Short, sweet and new- Beginnings and endings

May is a beginning. Spring, the Beltane fires, fertility and fresh newness. We are encouraged to abandon constraint and live to the fullest.

This is a beautiful perspective on springtime and new growth in nature, no matter where you live. Of course, this is upside down for those of you in the southern hemisphere, so is not a complete perspective on our Earth and Ordinary Reality as we know it in global form. And for those of us involved in shamanic practice and death work, every beginning has an end, and every end a beginning, and the two meet somewhere in between and at any moment and all moments.

This is the theme of a course I'm building for Morbid Anatomy, to be held over 4 weeks beginning in September. You can find the link here.

This is also the theme of my own life at this moment, this larger moment, let's say the next 2 months. Today I will go above the hills of Siena, Italy, in the Tuscan countryside, to participate in the third and final week of the European 3 Year Program in Advanced Shamanic Initiations here. At the same time this program is ending, there are new beginnings from the experience already.

Just a week before I was scheduled to fly, the landlady invited me to meet for coffee. There she announced that she would need to sell the house I have lived in for 13 years. We would need to move- soon. The next week was a hectic and even frantic one of looking for and securing a new home before leaving. (Success!)

The new place will be completely renovated. It is smaller and will cost more, but there are raised beds for gardening, something I have not had in 13 years. There are ample windows and plenty of light, and a large garage for storage. There are two young crabapples in the front yard.

This is the end of an era, as one friend noted. But it is also the beginning of another- a fresh start. There will be adjustments to make, but as my mantra goes: Complacency is the enemy. I had been thinking of downsizing and had even started the process. Now I will go full throttle and make it happen in a short span of time.

But what is time anyway? Here we get to the short and sweet. Because I am heading into the hills today for intensive shamanic work for the next week, I will keep this entry brief, and the ensuing newsletter to which it attached as well.

On that note, please feel free to be in touch with the beginnings and endings you experience at this time of year, and feel welcomed to all upcoming events.

Lisa

Fortezza Medicae, 1563, Siena, Tuscany, Italy- an old fortress supports fresh flower life.