When We Lose the Beauty Way
It’s been almost two years since the October 7th attack on the people at the music festival in Israel and the insane response meted out upon Palestinian heads.
Should I call it the Hamas attack? Or the retaliation by Hamas for Israel’s occupation of Palestine? When do we start calling it a genocide? And who get’s to call it that? Does it matter if we call it a genocide now, or was it a genocide in 1897, or 1948, or 2023?
And what about the other genocides all tangled up in this one? Like the one with the trains and the camps and the ovens? Or the genocide still happening today of the sacred Tatanka (American Bison) and all those who depend on them? Or what about the second genocide happening in Sudan? Is that related somehow?
Dr. Daniel Foor says that each person killed is a whole universe lost.
That has stuck with me and taken root as I’ve listened to these international debates over what makes a genocide. The truth is, it doesn’t matter what you call it. The wealth of humanity lost with even a single family, a single girl, buried in rubble is too immense for words.
I’ve found myself weeping much more often these days. Of course, I cry when I see the videos coming out of Gaza. I don’t need to describe them to you; you’ve seen them and you too have discovered they can’t be unseen.
It’s also worth noting that PTSD and trauma can happen in a brain that merely witnesses something terrible happen to someone; it doesn’t even necessarily have to happen to you. The folks who have yet to learn this - usually the ones perpetuating killing - will learn it soon enough as many a war veteran can attest.
SEPTEMBER SPECIAL: BEAUTY STANDARDS
The monthly special for September is “Beauty Standards.” Let’s clear up any and all painful stories about body shape, fashion choices, hair and makeup, class and race perceptions, and more. Not just for female-bodied folks! Beauty standards affect us all.
Book this special if you want a cleaner, more authentic, more loving relationship with your physical body and the beauty you actually want to carry (hint, hint; the beauty of Spirit Herself).
$50 for 30 minutes, no limit on uses
But interestingly I’ve found myself weeping more at the beautiful moments.
The golden hour of the setting sun shining through the late summer trees as I walk around Sloans Lake, the sound of crickets while I watch my cat hunt grasshoppers in the early morning, the coffee my husband brings me in butterful mugs made by our dear friend Leah.
I weep because of all the people who have been deprived of the healing power of beauty. Not just now, but in all places and all times.
I’m reminded, too, of the ancient Navajo prayer about the beauty way.
Belinda Eriacho describes it this way in her article for the Center for Shamanic Education and Exchange:
“In the Dine’ (Navajo) culture there is a phrase that is used, ‘Walking the Corn Pollen Path. As a Dine’ person, I carry with me a small buckskin bundle that contains corn pollen and some sacred stones. The corn pollen is used every morning as part of my prayer. A pinch of corn pollen is gathered between the right thumb and index finger.
The pollen is placed on the swirl at the top of my head and on my tongue. The remainder of the yellow pollen is sprinkled before me in the easterly direction. Creating the path of prayers that I want Creator to manifest. I end my prayer four times with, ‘Hózhó náhásdlíí’, meaning ‘it has become beauty again.’”
The beauty way prayer goes something like this:
In beauty, I walk
With beauty before me, I walk
With beauty behind me, I walk
With beauty above me, I walk
With beauty around me, I walk
It has become beauty again
But I heard another Navajo elder once say that people can sometimes get trapped in the killing way, or the pain way, and they can walk those paths for a long long time. People like this need help to get back to the path of the beauty way.
Friends, as a species we are walking the killing way and the wise ones know that we need help or it will eventually kill us all.
The only solution I have to offer is to remember that beauty is still just as real as anything else in this world. As my friend and longtime mentor Genie Hobbs says, “What if your beauty is the most true thing about you?” This isn’t just a nice thought. Beauty is powerful, it heals us, and when we insist on beauty we are honoring the deepest truth of this universe.
What’s happening in Gaza isn’t the only killing way in the world right now. I know each of you awakening beings is carrying pain of all kinds; including and especially personal pains. So today I offer you this blessing of beauty, to help you walk with the ancient ones in the healing beauty way.
No matter what path you are walking
No matter what you are surrounded with above, below, in front, and behind
May the beauty way rise to meet you
And shine out upon the world from within your own luminous heart
May your beauty be the most true thing about you today
May it be so
SING ANYWAY - FINDING COURAGE THROUGH SONG
Singing is maybe the best and most ancient way to bring more beauty into the world. You don’t have to be a “good” singer to be a powerful one. Join us for Sing Anyway: Finding Courage Through Song, a 2-hour singing workshop for anyone who feels the call to sing in dark times.
September 11th 6-8pm at First Unitarian Church of Denver
Cost: $25 general public, $12 Church Members
IN-PERSON READINGS + MAGDALENE TEACHING
September 19th-21st
I’ll be doing three days of in-person readings at the Body Mind Spirit Expo in Denver. Readings will be $30 for 20 minutes, a deal and steal to get your toxic boss out of your 6th chakra. Come by booth 24 to say hello and pick up a 10% discount code off your next reading.
Readings are September 19th-21st
Mary Magdalene Teaching is September 19th 8-9pm
Location - National Western Complex Expo Hall
Tickets are $12 and gives you weekend access to all speakers and vendors
Can’t wait to “see” you there! (Haha, psychic jokes 🧿🧿)
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Artwork? Top image is “Gracias!” by Navajo artist R.C. Gorman.. Second image is of Navajo teacher Belinda Eriacho.
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