humanity is not an option

April 14, 2008 by rachel

When you blend the recent Seeds of Compassion Conference in Seattle, the Dalai Lama, a young girl (Simone Porter) soulfully playing the violin, and an estimated 65,000 people gathered to foster global compassion, what more is there to say? The video (posted on youtube by “carolgrey”) runs 5 minutes and 20 seconds; the goodness will hopefully last for eternity.

Categories: inspiration, spirituality, uncategorized, video • Tags: compassion, Dalai Lama, hope, inspiration, peace, Seattle, Seeds of Compassion Conference, Simone Porter, spirituality, video, violinist

eldorado, texas: i will not listen to intellectual arguments

April 10, 2008 by rachel

Don’t even talk to me about individual liberty and states’ rights and freedom of religion: I will not listen to intellectual arguments. Do not cite Constitutional precedent or Scripture from any faith tradition from any hemisphere. Do not utter one word about alternative lifestyles and consensual adults and freedom of sexual expression. Not in the context of Eldorado, Texas. Not when women and young girls and young boys are being denied the right to self-determination, education, and the pursuit of […]

Categories: uncategorized • Tags: American Southwest, chattel, children, Eldorado Texas, human puppy mills, humanist, land, refuge, sanctuary, self-determination, slavery, spiritual violence, Utah, vision, women

poetry month: how the men want to fly!

April 6, 2008 by rachel

How the Men Want to Fly by Rachel Snyder I am holding men’s hearts in my hands these days, running my fingers over toughened scar tissue, tracing the rutted pathways of emotion run roughshod, and breathlessly lingering when I feel myself sinking into soft spots around the edges. The braille of a man’s heart is not so different from my own. They come one after another, dragging their piecemeal armor on the ground behind them, rusting and clanging and kicking […]

Categories: inspiration, men, poetry, spirituality, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: descent, feminine, goddess, hero's journey, inspiration, masculine, men, mythopoetic, national poetry month, poetry, priestess, soul, surrender, transformation

ordinary oracles: the tao of automobiles

March 17, 2008 by rachel

Why travel to Delphi to consult the oracle — when you can find all the answers you’re looking for behind the wheel of your car? All you need to do is “listen well,” one of the four main tenets of the be whole now philosophy. For years, I’ve been collecting material for a someday-book called Vehicle For Change: What Your Car Is Telling You About Your Life. And no, it’s not a joke book (at least not entirely!). Where early […]

Categories: ordinary oracles, uncategorized • Tags: cars, oracles, personal growth