Leading A Legendary Life

Leading A Legendary Life
Identity as Art and Living Within the Context of Legend
By Shiloh Sophia McCloud

What does it mean to live a legendary life?

Choosing to live a legendary life means giving ourselves permission to be amazing. 
We define what ‘amazing’ is for ourselves. It is not the “what” of living, but the “how.” Choosing to be legendary is more than an attitude and more than a way of being. When we choose to be legendary we have decided that we are defining the context in which our lives will be lived and experienced. Do you want vitality? Self expression? Do you want to feel like your life is on purpose? Do you want to live as an artist, with creativity as a central theme? There is a sparkling destiny waiting for you to say YES!

The incredible good news is that as soon as you choose - the legend begins to do its teaching.
We begin to put in context what has already occurred and what we are creating as a part of the whole design. We are the designer, and our life is the creation. The more we choose to create a life of meaningful relationships and projects, the more we call towards ourselves that which is in alignment with our legendary values. But even before we can define what is legendary for us we have to define our values - what is important to us. When we are clear on that - we then can proceed to invent a way of approaching life that creates it as consistent with our values.

To choose to live a legendary life means we are the opposite of the victim, while we are cognizant of our story so far, and we don’t need to get “rid” of it - we learn to use it to create our legend by putting it in context - we claim it and stop resisting it. The ragged story is disempowering us through the our keeping active the suffering of the past. All that we have been through can be used to create our living legend in the present. A life lived this way is a design process, not a reaction process. Therapy only goes so far, then it is time to take responsibility for how we respond to everything that comes from this moment on.

For example, a woman who can stay home and raise her children without having to “make a living” can consider herself living a legend of being a full time mama. Now days, this is a luxury. How she thinks about this privilege will define the benefit her and her child and her partner will receive. Another woman may be able to run a big company while raising children with the help of her family - it is up to her to create the context through which she is viewing her experience. Her gratitude and presence of mind and heart towards what is, will empower her to create more of what is possible. She feels like a legendary success because she can “have it all’ and make it work.

Another example may be regarding woman who is abused becoming an advocate for abused/disadvantages women. Her own story adding to her ability to tend the wounds of others - therefore, her story, which once oppressed her, can be transformed into a healing legend. On the other hand, a woman who is abused who cannot break the pattern and finds herself continuing to abuse self or others, has not been able to transform her story into a legend. She does not have the proper tools to make the transition. Having access to the proper tools is a privilege. Many people around the world do not even know that others of us have a choice. And even closer to home, many of us just struggle from self esteem which will prevent us from creating a context in which we can thrive, and express our calling. While we may uplift others who endured hardship for their overcoming spirit - we tell ourselves we do not have what it takes, therefore avoiding doing the work of being amazing, first to ourselves and then in the relationship with others. What is your legend about you? How are you holding yourself back from being your most wonderful self? What will it take for your heart to open towards you and others? When our love expands beyond our story, and we begin to create a life that is not limited by the past, but informed by it,
healing occurs. Victory is in the making. But how does it happen?

An awakened heart is the ground work for being able to transform our legendary life into a life
that serves others and becomes a blessing to the world. The true joy of life is found through being a blessing to others. When it is a part our legend to ease suffering, “others” will be not only a focus, but an inspiration to continue to maintain the power of creating ourselves as legendary. We do not become legendary out of a desire to be ‘great’ as in famous - but out of a desire to first be great, as in our own eyes.

Practicing self honor is an integral part of creating our legend - and in fact it is the substance of self honor that actually informs the legend itself. To practice self honor is to come from the place of love for oneself - which naturally becomes love for others if we continue to strive for the next chapter in our unfolding legend. We can all find ourselves being stuck, the day in and day out of survival is enough to put us into a stooper - we are aware that life can be stooper inducing we can make a commitment to “RESIST” mediocrity, whatever that is to us.

How, we might ask, are we to begin this journey of self invention and the creation of the legendary self? The woman in possession of herself and her identity. The woman who knows what she wants and stands for herself. A woman who does not allow herself to continue in ways of being that enforce self degradation. A woman who is actively and consciously pursuing her life purpose. A woman with a vision!

The first step is to make the decision to be legendary. Then begin a series of questions and explorations in your life, asking things like: What makes me feel proud? Happy? In what wasy do I want to express myself as an artist? When have I felt my best? Who are my sheroes/heroes? Who do I want to grow up to be? What have I always wanted to do? What would bring me bliss? What would I be wearing, where would I be going, as my legendary self. Our legendary self is a combination of what is, what is next, and an active imagination. The dictionary describes legend as myth, saga, epic, tale, story, folk tale, folk story, fairy tale, fable, mythos, folklore, lore, mythology, fantasy, oral history, folk tradition; urban myth. You don’t have to share it with others. It does not have to make sense. You just have to practice being legendary in the privacy of your own wild heart.

Want to know a secret? You will know it is your legend if it excites you. If the hair on your arms stands up. If you want to dance and you don’t know why. If you smile when you see yourself that way. Creativity is the substance through which your search will occur. Art is the medium that legend is born through. Whether it be a dance, a painting, a poem, a chicken soup, a quilt, a beaded necklace or shawl - bringing FORM to our thoughts creates a shift within us that grants access to the inner workings of the legendary self. Our identity lives inside of our creative soul. We cannot just think it. We have to do it. That is why practicing art will be the most powerful change agent that will inform your process. It does not matter if you are good. If you know how to do it. What matters is that you do it with intention. You approach the canvas, and you invite your legendary self to come forward. What are her colors? Her symbols? Her patterns? Her sounds, shapes, songs and stars. Does she wear a cosmic cloak? Red cowgirl boots? Does she look like shaman? Does she heal? Sing? Dance? Create miracles? What is her role in life. Ask her!

Through contemplative creativity begin searching your life, past, present and future for your legendary woman self. Invite her to tea. Invite her into your journal. Let her out of your closet. Go and buy her a pair of new shoes. Cater to her. Take her to the museum, to the park. Listen for her voice. Listen to your heart. Take notes. This is your official permission slip to begin!

Why not be legendary?

Did I mention how much more fun life is when you identify as a legend?

Self IMAGE - Where have we gone wrong?
We have, with the continual prodding of parents, authorities and media joined who we are with a self image perception and made the two, one, which are meant to be two.

see yourself as others see you


SELF

Create yourself based on what you love.
Use imagination to “invent” a story about your unfolding life.
Recognize that becoming who you are is a continuum not a destination.
Begin to recognize your affinity - what comes naturally to you, what you naturally come to .
Who you are is not something fixed, you are a combination of what is, and what is possible.

PURPOSE

Recognize that a life lived with purpose creates a life of meaning.
Choose a focus during all times that answers the question: What are you excited about?
Know that you do not have to stay with a focus forever, but you need to find one now.
You MUST have a focus in order for the next one to make itself available to you.
Choose to believe that you have a purpose, and that you ARE on purpose all the time.

CHOICE

Make a decision to measure all decisions within the context of your legend.
About all things, ask: Does it add or take away from my legendary self?
Say no to all that is not consistent with your legend.
Choose to NEVER not be working on your focus.

LOVE

Once you have a transformation or healing regarding an old story - choose to remember
that you have already dealt with it.

Make a commitment not to let your old stories/patterns take up more than 20% of your thoughts.


Move towards that which makes you uncomfortable.

Choose design instead of reaction. Be prepared.

LIFEWORK
BOUNTIFUL
CREATIVITY
SPIRIT
OTHERS

Invite others to join you in creating a legendary life.

Create yourself in words and images for others.

Care how you are perceived by others.

Make giving and receiving an integral part of your daily practice.

Be interested in others. Truly.

ORIGIN Middle English (sense 4) : from Old French legende, from medieval Latin legenda ‘things to be read,’ from Latin legere ‘read.’ Sense 1 dates from the early 17th cent.



Thesaurus

legend
noun
1 Arthurian legends myth, saga, epic, tale, story, folk tale, folk story, fairy tale, fable, mythos, folklore, lore, mythology, fantasy, oral history, folk tradition; urban myth.
2 film legends celebrity, star, superstar, icon, phenomenon, luminary, leading light, giant; informal celeb, megastar.

Passionate Soul

Passionate Soul
Shiloh Sophia McCloud


Once she found her dream
she followed it with all the
passion in her soul.
She spent considerable time
searching
calling
digging
sourcing
and
praying
for her dream to come.

She knew she had one
there just seemed to be
so much space
between it and her.
Sometimes she felt it nearby
like a cloudy whisp brushing her cheek.
Oh, there you are! she would exclaim
And it was so familiar that she wondered
how she could have ever lost it.
But dreams are not ever lost,
she thought,
just
missing
forgotten
suppressed
disregarded
feared
hidden

And finally she found her dream.
Or her dream found her
as the case sometimes is.
And it was more than a whisp.
It felt like a river that flowed through her.
Full of life.
And it had been there all along.
Like a garden that grows within
ripe with fruit, flowers and birds.
Finding a dream is a light that shines brilliantly
and never dims again.

When her dream came to stay
she immediately felt joy.
Jubilation
Ecstasy
Bliss
Wonder
Possibility
Then...compassion.
For all those
who cannot find
or follow their own dreams.
Then she said,
This is my moment!
I will focus on my own dream first.
Then others.
(Like on the airplane, she thought
secure your own life vest first.)

Then she felt relieved.
Victorious
Grateful
Blessed
Encouraged
Transformed
Committed

She began to take immediate action
on her dreams behalf.
For she knew
that it was in the fulfillment of dreams
that the true miracles emerged.

She is a passionate soul.
One of the ones who loves life.
One of the ones who will not give up.
One of the ones will stand for others,
Not To Give Up
on their dreams, hopes, desires.

And the greatest thing
about her dream come true
-that she could possibly imagine-
was that her dream
was to call others to their dreams.
To remind
Inspire
Encourage
Invite
Witness
Educate
Empower
Love

So she decided
that to be unreasonable
about things like
love and dreams and visions.
And she started about her work
as the priestess of dreams.

It is not uncommon to find her these days
sitting in the garden
in a circle of women and children
and fathers and grandparents
asking them about thier visions,
and sharing ideas
about how to make them come true.

She is a passionate soul.
And passion must be expressed.
Soul must be shared.
And dreams must be lived.
"Live Your Dream Out Loud!"
She calls to us from her garden,
Can You Hear The Voice of Your Dream?

Shiloh Sophia McCloud
2008


Greetings to you! Well it is almost midnight - which is the time I usually start these newsletters. They may as well be called loveletters. I like the peace and quiet of this hour - the fire crackling, the wind blowing, the kitty snoring softly. I am leaning up against my red velvet coach and a soft light is around me. And a big glass of water. And a heart full of the sharing spirit.

Last time I wrote it was about Grandma Eden. Well she passed into Paradise on May 2. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and warm wishes. I leave tomorrow with my brother and sister (very early) for Seattle for the Celebration Service this weekend. I will take part in the ceremony. And I have ordered a three layer lemon cake with raspberries and fresh flowers.

Hospice spoke of parting gifts. For some time, we wondered just what that would be. There were several, but one in particular I would like to share with you. Grandma showed us how long you could go without food and be strong. To the end, she could hug us hard, squeeze our hand and look us right in the eye. So my Mama and step-Papa and I set about doing a fast and cleanse journey. There was a health issue that needed to be resolved, and so the other two of us said we would get on board the green drink highway to health. It has been 27 days now and we are all still cleansing. I am so inspired that I am planning a five day workshop with painting, walking and green drinks at my studio in Mendocino. I will keep you posted! Grandma gave us the courage, a family member in need gave us the cause, and the desire for wellness continues to encourage us to move forward. By they way - the health issue - which was quite serious - is resolved. It is so amazing how life offers inspiration in the most unusual ways.

I am going to have a tiny piece of Grandma's cake though! I am sure I have told you about cake communion! For those of you who want to read her obituary - my mom wrote it and it describes her legend so well. http://www.cosmiccowgirlsink.com

When I got home from Port Townsend I painted this painting, Passionate Soul in my Awakened Heart Workshop - and it represents the group soul. You might remember the Bountiful One, that was the one from the last workshop. These paintings are so wonderful for me because they are the demonstration painting that I use to show students what to do next - what is possible!The painting always ends up looking like the energy of the group and it is a testimony to the beauty of working together. And so I dedicate this painting to Jill, Cyndee, Heidi, Marcia, Sue and Carolin. Thank you for the sweetness of your passionate souls!

Each painting represents a transformation in me, as well as my prayers for the world. So when this painting came and was all about the dream - I have allowed it to teach me. I have allowed myself to consider my dreams with a fresh perspective. Especially in the light of the suffering, the hardships from earthquakes to tornadoes to polar bears - our world is feeling the effect of our neglect. Our lack of insight into what was/is needed to sustain a healthy balance. I wonder, how do we go on? When so many are suffering (this is clearly a recurring theme for me) and we have so much? I do what I can do. I share what I can share. I go out of my comfort zone all the time to do work that I love, and that is needed. I believe we can find a balance between the needs of the world, or others, and our own needs.

When I was in seminary in Boulder, CO, I made a parallel between the o-zone and our own energy zone. I remember thinking how hair spray and toxins damage the o-zone - and that damage done by toxins/trauma to our bodies/souls, creates a tear in our own personal energetic o-zone layer. The class was called Subtle Body Anatomy. I was 25 then, I wish I could read that paper now! And the reason I mention this - is because I feel that we can do work to repair those tears. It would be better if we can prevent them all together - but for now - I consider myself a mender of the tears. (I just looked in the dictionary twice to make sure that 'tear' - as crying and tear and is rip - is spelled the same. It is.) And the way I go about that mending - is through unreasonable love, and creativity.

I have seen with my own eyes, a woman wounded by years of personal trauma, be transformed through creativity. I have seen and felt, girls gain instant renewed confidence when using creativity as tool for self discovery. Does this mean "art" will heal everything and now it will all be good? Certainly not.
However, it does provide a CONTEXT in which to live our lives.
For example, my last paintings were a part of my grieving process for my grandmother. And since her passing my mother has been working on Grandma's scrapbook album. Made with hand-written poetry, photographs, William Morris print paper,
greeting cards, birth and death certificates, photos of my great grandmother on a horse. That is one of the things she did with her grief. Tearing and tearing all the way through her work.
My sister is writing about it. We create through our pain.

Granted, this does no address the kind of pain that comes from other kinds of trauma, like what is happening all over the world right now. I made CNN my home page and so I am constantly in touch with, one version of news anyway, what is going on. My work is continually informed by the suffering, and the victories of others - folks I do not even know - who live in my heart with me and those I do know.

There are different forms of activism. And I think that those on the front lines of suffering, and those suffering, benefit in some metaphysical way from those us who dance for healing - who paint for transformation - who make chicken soup for family members - who garden to bring healing to the earthy - who do yoga bring world peace. Does it sound -oh-so-california? Well, I don't care - because I believe in the power of prayer. I believe in the power of the artists and the visionaries keeping the fiber of beauty and possibility flowing through the tears.

In the great shawl of humanity, the wharf is the art and poetry and the woof is the suffering and despair - and together - we make the world. And together we shall heal it. I don't know what that looks like. I think we have some idea. But I imagine a world where there is enough to eat for everyone. And war is no longer an option. And loving kindness is the highest ethic. And art is in every school, every day.

I send you strength for your days
I send you rest for you nights
I send you abundance for your lives
and I send you courage for your dreams.

Reverend Shiloh Sophia McCloud


The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...


And he, Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,


The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he closed the book, and he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.

Luke 4:16-22

p.s. I am now in Port Townsend - it is time to meet my family for church, it is Sabbath and my mother and step-papa are teaching. I will read the scriptures. Then we will hang Grandma's art show. Forgive the raw un-edited version of this newsletter - but I am off to Celebrate Grandma! The sun is coming up on the Puget Sound and the scent of flowers float in the air. And yes, the birds are singing. And the mermaids are singing too - each to each, and I do think they will sing to me, T.S. Eliot, and to you too.

What IS A Cosmic Cowgirl? A Cosmic Cowboy?

A note regarding what a Cosmic Cowgirl is...
A Cosmic Cowgirl is a woman who moves between the worlds — She is connected to things divine and etheric (cosmic) and to the earth, the grass roots. She likes to work in the earth with her hands, and she loves to get dressed up and sparkle her magic. She can manage her own ranch and she rides her horse in the "rodeo of the soul." She holds within her the desire to be both Holy Woman and Wild Woman, and have them be not polarized, but integrated. She does not toss away the challenges and suffering of the world as "negative" but uses them for compost from which to grow beauty. She is both fierce and compassionate.

Images of cowgirls conjure a woman sitting tall, and inspire fun things like cowgirl boots and hats, music on the back porch with our family and human friends and our animal friends — fun creatures that we can playfully bond with. In researching women and horses, we have come up with amazing stories from all over the world, like cowgirls were among some of America's earliest professional athletes. Tracking the evolution of the horse shows that they have inhabited most of this planet in one form or another at one time or another. We like to imagine that girls and women have always played and worked with them.

At our Cosmic Cowgirls Conference we wore hats and boots and vests along with our lace and pearls, and roses and rhinestones. We celebrated our legends. We are reclaiming the land, the range, and the territory for ourselves. Think of women who are in control of their lives and loving it. Women who dare. Women who love hard. Work Hard. Play Hard. Women, like us, who take what belongs to us and use it for good.

A Cosmic Cowgirl must decide for herself what this represents for her. It is up to each of us to create our own legends. We are the hero of our own story. We are the ones riding off into the sunset. Let's celebrate! Yahoo!

Heart of the VISIONARY Wonder Women!

I am TOTALLY amazed and blessed by the weekend I just shared with about thirty women! It was our first launch of Heart of the Visionary Workshop since the e-book came out on December 12! A total success! The women were so inspiring, so full of fire and power and possibility - and yes PAINT! I was blown away by the paintings the women came up with - each one so unique to them. To see each woman proud and glowing about her work - and sparked about her own creativity - well, it warmed my soul! I think all of us were amazed! And then on the second day - women powered down and powered up on their visions for their life work - many reported break throughs - break downs and break on through to the other sides...

This is the kind of shared wisdom space where women are empowered to DO the work they are in the world to do! I was BLESSED (with all capitals) to be in the presence of these gifted beings. And I have not stopped asking myself - what do we do next? Do we have phase two? What about the train the trainer next spring? Where do we go from here to hold each other accountable? I am so excited about the next one in April, because I was so inspired by last weekend!

Thank you - all of you - for being a part of this dream come true!

How The Love Multiplied

How The Love Multiplies

When She Opened Her Arms To Love
So Much Abundant Love Poured In
That She Could Not Hold It All
So She Had To Give A Lot Of It Away
It wasn’t something she could store
for later use or in case she ran out
It was like fresh mango
That had to be eaten now and shared
because it was too good to eat alone
No One Could Explain The Magic They Felt
When they were in her presence
But somehow, they felt more beautiful
more interesting, and actually
more interested in everything around them
They Had To Open Their Hearts To Let It In
and when they did
they too had to share it.
This is how the love multiplies.
Shiloh 2004 - 2006

The Awakened Heart - Excerpt from the Heart of the Visionary Workbook

Waking Up to the World Soul - Part 1 - Divine Fruits

An Awakened Heart happens when a person is awakened through compassion to an awareness of the collective beauty and suffering of the world soul. The people that compose that world soul, which is all of us, then become a part of the visionary landscape of our individual experience, therefore informing how our love manifests in the world. We are now called to a way of being that includes the lives of not just our immediate circle, but the greater circle that surrounds the whole world. This experience, contains within it the absolute bliss of connectivity, and the crushing pain of our separation from one another and from the Divine. To remain awakened to it - and receive the gifts that come from this kind of profound caring, one must act on behalf of other lives, somehow working to relieve even a small part of the suffering. The reason is not so that someone will be a good and holy person. Rather, to know what is happening in the heart of the world, and not act upon it, can cause an even greater sleep than before. The weight of the knowing causes many to become inspired to their greater life purpose! And it can also be thoroughly depressing and cause one to feel hopeless. And more likely, some combination of both, which is quite appropriate based on the circumstances. The reason is that when such important information is revealed to us, not living into that material, is not an option. When you know, you know. If we choose not to respond, we may become resentful about what appears to be the meaninglessness of our life. The blessings that accompany designing a life that brings healing to the heart of the world are immeasurable in areas of insight, access to information, personal relationships, community action, creative expression and connection to the divine fruits of life. And when one can dedicate their efforts to their life purpose - instead of spending their precious time tending the hazards that have hurt us in the first place, then greater strides towards wholeness can be made.

When one can also learn to harness the power and flow of abundance in order to ensure that they can do their work, focusing on thriving instead of just surviving, then it is truly something to celebrate! In the past, and now there have been created beliefs that indicate that ministers of heart work should give their works away for free. While that may be the call of some servants of good, it is certainly not the call of all who are doing the work of Spirit on this earth. The nature of reaping and sowing ensures that the sewer must collect the harvest in order to continue to sow the next season. Some saints may have escaped this process - but generally speaking, most of the folks we know have immediate cares that cannot be neglected in order to pursue a holy vision, and cease to worry about creating actual income. There has also been an insidious collective misunderstanding about our value as visionaries, artists-musicians-poets-healers, agents of change and servants of the Holy One. While the work is considered important, it is still marginalized by the status quo and it is constantly in question regarding how these kinds of positions are to be compensated, if at all.

May we all be awakened to the beauty, power and abundance that comes from answering our life calling! Blessed Be!

The Moon is Her Beauty Mark - A Writing By Shiloh

“The Moon is Her Beauty Mark “ A call to remember our Mother
By Reverend Shiloh Sophia McCloud

Have you seen our Mother? When she sees all her little children running to her she opens her gigantic arms and gathers us up like chicks. Back in her arms again, worlds appear, disappear, and reappear upon the rise and fall of her breasts. Her honey milk flows and flows and we are nourished. It tastes so sweet.

Trees spontaneously spring from her, for she is a tree of life to all those who embrace her. And those who embrace her are blessed indeed. Guardian oaks grow from her shoulders—pillars of strength for her children. Her breasts are orchards full of fruit for every single one of her little ones. Golden apples tumble from her armpits. Delicious fruits fall into our little pink mouths. The rust-red madrone of her calves is as smooth as silk for sliding down from volcano peaks through green and gold hillsides. She laughs brilliant, red, succulent pomegranates and you can see her bright teeth are flowering dogwood. Her womb, our warm red bed.

Can you hear our Mother singing? Birds are born upon her song. Redwing black birds, and opal-white doves, and red breasted robins, and purple-sapphire ravens fly right out of her songs! My favorite song is the redwing black bird symphony - all black with flashes of red winging a community of sound. I think seagulls are Mama’s favorite. Children in the midst of cities love their sound—it lets them smell the sea even while playing on a blacktop playground. Mama likes the vultures too—taught them their own sacred song of silence because they are ones willing to be death’s gardeners and fertilize garden earth. Mama much honors those who are willing to clean up after death. There is no where Mama is not.

Do you smell the scent of our Mother? That intoxicating scent of cinnamon and gardenia flying from her skirts as she moves upon her sandy shores, leaving footprints of frankincense and myrrh. Aloes spring up in the wake of her footsteps. When it is dark we can still find our way by smelling her trail. Smell the cedar? Smell the pine? Smell the redwood musk? Smell the sea? We are getting closer every second. There! See how her cypress hair blows to one side? And pink rose petals flutter from her ears lobes like shimmering pearl earrings.

Do you feel our Mother? She feels so comforting. Let us practice the wonder of living life in tune with the seasons and moons of our Mother’s body. Let us knit dresses of her cherry blossoms and dance again the dance of the unbroken circle. Let us rejoice, and sing again in circle the songs of liberation and freedom! You remember don’t you? How we sang the soil, the seed, the rain, the sun, the harvest? Remember how dragonflies circled our mother’s head in a multi-winged halo? The butterflies made crowns for our heads also, happy to rest there even while we played hide and seek between the worlds. Then we swam in rivers thick with salmon swimming against our thighs. Feeling so good is being a part of our Mother’s world. There is never a time when she is not with us, only seasons when we ourselves are either aware of her or not. But she is always there.
Let us celebrate our Mother’s body! And her skin that is every color she ever made. Amazing! Isn’t she? The rainbows and stardust of her skin make me want to cry. Like when her skin shines sky-blue, then new-leaf-green, then sun-yellow, all in the same day? My favorite days are the deep umber brown when her skin glows from the inside out. Most of the time she is as black as black can be. I heard we all used to be as black as she. Her ebony skin is the galaxy, the milky way scattered across the velvet blackness of her back; along her spine, infinite constellations, infinite pathways of wisdom; the moon is her beauty-mark.

Remember that time when we thought we were lost, but she gathered up our tribes in her ochre-red body and carried us safely across the abyss? Then came her days of glowing cobalt blue and poppy orange—those days of healing old wounds with her balm of new life. Her flaming heart transformed our fears. Then we praised her and touched her cheeks and hands, and rubbed the souls of all her feet with olive oil.

She has other kinds of days too - when we cannot recognize the colors at all - times when she is righting things that are wronged. We know our Mother is made up of love, and we also know she is fierce beyond all imagining. The sea is her medicine bag. Her fault lines her drawing board. Her skies are her tool box. She is the designer of everything. There is much suffering, and she is teaching us how to endure - how to create and sing our way through it. When we act without her guidance, we behave like motherless children. Remember when she got so mad, and told us how we misunderstood and misused her son’s medicine? How we take goodness and find ways to use it for harm? But that is a story for another day. (sigh)

Haven’t you felt her presence in the stars of your own bones? She lives in the marrow of the bone, as well as the granite of the stone. You can find her in the nectar of the hummingbird’s beak and in the pollen fuzz on the honey bees’ tiny feet, in the mist over the lake, in the purple of your favorite summer dress, and in the scale of the mermaid. She is in the spiral curl of the fern, the flower in the cracked city sidewalk.
She is the wind in our hair when we ride the wild horses of our dreams. She is Our Lady of Everything.

We find her image in honor of her everywhere. Those of us who know her, cannot help but make words and art as greetings cards for her. From her cosmic dressing room she emerges, in the colors and shapes and signs of her peoples and lands. Sometimes she has many arms and legs, sometimes she slays the demons, sometimes she beats the drum, sometimes she descends, sometimes she flies, always, she births. Always she loves. Always she forgives. She is the mother of all and of everywhere. She is the Mother of God. She is the Mother of us. Through her, all comes into being and in time we are taken back into her body. We may dream of what she does with us from there, but who really knows? We could say she is one, we could say she is many, we could call her by a hundred million names, or we could just cry out MAMA! She answers to all of her names.

When we surrender and let her love into our heart, it often comes in as a wave washing us awake! We can feel our hearts glow with golden sunbeams as our prayers take on form. Our wishes taste sweet in our mouths. She who knows everything there is to know gives us good ideas for our work. Her work. To work in her service is good, the very best. She makes us love folks we don’t even know. She creates in us an unreasonable desire to end all suffering. She teaches us how to set our boundaries by showing us how to honor hers. When she reaches out for us, we choose dancing instead of sleeping. We must acknowledge that it is, was, and ever shall be the milk from the breast of the divine that feeds our souls. And we cannot cease from telling the others about her ways.

Come with me, let us go together now to our Mother’s kitchen, her other children are gathering too— she wants to tell us something very important. Let us go! When we get to her casa, she will show us what we need to know for this time, this place. Like how to weave peace shawls out of our chaotic ideas. With her in our lives, we create medicine art. We sing creation songs, dance, paint, pot, bake, play, make love, write, pray and plant orchards. Her fruits become our fruits. Her Wisdom informs our hands and opens our hearts. Through Mother Wisdom’s pathways, we will transform. We are healing. Everything we need to do, is possible. Faith is our practice. There is hope!

Smell the smoke from her fire? We are here! Look, there, over the hill! There she is now, seated at her front door, shucking corn for supper. Tapping her brown toes to the blues. Isn’t she magnificent?

Reverend Shiloh Sophia McCloud
1-888-385-6866 shiloh@mcn.org
www.colorofwoman.com