Things I’ve Learned I wrote this in my newsletter to my students in 2023, and it’s all still relevant today! 1 Love is the answer to every question. 2 I can move past anxiety. 3 Reading brings me happiness. 4 The world will break my heart….sometimes daily. 5 Jigsaw puzzles calm my jangled nerves. 6 I need an audience to write for.

Image from Carolina Pimenta on Unsplash “In the midst of the cacophony of outrage and suffering in the world at this moment, I find myself turning to the rhythms of the earth as my guide and teacher, as I’ve done for decades.” Joanna Powell Colbert

This essay is in response to @Beth Kempton’s Soul Circle word “Wintery.” But it is also a tribute to my ancestors, and the realm of the Divine Feminine as she guides our hearts and minds to live in the present moment based on a deep acknowledgement of the past and those from whom we arose. Every holiday season as I was growing up, my mother prepared bouquets for our family headstones.

Each year I send free emails from December 1-24 to my friends, students, and family to bring a sense of joy and lightness to a season that can be challenging for some. Here's an email from last year to give you an idea. If you are interested, leave me your email and I'll put you on my list. Good Morning,

“When a woman whispers her fears to her ancestors, a thousand grandmothers answer her call.” Ubaka Hill Full post on

Image from Unsplash by Priscilla du Preez Substack 11/2/25 Connection Welcome Community of my Heart and thank you for coming here! If you like what you read, I would love it if you would click the ‘like’ button, and comment as well if you like. Liking a post affects the algorithm and raises its appearance in the Substack app. Check out “Notes” on my main page too.

“All spiritualities consistently describe the same state: a direct experience of reality unclouded by thought. Love, presence, God, enlightenment-same thing. This is what happens when the mind grows still. The end goal is to wake up to this moment, fully, and live from it.” Paraphrased from Damian Echols

What interests me about memories isn’t what the memory is about, but what it elicits when it arises in my mind. Watch this--- The scent of my grandmother’s linen closet…the labyrinthine halls of the second floor in her house where I played with my dolls, creating towns and homes for them around the corners….and then, how I recently had the chance to tour her home which the present owner had bought from my grandmother in 1967.

Welcome Community of my Heart and thank you for coming here! If you like what you read, I would love it if you would click the ‘like’ button, and comment as well if you like. Check out “Notes” on my main page too. This essay is in response to Beth Kempton’s Soul Circle topic this week-Encounter Last Friday afternoon I was sitting on the porch at my beach house watching the ocean.

image by autumn mott rodeheaver from unsplash Autumn nurtures my soul with its gradual release of the summer’s growth so that the plants’ lifeblood recedes into the earth to nurture next year’s life emerging.

“To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.” Chinese proverb This essay is in response to Beth Kempton’s Soul Circle topic this week-Home Home is here in this moment, and in every moment my ancestors have lived. Their laughter & tears are the structure of my life & an anchor for my family.

Art by Susan Seddon Boulet “What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.” Muriel Rukeyser “I dedicate my spirit to eradicating patriarchal holds on women’s sovereignty.” M. Chabinsky Sovereignty means complete independence, authority and power. In this patriarchal world women do not have sovereignty, and I contend that sovereignty will not be ours until there is a balance of masculine and feminine in every aspect of our lives.

“The sangha is an island of peace.” Thich Nhat Hanh “Everyone is in my sangha. I don’t know if that’s the proper definition, but that’s the way I’m going to hold it in my mind.” Jeff Bridges Welcome Community of my Heart and thank you for coming here! If you like what you read, I would love it if you would click the ‘like’ button, and comment as well if you like.

just a beautiful surprise for my birthday!

”Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” Einstein

“Stillness is the alter of the spirit.” Paramahansa Yogananda Welcome Community of my Heart and thank you for coming here! If you like what you read, I would love it if you would click the ‘like’ button. Check out “Notes” on my main page too. I am brave. As a rebellious spirit, I have chosen a simple life, and yet, I am continually called upon to renegotiate what I allow in and what I have decided to refuse or eliminate.

Stay “ Stay at the center of your circle and let all things take their course. “ Tao Te Ching

“The world is starved for stories of women on the spiritual path.” Sara Avant Stover Welcome Community of my Heart and thank you for coming here! If you like what you read, I would love it if you would click the ‘like’ button, and comment as well if you like. Check out “Notes” on my main page too. I was raised Unitarian, now known as Unitarian-Universalist, a religion in which one is free to believe and practice as one is motivated to.

Three gratitudes every morning- I am grateful for my garden. It gives me joy no matter the weather. I am grateful for a rainy day. Soft, gentle moisture for all the new plants. I am grateful for Her. She guides life on this planet.

“I call upon my mother, grandmother & my long line of strong women to guide & support me through difficulty, to have pride in me as I grow & expand my life, and most of all, to welcome me into the women’s club when I leave this life. They are my inspiration and the loving arms into which I gratefully rest my heart.”

The light is exquisite this morning….I can see for miles.

Hello, sun in my face. “Hello, sun in my face. Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.” Mary Oliver This Sweet Almond, surrounded by a scent so light and enchanting, the rest of the trees and plants in the yard cannot help but follow Her instructions to burst forth and perfume my world!

“To follow my Heart Fire-this energetic inner blaze, the love of life-at the center of my being.” Shiva ReaThanks for reading Renaissancemoon!