Nonaligned faith and practice in the present
Who is Walhydra?
Walhydra became a storytelling alter-ego for me in the mid-1990s on the Crone Thread, an email listserv of mostly Pagan, mostly women elders, folk who understand, revere, and emulate the crone aspect of the Goddess.
The Crone is that feminine aspect of the Divine which, in the form of a human being past childbearing age, strives on behalf of the race to learn about and teach the terrors and blessings of mortality. She does
…“Time’s Arrow”
The first post in this series, Life Without Backgrounds or Frames: “Time’s Arrow,” by Hiroshi Sugimoto (8/25/2023), described the insight I received after several months of contemplating an arresting photomontage by artist Hiroshi Sugitomo. I had
Still recovering from prostate surgery, I began this morning with another distressing incident of extreme urinary urgency. Very frustrating. But then….
I remembered that today is the 22nd anniversary of the deaths at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and on Flight 93. And then I remembered Friday’s earthquake in Morocco and February’s earthquake in Türkiye-Sūriyā (Syria). And then all 2023’s fatal floods, wildfires, and armed conflicts around the world….
No one person can fix all of this suffering; no
…Introduction: The original version of “Life Without Backgrounds or Frames: ‘Time’s Arrow,’ by Hiroshi Sugimoto” (8/25/2023) was an email written for a young visitor to Quaker Meeting who was stuck in an overburdened local homeless shelter, having fled an abusive living
It’s so ridiculous,
comes over me suddenly
like a storm.
I want to fight with someone,
shout at them
to give him back.
Intimacy
on the order of
another husband lost.
…
I first saw “Time’s Arrow,” the 1987 photo collage by Hiroshi Sugimoto, as an illustration in the Spring 2018 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly.
The image grabbed me, and I saved it as an image for contemplation. It has taken me a while to grasp what the image suggests for me.
After a series of difficult personal losses and challenges over the past two months, I set the image as the lock screen for my laptop. It is the
…
When the body fails the person
What are we doing, what are we witnessing, when a dear one’s body fails?
Today we ended our cat Shadow’s life.
Since January he had been struggling
…Imagine swallowing
your saliva.
Do it.
Now imagine spitting
in a cup.
Imagine swallowing
that spit.
Do it.
Imagine hugging
yourself.
Do it.
Now imagine hugging
someone
you despise.
Do it.
It’s all in your mind.
We never know.
That morning
I kept my hand
on our ailing cat’s belly
as he purred.
In communion with him
even while
grief tore through me.
Some say not to borrow grief
before time
but to
stay in the moment.
Yet
This is the time of day when
I almost always feel
aching
groundlessness
As if
nothing I have done this day
matters,
And I’ve left undone
everything
necessary.
…