#healing from woundedness

[alibabe48]

When love beckons to you, follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.

Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

what we choose to attend to — our fear or our faith, our woundedness or our devotion to healing — determines the quality of our love. How we navigate our oscillation between these inescapable polarities is governed by the degree of courage, openness, and vulnerability with which we are willing to show up for and to our own hearts. “The alternations between love and its denial,” philosopher Martha Nussbaum observed in contemplating the difficulty of knowing ourselves, “constitute the most essential and ubiquitous structural feature of the human heart.”

That is what the great Lebanese-American poet, painter, and philosopher Kahlil Gibran(January 6, 1883–April 10, 1931) explores in one of the most stirring passages from The Prophet

And when the time is right, you will know ❤️…🕉️

[a-h-mad-hish]

“The beauty that emerges from woundedness is a beauty infused with feeling; a beauty different from the beauty of landscape and the cold perfect form. This is a beauty that has suffered its way through the ache of desolation until the words or music emerged to equal the hunger and desperation at its heart. It must also be said that not all woundedness succeeds in finding its way through to beauty of form. Most woundedness remains hidden, lost inside forgotten silence. Indeed, in every life there is some wound that continues to weep secretly, even after years of attempted healing. Where woundedness can be refined into beauty a wonderful transfiguration takes place.”

[primordialsoundmeditation]

The only reason to do anything is to create a more beautiful world. We were born to create the good, the true and the sacred: that’s is our soul’s mission, and when we’re not performing it we grow uncomfortable. Most people don’t know the origin of their soul’s discomfort only because the modern world is constantly tempting us to forget the mission.

Our greatest power in any situation is to remember who we are and why we came here. Without that, we’re stumbling in the dark of randomness and meaninglessness with no light to guide us. That applies not only to an individual but to a collective as well. A nation as well as an individual represents a ray of light from a great philosophical sun. A nation’s ray refers to the larger mission of that country, the greater vision that guides it. “Where there is no vision the people perish. “

If the purpose of our lives is to expand the meaning and purpose not only of our individual existence but also that of our nation, people, religion, and species, then we need to rise to meet the challenges of that purpose. Enough with the woundedness, the perverse comfort zone of personal limitation, the pathologizing of every little thing, the victimization, the obsession with trauma - all of which can begin with genuine desire for understanding but then spin out of control with a personal attachment to dark drama. Anything that involves only our individual self at a certain point becomes a darkened glass through which we cannot see.

One of the ways we heal ourselves is by showing up in whatever way we can to help heal others. We can live our lives in service to a larger goal than just our own. We can participate in a great creative drama involved in asking not only “How do I heal and where do I go next?” but also “How do we heal and where do we go next?” We are incomplete in any moment that we stay confined to consideration only of the individual self. The meaning of this moment is expansion beyond that. That’s when we find comfort. And that’s when we’ll find peace.

(@AHummingbirds)

Marianne Williamson

[bitesize-astrology]

Feel Ready

Wednesday - January 17, 2024

Mother Life gives you time to heal from your wounds. Often times she likes to remind you that wound is healed, even as you look at the still present scar. She does this to remind you to focus on your readiness, not on any woundedness. Being "ready" is the end result of being "healed."

Today the Moon conjuncts the North Node @ 19° Aries; the only time this conjunction is occurring at 19° Aries. And this particular degree underwent a LOT of healing during 2023 as Chiron sat there for 97-days, healing that wound to a level that allows function and mobility, regardless if that wound was emotional, mental, physical or spiritual.

As the Moon kisses this 19° point, it's much like Mama kissing your wound, letting you know you're okay and good to go. And when Mama kisses it and says "now it's all better," who's going to argue with Mama!

Feel ready for the continuation of your journey today ... because you are. Feel ready for new opportunities ... because you are. Feel ready to fly ... because if you look down, you will see that you ALREADY ARE!

[ms-m-astrologer]

2023 Cancer New Moon

Monday, July 17, 18:32 UT, 24°56’ Cancer Chart erected for Washington, DC

The key phrase for the New Moon phase is “set a new intention for the month.” Doesn’t have to be some drastic overhaul of your entire existence - I like to think of them as opportunities to build one new, healthy habit, which can be established in a few weeks’ time with ease.

This chart shows the New Moon sextile Uranus/Taurus, trine Neptune Rx/Pisces, opposite Pluto Rx/Capricorn, square Eris/Aries, and square the Nodes, newly across Aries/Libra. There is also a sextile to asteroid Lilith/Virgo; the whole setup gives us 5/6 of a chart pattern called a “Grand Sextile.” But there’s also a Cardinal grand cross with all those late Cardinal placements: Pluto Rx in Capricorn, Eris and the North Node in Aries, the Sun and Moon in Cancer, and the South Node in Libra.

It has been a very long time since we’ve had a New Moon with such close major aspects to Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and the Nodes - a quick skim through an ephemeris shows that we’ve had nothing like it in over 20 years.

And how weird to see zero involvement from the seven traditional planets and the Lady Asteroids. Chiron is somewhat involved, as is Nessus, affecting parts of those planetary alignments, but not either whole thing.

All kinds of stuff happening out there in the Wider World: Hollywood strikes, horrendous weather, climate catastrophe, the list goes on and on. And we “common rabble” are beginning to catch on, as the capitalist consumer corporate patriarchs are getting more and more open about their plans. (AI instead of pesky common rabble, basically, regardless of what the job is - the better to keep the fleet of luxury yachts operating.)

All of it affects us in our individual private lives. How do we cope with it all? Where do we find a safe, protected place? Those are the primal Cancer concerns. It’s like one big nesting instinct.

This is a great time to get in touch with your feelings. Your gut - Cancer rules the stomach (as well as the bosoms and the womb). Ideally we want gut, head, and heart to work together. We can use this New Moon for the gut, the Leo New Moon for the heart, and the Virgo New Moon for the head.

The house in your birth chart that holds 24°56’ Cancer shows where to look. In the 4th House it might mean your actual physical home, &/or the members of your family (bio or found); in the 9th House, cross-cultural experiences or “higher thought” (philosophy, religion) can be the path.

A few more comments on the non-planetary players:

Lilith/Virgo reminds us to stand up for our intrinsic worth as human individuals. All over the Christian Bible, in the Testaments Old and New, we read that “the worker is worth the wage” - about time to fling that back in their faces.

Chiron/Aries reminds us that we have the right to be alive at all. Woundedness here can be healed.

Nessus/Pisces reminds us that “the buck stops here” is always a possibility. We can give it all to The Cosmos.

Eris/Aries reminds us to fight like hell.

[butchjess]

You know what's funny? I think Jess was the only one of Rory's exes that she ever actively Hated. I mean, obviously it didn't last forever, but there was a RAGE there for a while that Rory usually didn't let herself feel. And, yeah, that could also be because he was the one who torched their relationship and left her, whereas I think Rory always kind of blamed HERSELF for the failure of her relationships with Dean and Logan... I suppose you could make an argument that he deserved it more... But I guess my point was that they say that the opposite of Love isn't Hate, but Apathy- and Rory has never been able to be Apathetic about Jess, not once. You get the real sense in Season 4 that her feelings for him (still!) are this gaping, hemorrhaging wound that's never been healed or cared for properly, and has only grown more angry and infected. I just think that the depths of her bitterness are a strong indicator of how strong her feelings for him really were. The wretched woundedness in her eyes when he first approaches her at the Firelight Festival! 😫

now this one……… this right here. its not okay. idc what anyone says i will forever love their s4 arc and how messy and painful and wretched and neverending it is for the both of them like oh my god they are never going to escape each other.. everything you said is so so interesting bc YEAH. love just does this sometimes. like is there really any bigger love confession from rory than her admitting she has been obsessing over what jess would say to her if he ever came back that shes been pushing everything down and it keeps coming back up is there any bigger love confession than admitting this one person can hurt you like nobody else can leave you wounded like nobody else can. im like wailing in despair she did look like a wounded animal her big hurt eyes…. even before then. every time she ran into him just. SEEING HIM LOOKING AT HIM its like she can’t breathe when she does it she looks at him in such a strange hurt way. another thing is that i really don’t think rory believed jess when he said i love you. rory’s a very logistical person (with the emotional intelligence of a bag of rocks) she always has been and she’s always defined love in a very specific way, always understood it in a very specific way. and i don’t think she could even understand the breadth of what she felt for jess much less what he felt for her. what she says about dean after they sleep together is so. illuminating it makes me insane. aren’t you glad it happened with someone who really loves me? I CANT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT ITS TOO MUCH. EVERYTHING SHE DID WAS ABOUT HIM… all she can understand is that whatever jess has left her with is PAINFUL and that can’t be love it can’t be love when he turns and runs away from her and when he gets in his car and drives away from her and when he shows up out of nowhere and asks her to come with him. I CAN’T HELP IT, I’M IN LOVE WITH HIM. LOVE, HUH? jesus christ.

[thedrarrylibrarian]

I've been so excited about this month's Happy Hour guest because I enjoy her writing so very much. I first fell in love with @drarrily-we-row-along's writing during her 100 Drarry Drabbles in 100 Days. Short fics are sometimes hard to set a scene for, or hard to give good plot for, but I remember racing through each of her drabbles, feeling like I never wanted them to end because each bite sized piece of writing was so good! Most recently, I've been enjoying her contributions for @hdcandyheartsfest. It feels like every day in February I get to read something new and wonderful from @drarrily-we-row-along and I love it!

One of the things that I've learned about writers is that they are often readers, so it's always one of my greatest joys to get to peek into what one of my favorite fic writers is reading herself. Here's our wonderful February Happy Hour guest rec from @drarrily-we-row-along!

Hello friends! I was super excited, and very honored, to be asked to be the guest for Happy Hour in February. I love this blog and have read *so many* incredible fics that have been recced here! I’ve actually been reading quite a bit lately (so many beautiful fics that have brought me a great deal of joy) so it was really tricky to pick just one!

I ended up deciding on Fire Meet Gasoline by @lettersbyelise.

Fire Meet Gasoline by @lettersbyelise (62,600 words, rated E)

When Draco’s anger management issues land him in St Mungo’s, he thinks his Quidditch career is over. But Harry, A&E Healer and notorious workaholic, is faced with a similar predicament. To save their jobs, the two of them decide to fake a relationship. All they have to do is convince their friends and employers… and not fall in love in the process. Simple, right?

This fic.

It hit me right in the solar plexus. I read this fic back in the middle of January (read: devoured this fic- I couldn’t put it down once I started) and it’s been lingering in the corners of my subconscious ever since. This fic is really beautiful and honest; both Harry and Draco are incredibly flawed, wounded people and reading about their healing is immensely satisfying.

Also, it’s a fake-relationship fic which is always it for me. Give me all of the casual intimacy of a couple and all of the angst of a slow burn wrapped in one delicious fic. I’m obsessed with the rules they make in the beginning and the rules they break along the way. I’m a sucker for the ‘idiots to lovers’ tag, for the way that both of them feel they aren’t worthy of the other, that they could never be loved in return. *chef’s kiss*

(An important side note: Their relationships with their friends are beautiful and heartwarming in so many ways. Their respective found-families and the unconditional love they receive from them hit me in the feels repeatedly. I fell in love with Snaffles, and the version of Scorpius in this fic owns my entire heart.)

But most importantly for me, Harry and Draco in this fic are written absolutely perfectly in their imperfections.

Fics that deal with trauma in a realistic (and sometimes painful way) are my favorite and I love the look into both of their psyches in this story. Draco is so very much himself in this fic; he’s strong and he’s brilliant, he’s sarcastic and devastating; he’s all of the things that make reading about Draco such a delight. The way that he articulates himself, the way that he holds his boundaries, the way that he keeps everyone at an arm’s length, the way he feels about himself when he’s at his most honest; I’m undone. And Harry! Harry’s flaws and woundedness are absolutely, stunningly believable. I would read all day about a workaholic Harry Potter, who can never measure up to impossibly high standards that he’s set for himself because of childhood trauma. He’s a gorgeously flawed character, who seems to be trying very hard not to actually find himself and not to deal with all of his own hurt. Frankly, there were times that I had to take several deep breaths and blink back tears when I was reading about Harry because some of it hit just a little too close to home and the words were so poignant and touching.

This fic is beautiful from start to finish, I hope that you click the link and give yourself a treat. By the end you might just find that this beautiful fic has not only healed something within our lovely boys, but within your own heart as well.

Thank you again to @drarrily-we-row-along for this brilliant rec and thoughtful review! Thanks for joining us in the library!

❤️ As always, if you find a fic you enjoy, please remember to leave the author a kudos or a comment! ❤️

Lots of Love and Happy Friday!

[esotericfaery]

With These June 2024 Downloads - Briefly, Black Moon Lilith through the Signs, Planets & Houses

Lilith is the dark, hidden wounded feminine, and her energy expresses differently for everyone within the collective consciousness. This month during Gemini (communications) Season, it’s particularly important to work with Lilith, especially as we’re square-heavy in our transits.

See my post, “Quick Tips for June 11th Through the 22nd, as They’re Particularly Difficult, Plus Good News Amidst Massive Black Moon Lilith Triggers”, for details on transits.

These tips work with any Black Moon Lilith transit, yet are particularly important to keep in mind for at least the rest of this month.

~

Aries / 1st / Mars: Dark sexual impulse control of lack thereof, aggressive power-plays between the sexes.

Taurus / 2nd / Ceres: Feminine woundedness expressed within mother / daughter dynamics, and how that effects values and material resources.

Gemini / 3rd / Mercury: Healing through, or wallowing within interpersonal duality themes of literature, music, films, or the news. Charismatic words, whether trickery or service towards others. Sexual harassment or other bullying, particularly online.

Cancer / 4th / The Moon: The security of space to equitably nurture and be nurtured is up-ended. The intensely passive-aggressive emotional mirroring of manipulations between the sexes, stemming from early childhood trauma or lineage trauma. Lack of desire for parenthood.

Leo / 5th / The Sun: Challenges to leadership, jealousy leading to smear campaigns, judgementalism of creativity.

Virgo / 6th / Chiron: (Lilith’s current, analytical placement for now) Vindictive competitiveness within challenges involving routines & health. Highly traumatic & confusing struggle to integrate polarities in a modern world which suffers abuses within the medical system, and social restrictions upon healthy emotional expression.

Libra / 7th / Venus: (Lilith enters diplomatic Libra on June 29th) One on one interactions explode between the sexes, particularly in romance. Indecision increases. Radical views of femininity or against other traditional values crop up. Maintaining close relationships of any type becomes difficult to, in some instances, impossible. Diplomacy can be twisted into egotistical control.

Scorpio / 8th / Pluto: Lilith is most similar to the transformative push here. This is crisis energy when new, and, fittingly so, highly rewarding when integrated. Psychic power and emotional depth are strongly inherent here, even when unaspected. This sometimes indicates either the abused or the abuser, particularly within sexuality. Rebellion is common within loans & debts.

Sagittarius / 9th / Jupiter: Repression of freedom within belief systems. Rebellion within approaches to travel & continuing education. Restriction of adventurousness, and within multiple new experiences. Setting oneself up as a dogmatic guru or other master of disciplines.

Capricorn / 10th / Saturn: Themes of hierarchy & power struggles, dharma and public recognition are intensified within restrictive forms, leading to obsession in business. Fear of the power of the self, within rebellion of these lessons about aging.

Aquarius / 11th / Uranus: Forward thinking leads to shunning. Extreme repression, or overall embracing of innovation within rebellion, particularly in social circles and movements, yet ultimately for the collective of humanity.

Pisces / 12th / Neptune: Trauma leading to the desire to escape addictions or obsessions takes form in either self-destruction, or separation of truth from illusion within spirituality. This must be surmounted and transmuted into

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Hello, I've been a big fan of your blog for at least three years now but I wanted to ask what you recommend to people thinking about posting their writing/art online?. I'm a poet and I really want to post my work online but I'm terrified for a number of reasons. Mainly, about not being able to grasp people's attention. (And my work being stolen/ reblogged w/ credit but yk). I love your work and would really like to get your opinion on this.

Hi there lovely!

Thanks so much for the ask, I'm genuinely honored to be sent an ask of this nature; I'll do my best to give you my thoughts on the subject. <3 (I got a little long-winded, I'm really passionate about this. tldr; sharing a piece of yourself in your writing is absolutely terrifying but you should do it anyway.)

When I first started posting my writing (7 years ago?!) in the Sherlock fandom, I was so afraid that people were going to be mean. Literally the only way I could start posting was by telling myself that if everyone hated it, I could just delete it and pretend it had never happened. And I was terrified when I started posting drarry stuff on this blog and I told myself that if even 10 people liked it, that would be enough (I couldn't have imagined how many people would engage with this blog and my fics). Over 350 stories (ranging from 50-100k words) later, I still regularly get nervous about posting things.

I don't know how to get people not to steal other peoples' work. I don't know how to stop ai bots from consuming writing/art and popping out soulless shit because of what it consumed. There are no answers that I can give you on this front.

And if I'm being honest, I don't have the foggiest clue how to grasp peoples' attention. The follows this blog gets and the posts that get attention continue to be a mystery to me; I can't ever guess which things will gain traction and which stories will go dark (and sometimes I get pissy about it- my fic on AO3 with the most kudos is a stupid 1k story that I wrote in 30 minutes while stories that I've spent literal years writing do half as well, but I digress). And there are stories that I see other people writing that I'm obsessed with- their prose, their imagery, their crafting- that don't receive anywhere near as much love as they should and I can't understand that either. It often seems like there is no rhyme or reason to what "does well" and what doesn't.

Which is why I can't let myself get caught up in which stories are well received and which aren't. For me, writing and sharing things can't be about what will get the most reach because I can't base the story's worth (or my own worth) off of that or I'd never post anything at all. Don't get me wrong, I love for my fics to receive kudos/likes, comments, and reblogs- it's a euphoric high. But in the end writing has been about giving myself permission to be free to be an entire person without the constraints I put on myself day in and day out. It's been about putting into words all of my darkness, my fears, my failings, my desires, my wants and needs along with all of my beauty, and strength, and joy, and hope. It's been putting my heart down on a page and believing that the response I receive is less important than the process of self discovery. Over and over, I've written myself the life I want to have; I've written the type of partner I want to have, the type of partner I want to be; I've written about healing and self discovery. Writing for me has been a way to fall in love with myself over and over again, to heal woundedness, to offer myself some hope, some comfort, a dose of encouragement and bravery, a little bit of tenderness when it was scarce.

Reading fanfiction when I was in my early twenties saved my life. I'm not saying this to be dramatic, it is actually true. Reading fanfiction saved me from an abusive relationship and helped to keep me from going back. Reading fanfiction taught me what it meant to be loved well and it changed my standards for myself forever. Part of my desire to pour back into this community stems from that. If there is even one person whose life can be touched in that way, who can realize how lovable they are, who can see how they deserve to be treated and loved, my time was well spent.

I'm not saying that has to be your reason for sharing the gift of yourself. We all write and create for different reasons. But I do believe that all humans were made to create and we were all made to share ourselves in what we make. Share your words for you. Share them as an act of rebellion. Share them as an act of war or change. Share them as a way to express the deepest emotions of your being. Share them because they are a part of your own soul. Share them as an act of self-love and a way of honoring the unrepeatable, beautiful person that you are. Whatever your reason for sharing your words, make it a reason that is about you. You deserve to be seen and loved, to be known in a way that can only happen when you give yourself permission to be vulnerable. There are, in my humble opinion, few things that bare your soul the way that sharing something you've created does. Love yourself enough to give yourself away.

[jamietukpahwriting]

Shame about woundedness keeps many people from seeking healing. They would rather deny or repress the reality of hurt. In our culture we hear a lot about guilt but not enough about the politics of shame.

—All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks

[a-servant-of-the-secret-fire]

The most human characters in Blade Runner 2049 are the ones who aren’t human at all. Nearly all of the human characters in the film are the ones who act most like machines. They’re the most cold, the most utilitarian. Their care for others is based on the use they can get out of them. Humanity views others as objects. Yet Officer K reprograms Joi, a sex AI, designed purely for the sexual gratification of human beings, into a real companion who he simply wants to share his life with. He values Joi for who she is, though her identity, like K’s, is an artificial creation of humanity. The objects treat others as humans while the humans treat others as objects. It’s easy enough to spot in the film, and easy to spot in humanity itself. But the hard part is to see it in ourselves.

It’s not hard because it’s not there but it’s hard because it forces us to look at our wounds. We have our coping mechanisms that turn others into objects. We might even have our coping mechanisms that turn ourselves into objects. I know I do. Robbing myself of my humanity is a habit I know all too well. Because if I’m not human, I can’t have wounds that are only human. If I’m not human, I can’t have trauma.

I’ve never experienced trauma. I’m fine.

That’s the lie I told myself for almost my entire life.

If I don’t have trauma, I don’t have to heal from it. My coping mechanisms are fine. I don’t need to change anything. Because I don’t want to, even when I’m forced to admit my habits are unhealthy. I want to continue as is.

I can’t do that. It isn’t sustainable, and it won’t make me happy.

But if I’m not human, I don’t need to be happy.

So the self-objectification continues until I confront my own humanity and accept that I have the dignity proper to the human person, that I was created by love and for love. The ones who have traumatized me probably have the same problem themselves. They objectify themselves and don’t see their own dignity and so treat others like they treat themselves. They see Christ’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself,” and they really do so, in the strict sense. Yet they don’t realize that implicit in the commandment is that one loves themselves. And only in this way can one harmonize the two commandments, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and “Love one another as I have loved you.”

If one is to love one’s neighbor as oneself and love one’s neighbor as God loves them, then it logically follows that one is to love oneself as God loves them as well.

Yet there’s another struggle that I’ve had. Sure, God loves everyone and He loves the others that I see, and He wants them to go to heaven, but that’s just the way things are for other people. I’m different. I’m special. Does God really care about me? Does He love me? Does He see my pain and all the pain that others, even the religious, even my own family have inflicted upon me?

Logically I know that the answer to all of those questions is yes. That I’m not special. I know that even viewing myself as special in this regard is a result of the sin of pride, but I have a hard time actually accepting these things in my lived experience. My own father wounds have been imprinted in my heart upon God the Father. And I have trouble going to God without feeling the own wounds my father gave me.

God is the great physician but what am I to do if my own woundedness prevents me from approaching the physician? “It’s not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick,” yes, but when I cannot bring myself before the Doctor, where are my friends to lower me through the rooftop? Perhaps that’s where the saints come in. Maybe the saints can bring me before Jesus and I can be lowered through the roof, or into the pool at Bethesda. But maybe all I need to do is cry unto the Lord, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Maybe a simple touch of His garment will be enough to heal me too. Or maybe I just need to say in a simple, humble voice, “Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo et sanabitur anima mea.”

I don’t know.

I do know is that I am wounded and I need the grace of healing.

Yet Flannery O'Connor was right when she said, “All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.”

Yet painful as it may be, gratia non tollit naturam sed perficit.

I have made myself less of myself, and God wants to make me more of myself. I hate myself and God doesn’t. I can’t stand to look at myself and thus don’t want to show myself to God. I don’t want to do what Christ told the leper, “Show yourself to the priest.” And it has nothing to do with God or His instruments and everything to do with me and my own wounds.

I may think I’m afraid of God but maybe what I’m really afraid of is myself.

[vampirae]

Hey! What does it mean to have neptune conjunct chrion and Saturn?

Hello <3

When Neptune, Chiron, and Saturn are conjunct in a birth chart, it generates a complicated interplay that may have a huge impact on your life and personality.

Neptune Conjunct Chiron: Neptune is associated with spirituality, intuition, dreams, and illusions, whereas Chiron is associated with healing, woundedness, and the search for meaning. When these two planets align, it indicates a mingling of their energies. This combination might enhance your character's sensitivity and empathy. You may have a deep awareness of others' suffering and a genuine desire to assist and heal. It can, however, also imply a struggle to set boundaries or a problem discerning truth from delusion.

Saturn in conjunction with Neptune and Chiron: denotes structure, discipline, responsibility, and restrictions. When Saturn conjuncts Neptune and Chiron, it gives a feeling of reality, anchoring, and practicality to Neptune and Chiron's spiritual and healing elements. This pairing can create a conflict between the longing for transcendence and the need for stability and order. It might also represent a deep inner conflict or a sense of duty for spiritual growth and healing.

To sum up:

Spiritual Wounds and Healing: the alignment of Neptune, Chiron, and Saturn denotes that you have suffered from severe spiritual wounds or existential crises. These events may inspire your spiritual journey as well as your desire to heal and find purpose in your life. Empathy and sympathy: You have a tremendous empathy and sympathy for others. Because of your sensitivity, you can comprehend and connect with people on a deep emotional level. Idealism and Practicality: Your approach to life may be a mix of idealism and practicality. While you are motivated by spiritual aspirations and a yearning for transcendence, you also recognize the value of structure and discipline in attaining the goals you set.

Establishing appropriate boundaries and discerning between truth and illusions may be reoccurring themes in your life. You may need to learn how to blend your idealistic impulses with a realistic knowledge of your practical constraints.

Your own growth and healing experiences may make you a good mentor or guide for others. You may find pleasure in assisting others on their spiritual journeys and in overcoming the wounds they have endured.

[skepwith]

trauma is not sacred

violence is not special pain is not holy suffering does not make angels abuse defines no one you are more than the things that hurt you you are more than the people you have hurt do not make an altar to your woundedness do not make a fetish out of mine a body belongs to no one a memory is not made to be eaten does it titillate you to hear about assault if i told you my story, would you swallow it whole if i confessed my sins would you feed me to the beasts to purge your own i will show you mine if you show me yours we have all seen the darkness now give us the dawn tell me about the joy you keep in the hollow spaces between your bones tell me again how you laughed when you realized that you were not wholly unlovable i’ll tell you again how i cried when my best friend told me that I was not a bad person remember how we used to count the lines on our palms when we were little how we used to try to read the future for its gifts how we used to make lists of the things we would dream of when finally we were free i will make you a list of the things i’m grateful for i will sing you a litany of reasons to be alive i want to know the songs you wake up for in the morning i want to marvel at the unbelievable graciousness of your being i know that i am capable of pouring love like lavender oil into your cupped palms there is forgiveness like honey pooled in the chambers of our hearts you are the thing i am most grateful for all bodies know how to heal themselves given enough time all demons carry a map of heaven and their scars beneath the skin of every history of trauma                 there is a love poem waiting deep below

Kai Cheng Thom, “trauma is not sacred” from a place called No Homeland. © 2017 by Kai Cheng Thom.

[riszellira]

Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle

Reflection: Healing

Everyone wants to be healed. But most of us want healing—bodily healing, healing of relationships, spiritual healing—in a painless way. Hurting for a long time, we do not like any further pain.

The Gospel story about Thomas challenges us. The Apostle had followed Jesus for around three years. He had been taken by Jesus’ “different authority” in teaching. Thomas was one of the Twelve who assisted Jesus, and he saw at close range many miracles of cure and other wonder works that the Master performed. He had hoped in his Master Jesus, but this was shattered by the events of Good Friday. Jesus, the one whom they called “Master and Lord,” was put to death. He did not come down from the cross when He was challenged by the Pharisees. And the Twelve went into hiding. He, Thomas, was deeply affected, and he did not want to invest in another hope.

No amount of stories, no amount of joint testimonies by even more than two persons—as was the Jewish custom of testifying to the truth—could ever give Thomas his peace and healing. He waited for Jesus to personally appear so that he could hear from Jesus Himself the words of peace, and so that he could really touch the nail marks and wounds that would show that the reported Risen One is the same as the Crucified One. Jesus Himself thought the same. So He appeared and let Thomas touch the wounds. Then Thomas was prepared to hope and to have the faith—that he even travelled to faraway India to preach about the Master.

True healing has no shortcuts. The woundedness has to be confronted. The issues cannot be simply glossed over. Hurting reality cannot be healed by realizations. Only another reality can mend hurting reality. Pain, to be healed, needs to be shocked. Surgery, not palliative “feel-good” therapies, is needed. Reality must be overcome by the power of Truth.

~Fr. Domie Guzman, SSP

Do you have any “wounds” that you have glossed over and have taken for granted through the years? Touch your wounds and be healed by Jesus’ healing love.

Heal me, Lord, of my wounds. Make me whole. Amen.

Prayer

… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.

… for the strength and healing of the sick.

… for the healing and peace of all families.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

GOD BLESS!

[pennstateuniversitypress]

Q&A with Loretta Victoria Ramirez

The author of The Wound and the Stitch: A Genealogy of of the Female Body from Medieval Iberia to SoCal Chicanx Art discusses rhetorics of woundedness, using historical rhetorical genealogies as acts of decolonization, and more.

Could you define rhetorics of woundedness?

Rhetorics of woundedness renders reality through the perspective of one whose woundedness has been undetected, disregarded, misdiagnosed, or superficially bandaged. This rhetoric exposes autobiography in its most vulnerable states to confront audiences, discomforting them out of passivity and into accountability. Displays of woundedness transform audiences into witnesses. Encounters with wounds additionally prompt audience action—to tend to the wound or deliberately let the injury fester. Rhetorics of woundedness is advocacy rhetoric, recruiting supporters while demarcating oppositional forces. While examining wounds is essential, the rhetoric avoids fetishizing wounded states, focusing instead on precariously stitched states and signifying delicate ephemeral healing amidst still-active assaults. Woundedness remains visible as an insistent marker that the public sphere is held accountable for examining historical conditions wherein violence against bodies is continuous and systematized. This violence may be physical, symbolic, linguistic, or academic, and is overwhelmingly related through female testimony. Indeed, rhetorics of woundedness has been historically associated with women.

How can the Latinx population benefit from learning about rhetorics of woundedness?

Latina artists, writers, and theorists have contributed enormously to shaping rhetorics of woundedness. In visual rhetorics, an illustrious contributor is Frida Kahlo, who emphasizes an unmaking of body to envision new states of being. In textual rhetorics, we see foundational works by Chicana writers such as Cherríe Moraga, Gloria Anzaldúa, Ana Castillo, Emma Pérez, and Alicia Gaspar de Alba, who mobilize theories of the flesh wherein rhetors’ lived experiences generate knowledge of women’s embodied realities to petition for reform and justice. Latinx populations benefit from learning about the rhetorics of woundedness since the rhetoric is entrenched in Latinx cultural rhetorics and recognizes women’s contributions to a distinct line of cultural rhetorics with deep historical roots. Thinking of these roots, I am reminded of my students’ quick recognition of cultural rhetorical strategies when we discuss articulations of woundedness. I teach in an ethnic studies department, and many of my students are first-generation Latinas. Within this demographic, students often express emotions of fragmented identities as they daily navigate multiple social and cultural settings but do not sense their belonging in any of those spaces. Many of my students have learned that voicing the hurt of unbelonging activates a rhetorical belonging within a cultural genealogy that exposes wounds to challenge biases. Realization of rhetorical belonging is profound. Indeed, the cover of The Wound and the Stitch features a self-portrait by my former student, Ana Berrelleza, who has situated herself within rhetorics of woundedness and discovered not only a sense of belonging but also personal empowerment.

How can historical rhetorical genealogies serve as acts of decolonization?

I map rhetorics of woundedness as a continuity of historical rhetorics of the body, rooted in two prominent rhetorical inheritances: late-medieval female Iberian Franciscan devotional rhetorics and Mesoamerican concepts of securing stability, or nepantla, during turmoil. Yet ruptures in these rhetorical lineages manifest notably in late twentieth-century rhetorics that recentralize woundedness to express not devotional sacrifice but disproportionate losses wherein Chicanas are systematically targeted to surrender self, body, and opportunity. Many of these losses are rooted in colonial histories that still impact living conditions. Rhetorics of woundedness positions colonial wounds to serve concurrently as accusations of assault and testaments of survival. As I trace the female rhetorical genealogy of the rhetoric, I am most invested in ways Chicana adaptations disrupt normative rhetorical patterns to guide modern Chicanx rhetorics. This is the chief purpose of The Wound and the Stitch—to illustrate contemporary inheritors of rhetorics of woundedness as stepping outside European narrative frameworks to repurpose historical rhetorics for more immediate agendas focused on self-empowerment.

The Wound and the Stitch: A Genealogy of of the Female Body from Medieval Iberia to SoCal Chicanx Art by Loretta Victoria Ramirez is available for pre-order from Penn State University Press. Pre-order your copy here, and save 30% when you use discount code NR24 at checkout: https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-09727-5.html

[riverdamien]

The Wounds That Heal!

"Wounds That Remain!"

John 13:1-15

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There is a wound in the heart of these high holy days, a scarlet thread binding both the divine and the human in an experience of deep love and suffering.

Today we celebrate in a particular way the overflowing of God's presence in the Eucharist, in  Christ who is poured out in self-emptying love. This sacrifice overflows into our love and concern as we see Christ present in others; two nights ago I held the hands of an individual dying at San Francisco General, I sat with him until he was gone, I cried, in blessing him--my care, my love, is poured out in Christ who poured out his self-emptying love.

We gaze upon the wounds of Christ crucified on Good Friday, we even adore the wood of the cross on which he hung. On this cross, we encounter the God who submits to being broken out of a deep love for us in our brokenness, the God who becomes wounded to heal our wounds, the God who chooses to walk with us even though that walk ends brutally on Calvary. We contemplate the Great Silence of God amid that suffering.

There is no need to label me--priest/counselor/spiritual director, Reverend, Doctor/ for those words denote a wholeness that none of us have, a wholeness which others look to, all I am is in the words of Henri Nouwen a "wounded healer", I sit in the pain and suffering of others as a result of being a broken, human being. I sit in the Great Silence, simply being present, and that is what I look for at times in my pain, someone simply to sit, listen, without judgment. The Cross calls all of us to experience our own woundedness and become a "wounded healer."

On Holy Saturday we enter into solidarity with all who are bereaved. We contemplate the disorienting stillness of the garden, the unnerving sense of absence, the crushing pain of a future denied. Before the world-shaking eruption of the resurrection, there is only the earth-shattering realm of grief, of knowing some wounds may not be healed this side eternity.

All of us are in grief--over aging, over retirement, not getting the job we were destined for, and on the street many are in a death of not able to obtain housing because of their mental illness, being on the streets so long they know nothing else, and those who are far yond being able to work.

I think of George who is having his feet removed because of drugs and failure to treat his diabetes, he has been on Polk for 20 years and now is alone in the pain in an SRO hotel. I think of Francene who is fifty-something, on the street selling her jewelry, living in SROs, wearing shoes that are worn out, looking for an apartment, that frankly is not there, I wanted to end up retiring from a large church, with praise and glory, I wanted to live a middle-class life, and yet I live on the edge. In this great silence, there is God in the midst of our suffering.

Into this darkness, the first lights of the Easter Vigil flicker, The light shines in the darkness and the night overcomes it (John 1:5). Here we may be tempted to think Easter is simply a big electric blanket thrown over the brutality of the previous days.

And yet when Jesus is risen he still has wounds, pierced hands, pierced side, a pierced heart. The horrible torture he endured, the trauma inflicted upon him by callous, uncaring, and unforgiving people, remains imprinted upon his glorified body.

And the wounds, once a cause of tremendous pain for both redeemer and redeemed, have now become fonts of healing, conversion, gratitude, and joy.

In celebrating these holy mysteries we encounter a wholeness bigger than all the brokenness the world could ever muster, and a goodness greater than all the suffering we may experience.

Most importantly we begin to know the Love that is stronger than death and to learn that this love has a face, and a name, and is holding us with hands that have known suffering. And we believe this Love will always hold us, whatever wounds may come.

As I age, physically decline, and am more wounded; having few friends, and see death more and more, and am wounded with each death I experience, I believe with all my heart, that this Love will hold me, whatever wounds I have and which will come.

The cross above was made last year by a friend and revised this year. On it are photos of young, and I mean young men who have died violent deaths through the years. Each one was homeless, a prostitute, questioning life, and each one is being held in the arms of the Great Love, each one is in the Communion of Saints, and the day is coming when I will see them in all of their wholeness.

Lou Kaver sums it all it all up:

"The central teaching for followers of Jesus is at the heart of Maundy Thursday.

While gathered with  his friends Jesus instructed:

"Love one another," and "By this will others know that you are my followers: your love for one another."

No other dogma, creed, or faith-filled experience is as important as this core teaching."

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

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Prayer of St. Brendan!

"Help me to journey beyond the familiar

and into the unknown.

Give me the faith to leave old ways and break fresh ground with You. Christ of the mysteries I trust in You to be stronger than each storm within me.

I will trust in the darkness and know that my times, even now, are in Your hands.

Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,

and somehow, make my obedience count for You"

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(Temenos and Fr. River seek to remain accessible to everyone. We do not endorse particular causes, political parties, or candidates, or take part in public controversies, whether religious, political or social--Our pastoral ministry is to everyone!

Press Release:

"Jesus continues to be crucified in all those who are crucified in history...There are not enough Stations of the Cross to depict all the ways in which the  Lord continues to be persecuted, imprisoned, condemned to death and crucified today!"

-Leonardo Boff

What: Non-Violent Witness in the Tenderloin to commemorate Good Friday!

(Rain, Springling, or Threatening to Rain--The Stations of the Cross will proceed at Noon!)

Tenderloin Stations of the Cross

“A Journey With People on the Street!”

“Our Haunted-ness!”

When:

March 29, 2024

Noon-2:00 p.m.

Meet in Front of Polk Street-Side City Hall

Why:

There are approximately 8, 000 people on the street, without housing, or health care, they suffer from prejudice, anger, and hatred; they are shuffled around as if they are "objects" rather than human beings.

As followers of Jesus, and all who care, living in a war-making and uncaring empire we say loudly and clearly with Jesus: "Love one Another," "Love your enemies", "Be merciful as God is merciful," "Put away the sword," and "Thou shalt not kill."

We witness as people of faith who believe in God's reign of justice, love, peace, and restorative justice!

Sponsored by Temenos Catholic Worker

For more information:

Fr. River Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.

415-305-2124

temenos@gmail.com

www.temenos.org

www.paypal.com

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