love is gonna get you (singer-songwriter Matthew Andrae video 3:20)

December 17, 2012 by rachel

I never thought that my lifetimes of healing, my years and years of digging deep and releasing, my commitment to service, my twisting and gnarling and gloriously torturous path, and my unwavering trust in Divinity… …would lead me, in the days and weeks running up to the Great Shift of The Ages, smack-dab into retail! Yet here we are and here I am, unable for months to delve into my poetry or move forward (for now) with the Words Divinely […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, personal growth, planetary shifts, spirituality, transformation, video • Tags: love, Matthew Andrae, opening heart

i suppose we are here for each other

October 26, 2011 by rachel

I suppose I am here for you, to hold your hand in mine and in the other, an outstretched lantern penetrates a narrow causeway And so gingerly together we take each step toes probing the darkness anticipating a slipslide of all we have believed is solid all that we believe will lift us out of the muck and into the miraculous all that we believe. I suppose you are here for me, to fill the bellows of my heart to […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, personal growth, poetry, spirituality, transformation • Tags: higher consciousness, love, surrender, wisdom

feeling lost, alone, forsaken? poetry to turn you in another direction

January 20, 2011 by rachel

Not everyone has entered the new year with buoyancy and confidence. If you are feeling lost, alone, or altogether forgotten by the cosmos, you may find solace in this post that first appeared in September 2008. If you feel lost and alone You must remove your blinders and see! There are allies stationed around you, Legions of light poised to stave off interference And an endless supply of Love to anoint your every scrape and scar. If you feel that […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, poetry, spirituality, transformation • Tags: faith, higher consciousness, love

are you ready to be whole now? take this quiz

July 5, 2010 by rachel

After focusing on my daughter’s recuperation for two weeks, I feel as though I am returning from a very long, very far journey! I am hardly who I was last month and barely able to pick up the thread I may have been holding at that time. My girl is good and she, too, has traversed new landscapes. Sincere thanks for the well wishes, prayers, and loving thoughts that were sent our way. Still percolating with new (and rediscovered) directions; […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, personal growth, planetary shifts, spirituality, transformation • Tags: love, personal evolution

how brave the heart

November 17, 2009 by rachel

Here we go with some more traditional, rhyming verse. A wise friend commented that the free-flowing muse shifted recently, bringing in a more structured energy all-around. Whatever the reason, it’s working for me. This piece seems a likely companion to a similar one I penned some years back, which you can read right here.   how brave the heart Through the mist softly came a wandering  herd Not of flesh, bone and sinew–the primary word Arrived in the meadow bent humbly in prayer […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, personal growth, spirituality, transformation • Tags: alchemy, divine union, love, mysticism, opening heart

enjoy billy joel while i’m warming up in the greenroom: and so it goes (video)

June 9, 2009 by rachel

Saints be praised! I can feel the stirrings of a new cycle of blogging, poetry, and other shared pursuits. While I’m shaking off the residual cobwebs, enjoy this poignant classic by Billy Joel.  These poetic words and his sensitive performance seem to characterize where many of us are these days: Letting go of the old (whether by choice or circumstance) and opening our tender hearts to new ways of being, feeling, and engaging with others.  Enjoy! Both tears and smiles […]

Categories: inspiration, love, transformation, video • Tags: And So It Goes, Billy Joel, change, healing, inspiration, life, love, opening heart, surrender, transformation, video, wisdom

hallelujah: k d lang says it so much better than I ever could (music/video)

March 12, 2009 by rachel

Historically, I’ve been partial to Jeff Buckley’s cover of this Leonard Cohen song — which is based on the Biblical story of (King) David and Bathsheba and has been analyzed and interpreted for years. Yet today, in this moment, at this juncture in the road, no other rendition carries the power, the majesty, and the achingly delicious surrender that K.D. Lang summons through her body and voice in this commanding-yet-humble, 2005 live performance in Winnipeg. This slays me in the […]

Categories: inspiration, love, spirituality, video • Tags: David & Bathsheba, God, Hallelujah, inspiration, Juno Awards performance, kd lang, Leonard Cohen, life, love, spirituality, surrender, video

5 minutes of rumi, safri duo, and deep soul peace (video)

March 9, 2009 by rachel

Do you have five minutes to invest in the deep nourishment of your soul? This video, uploaded by rahmama2, blends magnificent poetry by Jelaluddin Rumi (as translated by Coleman Barks) with uplifting music and stunning photographic images. (Though I cringe, even I can momentarily overlook the typo confusing “you’re” with “your.”) Note that we are nearly at the Full Moon, making the text even more potent and poignant for us all. If you are as taken as I am by […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, personal growth, poetry, spirituality, transformation, video • Tags: awakening, body mind & spirit, consciousness, divine union, ecstatic union, higher consciousness, inspiration, Islamic Arts, Islamic poetry, love, poetry, Rumi, Rumi poetry, Safri Duo, Sufi, Sufism, surrender, transformation, video

v is for valentine, and for indie roots musician scott von

February 14, 2009 by rachel

There is so much energy moving in my life right now;  so many doors opening wide and so much joy spilling out… …that even I don’t know how to put it all down on paper. In the meantime, here’s a musical interlude for your listening pleasure — the Scott Von duo (SV plus Cary Morin) singing “Molly Malone” in Park City, Utah, in 2007. I had the great good fortune to discover the man and his music in person a […]

Categories: inspiration, love, video • Tags: Cary Morin, Colorado musician, folk, folk music, indie music, indie roots, inspiration, love, Molly Malone, roots, Scott Von, Scott Von Duo, video

india arie, rumi, writing, automotivology, forgiveness, & remembering who you are: favorite posts of 2008

January 6, 2009 by rachel

Even though be whole now is not yet a year old (like me, my blog is a Piscean), the start of this sure-to-be-unforgettable new year is a good time to unearth and recycle some memorable posts from 2008. Here are a few of my favorites, based on a purely non-scientific selection process. 1. I never tire of watching diva India Arie sing the James Taylor classic, The Secret O’ Life. Every word speaks directly to my soul. Maybe yours, too? […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, eclectica, inspiration, love, ordinary oracles, personal growth, poetry, spirituality, transformation, video, writing & creativity • Tags: awakening, body mind & spirit, consciousness, creativity, ecstatic union, forgiveness, India Arie, inspiration, James Taylor, life, love, new paradigm, ordinary oracles, personal growth, poetry, prayer, radical forgiveness, Rumi, The Secret of Life, transformation, video, wisdom, writer, writing, your inner writer

january 1, 2009: say hello to the new

January 1, 2009 by rachel

Seattle-based artist Cathy Woo contacted me after I featured art by another artist of the same name — and, of course, I fell in love with her art! Visit this Cathy Woo’s studio (and learn more about the concept of Zen Dots) by clicking right here. Say Hello To the New, To opening doorways and glistening portals To picking up a broad brush and painting a portrait of the ultimate You To stepping into your place on the circle with […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, personal growth, planetary shifts, poetry, spirituality, transformation • Tags: artist Cathy Woo, ascension, awakening, body mind & spirit, Cathy Woo, consciousness, inspiration, life, love, new paradigm, New Year, New Year's Day, poetry, spirituality, transformation

what there is to love about a man: tears, treasures

December 24, 2008 by rachel

A pair of Words of Well-Being(tm) from my book, “What There Is To Love About A Man,” which, alas, is currently out of print. Used or imperfect copies are available here and there on the Internet. Just a heartfelt collection of waxings poetic by a woman honoring and celebrating masculine qualities of body, mind and spirit. Glorioski! Imagine that! Tears Who first planted the idea that real men don’t cry? They tense and tighten every muscle,  hundred-weight pounds of pressure […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, men • Tags: body mind & spirit, inspiration, life, love, male, masculine, men, prose poetry, tears, treasures, VanGogh, Vishvarupa, Weeping Man

life in three words: journey, frustration, opportunity

December 14, 2008 by rachel

Just to put it all in perspective, three Words of Well-Being(tm) from one of my currently-out-of-print books. Nothing you don’t already know, but given the darkening days of December and the tumultuous goings-on in the political and economic corners of our world, it seems a good time for a reminder. My search for evocative art to accompany my posts has led me to the rich work of Sybil Shane and Miyu Tamamura — here expressed in sumi ink and hand-painted […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, health/healing, inspiration, personal growth, spirituality, transformation, word of the day • Tags: awakening, body mind & spirit, consciousness, frustration, higher consciousness, inspiration, Japanese art, journey, life, love, Miyu Tamamura, opportunity, personal growth, spirituality, Sybil Shane, transformation, word of the day

until then, maintain your faith: inner strength for troubling times

October 22, 2008 by rachel

When times are unsettled, There is no place to go but deeper, and deeper still You must excavate and as you do, calcified residue of old ways will be thrown up in your face You will taste it on your lips and gag as you swallow more than you want to And then, after what feels like an eternity You will feel a new radiance rise up in place of the old. Until then, maintain your faith. The change may […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, personal growth, poetry, spirituality, transformation • Tags: ascension, faith, higher consciousness, inner strength, inspiration, inspiring, inspiring poem, keep the faith, life, light, lightworker, love, poetry, spirituality, troubled times, trust, uplifting words

what barack and michele obama can teach america about conscious loving

September 30, 2008 by rachel

Although I make no claim to being a political pundit, this is my second post focusing on Sen. Barack Obama — from a non-policy, non-strategy, be whole now point of view. If you missed my earlier post, “can i talk about barack obama without you thinking it’s political?” click here to see my take on Sen. Obama as a reflection of the evolving new paradigm. Here, I’m linking to a recent piece in The Huffington Post, in which authors and […]

Categories: barack obama, eclectica, inspiration, love • Tags: America, barack obama, conscious loving, conscious relationships, Gay Hendricks, inspiration, Kathlyn Hendricks, love, marriage, Michelle Obama, relationships, Sen. Obama, The Hendricks Institute, The Huffington Post

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

try not to try too hard: india arie sings james taylor’s secret o’ life

September 8, 2008 by rachel

When I’m doing my deepest inner excavations and rebirthing (as in now!), soulful music like this helps to keep it all in perspective. This beautiful James Taylor ballad, set to the stylings of diva India Arie, is chock-full of the wisdom of the ages. Meanwhile, I’m pondering changes in my blogsite that will best reflect the transformational changes I’m currently weeping, blasting, and gliding through. Enjoy and remember the second part of the be whole now mantra: Listen Well. This […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, health/healing, inspiration, love, personal growth, transformation, video • Tags: development, India Arie, inspiration, James Taylor, life, love, personal growth, rebirth, The Secret O' Life, transformation, video

what there is to love about a man: humility

August 28, 2008 by rachel

A humble man isn’t lowly; he just lives close to the earth. He bows and scrapes to no other man; he simply pulls himself down from the heights of pride and pretension and lives a life free of arrogance. A humble man is rooted in modesty. A humble man assumes nothing. When the spotlight shines on him, he quietly steps aside. When credit is tossed in his direction, he passes it to his teammates, his employees, his co-workers, his God. […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, men, personal growth, prose poetry • Tags: body mind & spirit, development, humble, humility, inspiration, life, love, men, personal growth

what there is to love about a man: rhythm

August 17, 2008 by rachel

To find his own rhythm, a man needs to discover the beat of his own heart. He begins slowly by taking off his watch, turning off the automatic coffeemaker, and finding the cadence that is his alone. He notices when the sun rises and sets, when the moon swells to fullness, and when the leaves begin to turn. He acknowledges — indeed, welcomes — the changes in his body as he ages, and the changes in those around him. In […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, men, transformation • Tags: body mind & spirit, flow, folk artist Cher Shaffer, life, love, man, masculinity, men, transformation

making love to god: part eight

August 6, 2008 by rachel

This is the final excerpt of 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. 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. If you’ve been following the series, you may have noted that the format interweaves the mystical spiritual […]

Categories: inspiration, love, making love to god, spirituality, transformation • Tags: ascension, divine union, ecstatic union, God, inspiration, love, mystic, mysticism, relationships, spiritual relationship, spirituality, transformation

making love to god: part seven

August 5, 2008 by rachel

This is the seventh 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 with Part Eight. If you’ve been following the series, you may have noted that the format interweaves the mystical spiritual journey (The Awakening, The Invitation, The Dark Night, The Unfolding, Peace Everlasting) with the more earthly journey of spiritual relationship (identified […]

Categories: inspiration, love, making love to god, spirituality, transformation • Tags: ascension, divine union, ecstatic union, God, heaven on earth, love, mystic, mysticism, opening heart, spiritual relationship, spirituality, 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

making love to god: part five

August 3, 2008 by rachel

This is the fifth 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 • Tags: awakening, divine union, ecstatic union, God, love, mystic, mysticism, opening heart, spiritual relationship, spirituality, surrender, transformation

making love to god: part four

August 1, 2008 by rachel

This is the fourth 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: body mind & spirit, health/healing, inspiration, love, making love to god, personal growth, spirituality, transformation • Tags: body mind & spirit, divine union, love, mysticism, relationships, sacred union, spiritual relationship, spirituality, transformation

making love to god: part three

July 31, 2008 by rachel

This is the third 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: body mind & spirit, health/healing, inspiration, love, making love to god, personal growth, spirituality, transformation • Tags: consciousness, divine union, Leon Silver, love, mysticism, relationships, sacred marriage, spiritual relationship, spirituality

making love to god: part two

July 30, 2008 by rachel

This is the second 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 • Tags: "Unio Mystica", ascension, divine union, ecstatic union, God, love, mysticism, relationships, sacred union, spiritual relationship, spirituality, the beloved, transformation

making love to god: part one

July 29, 2008 by rachel

Among my various unpublished works is Making Love To God, a potent manuscript that weaves my highly personal experience of Divine Union with a look at contemporary spiritual relationships (including my own). The words carry a frequency that can unlock the hearts of those who are ready for such a path. In the interest of unfettered sharing and as a deepening of my own truth, I begin today to offer up the manuscript in a series of consecutive blog posts. […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, making love to god, personal growth, spirituality, transformation • Tags: ascension, divine union, Ecstasy of St. Teresa, love, memoir, mysticism, relationships, sacred union, spiritual relationship, 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

what there is to love about a man: tenderness

June 20, 2008 by rachel

When a man tends not to be tender, chances are he’s pretending. Does he think we don’t notice those quiet moments when he is gentle as a fawn? Does he imagine the nurses were too busy to hear him whisper so softly into his wife’s ear during her thirty-fifth hour of labor? Could he actually believe they all looked the other way when he held the young boy’s hands close in his own, and slowly told the news it was […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, men, personal growth • Tags: body mind & spirit, gentle, inspiration, love, masculine, masculinity, men, personal growth, tenderness

what there is to love about a man: fatherhood

June 15, 2008 by rachel

There’s a moment when a man becomes a full-fledged father, and it’s not when his child is born. It’s that first night the two of them are alone and he figures out that lying heart-to-heart with a baby is an all-around soother when everybody gets a little colicky. It’s being there the first day of kindergarten and the last year of college. It’s giving an unqualified No to all-night keg parties down by the graveyard and a tentative Yes to […]

Categories: inspiration, men, personal growth • Tags: father's day, fatherhood, fathers, inspiration, love, masculinity, men, parenting, prose poetry

what there is to love about a man: sorrows

May 22, 2008 by rachel

His father left for the war just after he was born, and never came back. His mother was an artist who never had the freedom to paint, and once she left home, there was nothing he could do to help her. He was young and scared and he didn’t stick around long enough to meet his first-born child. He betrayed the one he loved most, for the favors of one he never loved at all. He turned away from his […]

Categories: inspiration, men, poetry, transformation • Tags: body mind & spirit, empowerment, inspiration, life, love, masculinity, men, personal growth, prose poetry, sorrows

i love my blog so much there ought to be a law

May 21, 2008 by rachel

If there isn’t already a commemorative holiday called I LOVE MY BLOG DAY, someone should just proclaim it and get the ball rolling. (Oh wait, I think I just did!) Yeah, I know it would get more attention if I called it I HEART MY BLOG DAY, but OMGIJUSTCANT! Sorry. My blog and I have been together for not even two and a half months yet, but we are totally, you know, committed. We spend time together every day – […]

Categories: blogkeeping, eclectica, inspiration • Tags: blog, blog romance, blogerotica, blogging, creativity, humor, inspiration, joy of blogging, love, love my blog

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