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A newsletter about love and loss and the role of forgiveness in transformative change. Dispatched on the primary phases of the moon.

January 21/New Moon

Employing Prairie Dog Medicine for the cold moons of the year.

Tina Laurel Lee

Jan 21, 2023

I am off on a retreat this weekend, as a prairie dog might, tunnel underground to quiet the mind and come back replenished with strength and inspiration. I scheduled this letter to post in advance, so I’m writing to you from the past. Which I guess is always the case, but today even more so.

Snowbeing when she was fresh and new on Jan 1, and Snowbeing today, a little worse for wear

I head into the wilderness of retreat with some trepidation. As usual. It’s not always fun to spend that kind of time with myself and yet I know from experience how heartening it can be. Even though I can expect to come out of retreat with energizing insights, they can’t be predicted before I go. But what is predictable is the fear of loneliness that precedes the leaving. It doesn’t last.

I also know from experience that there is a surprising amount of intimacy on retreat, despite the silence and being immersed in your own experience. There is a quiet, friendly, and supportive camaraderie with fellow retreatants. To me it feels easy and natural, but I only remember this once I’m there. That makes me laugh, as I’m writing this to remind myself before I go! Remembering is an important part of the process.

As this post begins another lunation, I’m here to remind you to take time this week to set yourself up for a fruitful one. How to do that?

Look at the weeks ahead and imagine when you will take time to reflect. Abraham Joshua Heschel tells us to make cathedrals in time. To me that means bringing both space and time together with attention to detail. As it has been said, God is in the details. Take time and set up your space with sensory cues. Temperature, smells, flavors, textures. Lotions and potions. Even when you don’t want to, make space by being interested in that resistance. Finally, perfection is the enemy of the good. Just do it good enough, often enough, get the details close enough and you’re on your way somewhere else. A kind generous attitude towards yourself offers the most space of all.

How do you create pleasure in the process and keep knowing the the change that is always happening? I’d love to know.

Set your intentions for now and we will bring forgiveness in again when the moon is full.

I am linking my Moon Meditation Series below, as I do each new moon until I recreate the series again. The dates for the Primary Phases have been updated and the recordings linked in the post below. New Moon today: 1/21, 1st Quarter 1/28, Full Moon 2/5, 3rd Quarter 2/13, and then the next New Moon comes around again on 2/20. The recordings are behind a paywall. You can become a paying subscriber for the month for $8. It will get you the month of meditations and support the things I do here at Songs of Forgiveness. Thank you for being here.

Much love, Tina

Songs of Forgiveness

Begin this practice with the New Moon

Begin the set of meditations gathered below with the next New Moon. That is when the moon is between the Earth and the Sun and no light is reflected back at us here on Earth. It has traditionally been a time when people set intentions, plant seeds, and use the cycle for manifesting the things we want more of in our lives. When the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth are lined up like this, we get our biggest tides because the solar and the lunar gravitational pulls are working together. And so, I offer, you can work with them too, when you take the time to pause with each phase and let the moon have its place alongside the Sun’s daily push and pull…

a year ago · 2 likes · Tina Laurel Lee