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Books of my year
What a strange year it’s been. So much loss, frankly. My beloved Bailey, and my anam-cara, Sr. Rita, and our dear friend, Paul, and Sr. Mary Ann, and even our great 100+-year-old tree, called by a friend, “The Sentinal of the Neighborhood,” and the world, which is full of losses and violence and fear, and…
Read MoreWisdom Companion #10 – The Great Asceticism: Life on Life’s Terms.
Hello everyone, this is the latest news and wisdom from Sr Rita, who is on a journey with cancer. You will find the nine previous “Wisdom Companion” pieces from Sr. Rita by searching this site. In this reflection, Sr. Rita talks about what it means to find oneself at a place in the journey where…
Read MoreGrief and Joy and a Final Gift
As many of you know, our beloved Bailey, the Rescuepoo, the Boo of Boos, The Little Smackeral, left us on the morning of February 9, 2023. His passing wasn’t exactly unexpected, but we didn’t expect it at that moment. We had arranged with our vet, the wonder Kim Weisner at Caring Hearts Animal Hospital, to…
Read MoreAs Above, So Below… Interbeing for the New Year
There is no doubt 2022 was an, ahem, challenging year worldwide. I felt it, and I suspect you did, too. As the saying by Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary figure associated with the beginning of alchemy, the birth of material and spiritual science goes: as above, so below. In other words, what goes on in the…
Read MoreBooks of 2022 – Twelve More.
A little while ago, I posted ten books I’ve most enjoyed this year. As promised, and again, in no particular order, here are more, twelve to be exact, and at the end a few thoughts on my reading year: THE SECRET RIVER by Kate Grenville. “The Orange Prize-winning author Kate Grenville recalls her family’s history…
Read More“I Will Never See The World Again” by Ahmet Altan
Reviewing this book for The Guardian in 2019, Simon Callow said, “To review certain books seems like an impertinence. This is one of them. It speaks for itself with such clarity, certainty and wisdom that only one thing needs to be said: read it. And then read it again.” I agree. I have just…
Read MoreWisdom Companion #4 from Sr. Rita. Season of Surrender
Another entry from my aman-cara, Sister Rita on the wisdom brought to her as she walks this path with cancer… Welcome back and thank you for taking the time to read this. Yesterday I met with the oncologist, got my double shot of Fulvestrant and an additional shot of XGEVA – a supplement to strengthen my…
Read MoreWisdom Companion #3 The Comfort of Paradox
Another entry from my aman-cara, Sister Rita on the wisdom brought to her as she walks this path with cancer… (And please see my note at the end.) The Comfort of Paradox Journal Entry by Rita Woehlcke I am not a fan of the limitations of binary choices, nor of the way they are used by…
Read MoreWisdom Companion #2 Sr. Rita’s Journey
Many of you, friends and readers, have heard me talk about Sr. Rita, who has been my aman-cara, my heart friend, for many years, and who is the inspiration for the character of Sr. Eileen in my latest novel, EVEN SO. Sr. Rita had breast cancer some years ago and we have now learned it…
Read MoreNew Perspectives, Old Simplicities
Ever since those astonishing photos taken by the Webb telescope were released my inbox has been filled with emails discussing them. It’s a mixed bag of astonishment, wonder, and, well, horror. Seems more than a few people have been sent spinning into existential dread, right along with the stars and galaxies spinning in the images.…
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