21 Comments
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April Worthen's avatar

Thank you for speaking to what so many of us are feeling, and sharing these beautiful, healing words. It helps me to think of us all collectively and metaphorically continuing to craft our bird goddesses and sing to the earth. I need to hold that thread of connection while these intense feelings of fear, grief and rage move through me.

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Sylvia V. Linsteadt's avatar

That's so beautifully said April, thank you. Keeping hold of the thread has been hard, but it's a lifeline of hope. x

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Liliana Sousa's avatar

Thank you for this pocket you have created of Remembrance, Hope and Love.

We shall keep singing together 🤍🪻

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Sylvia V. Linsteadt's avatar

I'm so glad it feels that way for you Liliana. Sending love xoxo

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M i r a b e l's avatar

Oh how your latest newsletter filled my spirit like it always does, made me remember my deep love of lovers folk ballads singing donal og, such a beautiful Irish folk ballad on lost love, reminded me how much I adore lovers legends like Deirdre and the sorrows and Tristan and Isolde etc etc. Thank you for real nourishment, all of it.

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M i r a b e l's avatar

Deirdre of the sorrows I should say, I read that ill fated story whenever I’m in despair.

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Victoria Reddick's avatar

Thank you for this beauty💕

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Mark's avatar

Thank you, Sylvia. You speak for so very many of us.

This poem from the wise old bear, Gary Snyder-

For the Children

The rising hills, the slopes,

of statistics

lie before us.

the steep climb

of everything, going up,

up, as we all

go down.

In the next century

or the one beyond that,

they say,

are valleys, pastures,

we can meet there in peace

if we make it.

To climb these coming crests

one word to you, to

you and your children:

stay together

learn the flowers

go light

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Sylvia V. Linsteadt's avatar

Oh gosh, thank you for this Gary Snyder poem. I haven't read it in years, but he is one of my great favorites, and this poem-- my heart! It brought tears to my eyes. Thank goodness for that wise old bear. x

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Audrey Clark Singer's avatar

I needed to read this to understand deeper my heart right now. Yes please help us remember. I know it, you know it- thank you 🙏🏼🕊️🌹

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Amanda Verdery's avatar

Brilliant and stunning and a balm to my soul, as I try to find the cadence, the peace, the enchantment and medicine in my own voice, to not let the sound of me be any song but the song of fierce Love, this side of the pond. 🙏🏼

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Sylvia V. Linsteadt's avatar

Gosh yes what words! "to not let the sound of me be any song but the song of fierce Love" -- thank you xxx

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Sally Ann Bentham's avatar

🙏

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Waverly Davis's avatar

So many tears falling as I listen to you sing and read your powerful, potent words. Thank you always, dear Sylvia, for your presence and your willingness to share with us.

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Sylvia V. Linsteadt's avatar

Sending love Waverly, my tears to yours. xox

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Sophia Voyevod Elliott's avatar

Thank you dearest Sylvia for this healing balm of your words, your voice and your heart. I have been hollowed out; an empty bowl, a sieve of grief and tears that won’t stop pouring, accompanied by a deep rage that ignites and clutches at my feet, my throat, my belly. And such weariness, a heavy fatigue that clouds my ability to think clearly, to move into action, to be anything but a puddle of wrenching heartbreak and fear. So thank you for these embodied earthen prayer-offerings you pour out into those poisoned waters, sing out into the smoke-filled air, bringing healing to all it touches. Weaving us back into the root webs of the earth, bringing alive once more those old stories of strength, mending and love. I find this to be a cord that tethers me back into my body, rooting back into the great weave of life once more. Letting the heartbreak flow and rage move through in order for absolute love to encompass all. With hands in the soil, heart-prayers in the rivers and oceans, voices swirling up to the stars. Remembering the dances and the songs that have held us all, healed us, rocked us back into our human-animalness. I find courage and strength here. To tend to these dear soft bodies, to listen with our whole hearts, hold each other, pray, and move into action from a place of ancient Earth wisdom and pure Love.

And I’m holding on to this right now in the face of all the pain and devastation:

“Love is still mightier than that. Mightier beyond comprehension. Mighty as stars are mighty. Mighty as oceans. Mighty as seasons, and as the kind of human devotion that endures across lifetimes. You know it. I know it. Let’s fucking remember it, trust it even when it seems absolutely hopeless out there, and live it with all our hearts.”

Sending love to you xoxox

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Sylvia V. Linsteadt's avatar

Ah, thank you for these beautiful words Sophia, as always I love reading them. "With hands in the soil, heart-prayers in the rivers and oceans, voice swirling up to the stars. Remembering the dances and the songs that have held us all, healed us all, rocked us back into our human animalness." -- I love that last part especially. I'll be holding that image. Sending you so much love back xx

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Theodora's avatar

So beautifully expressed and healing. Thank you, Sylvia!

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Sylvia V. Linsteadt's avatar

I'm so glad it feels this way. Thank you :) xxxx

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Rayann  Gordon's avatar

Thank you. My tears are falling with yours.

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Sylvia V. Linsteadt's avatar

bless you Rayann, I'm sending so much love. Swan Women be with us xxxxx

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