all hallow tide

The triduum of Allhallowtide - All Saints’ Eve (Halloween, Oct 31), All Saints’ Day (Nov 1), and All Souls’ Day (Nov 2) brings much to the fore. Death. Transformation. Letting go.

The state of bardo is magnified and multiplied. Stumbling in the mystical mists that are intermediate, transitional, liminal - suspended in a state between death and rebirth.

Dia de los Muertes - Day od the Dead

Autumn is the ideal season here in the east coast - lifting Spirit with its gorgeous and vibrant palette. Vivid reds, golden oranges, bright yellows, verdant greens. Chakra colors - root red, sacral orange, solar plexus yellow, heart green. Universal, centered - core colors within as all around.

hail the queen

The palace has just announced that Queen Elizabeth II has died. God save the queen! 

Eternal she is not even if for many they have known no other monarchy in her lifetime. Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned over the U.K. for 70 years, dies at 96. 

© Campress/AP

Her sovereignty began in February 1952 after the death of her father, King George VI and ended today at Balmoral Castle, her estate in the Scottish Highlands. 

Queen Elizabeth served as a constant and reassuring figure in Britain and on the world stage as she served to lead her family, monarchy, and country through a period of profound shifts in geopolitical power and national identity. 

The Queen holds the newborn King Charles III - with her parents

parody of life

wonder | wander | world is immersed in a deepening all-encompassing cycle of life and death. As our elders live bonus years in their 90s and 80s we celebrate our 66th and 43rd birthdays. Multi generations in life's second, third, and fourth acts. 

In a culture that dreads the inevitability of aging - treats it like a disease to be cured with potions and regimens, anesthetizes it with botox and silence - forgetting that growing old is a tremendous privilege not given to most. 

@wwwomen decades ago

Hardly questioning imposed external ageism obsessions with cosmetics and cosmetic surgery come by what scholar Kathleen Woodward calls “the youthful structure of the look” - a harsh gaze that turns the old into “The Other.” 

achy breaky

June has been a particularly difficult month in the wake of a bad stretch of these past three years. When our hearts are heavy and our souls are burdened, we turn to the gift of ecstatic poetry as the mystics teach us. 

Mystical defined as anything having to do with opening the heart to light. Ecstatic having to do with anything expressed from this place. 

wonder | wander | world offers this guiding prayer as we celebrate Juneteenth here in the US and the birth of a national hero, Jose Rizal, back home in the Philippines. 

Juneteenth Pride

May it lift us up and allow our spirit to soar. 

a tragic tale of injustice

wonder | wander | world wishes us all a joyous Easter Sunday! This time we have at least 28 substantial eggs in our Easter basket that we are very grateful for. Halleluiah! 

According to some scholars, such as Dr. Tony Nugent, teacher of Theology and Religious Studies at Seattle University, and Presbyterian minister, the Easter story comes from the Sumerian legend of Damuzi (Tammuz) and his wife Inanna (Ishtar), an epic myth called “The Descent of Inanna” found inscribed on cuneiform clay tablets dating back to 2100 BC. 

The Descent of Innana

When Tammuz dies, Ishtar is grief–stricken and follows him to the underworld. In the underworld, she enters through seven gates, and her worldly attire is removed. "Naked and bowed low" she is judged, killed, and then hung on display. In her absence, the earth loses its fertility, crops cease to grow and animals stop reproducing. Unless something is done, all life on earth will end.