In Biography work there are many artistic exercises we can do with clients - as Biography Workers. Artistic work allows us to open our inner imaginal realm to help us to access the internal places that we are not typically in touch with in our every day life. Biography work is a way to work with one another in a listening and present way. Ideally - one can work with someone in sharing this exercise and impressions sensed after it is complete. However - it is safe to use this exercise alone in a safe way. Do not go into areas you do not feel comfortable with or are equipped to take on when you are alone. Use this as a way to gain inner knowing about yourself. It is up to you to know what you are capable of handling.

*Please only proceed with working with this image if you feel safe and comfortable and ready to examine some of the quiet corners in your imagination. Read through the exercise before beginning so that you are aware of what the framework is. If you are struggling in any way - know your support persons to contact if you find that you have come across uncomfortable territory.

Artistic Exercise: Gaze at the image of this painting - Ginevra de' Benci , c. 1474/1478 - by Leonardo da Vinci. Take a few minutes and take in what you are seeing. Have a pen and paper at hand. Do not write down your impressions straight away. Continue looking for up to 5 minutes. Of course if you would like to take more time, please do so. The exercise if just for you alone.

When you feel ready - begin to write down your visual impressions. What are you seeing here? Describe the painting - clothing, her facial countenance, the scenery, the colors, the senses that awaken in you. After you have looked in detail at the image and written down all that you feel that you see - next we move on to impressions. What are the sense impressions you have of this image? Write down what your senses are seeing and feeling. Does it remind you of something from long ago in your life or perhaps in your current life? Is this something you want to explore in your writing? Only go as far as you are comfortable. Stop anytime that you need to.

Exploring an image in this way - an awakening to parts of our lives can be discovered. This can be a deeply meaningful experience. Often times - suddenly a memory - an image - an experience is recalled. We don’t know where this has come from. Follow the threads of your writing and thinking for up to ten minutes. Of course take more time if you would like. Do not be too careful with your writing. Write what comes to mind without editing it. After you are complete with your writing - put the pen down and look away from your writing. You might look at the image again.

Feelings may arise. You can notice these and let them wash away. This exercise is to awaken to yourself a bit more. Allow yourself to begin to explore in a free and simple way - just noticing. In this way it is somewhat like a meditation. It can be a rich feeling to enter into this exercise - in full control of your senses and body - and have a deep inner sensing and knowing come to you. What have you discovered? Read back over your words. Look at the image again. Express any residual feelings with your writing or speak them out loud to the room.

This tool is a helpful process to begin to examine our own inner lives. Keeping a journal allows you to examine your thoughts and words over time. If you are working with a kind helper - you many want to share some of these insights with them. Know that you can be in control of your own exploration. Tend and Listen to Yourself.

““Now I become myself. It’s taken time, many years and places.””

— May Sarton

“October
Is it winter again, is it cold again,
didn’t Frank just slip on the ice,
didn’t he heal, weren’t the spring seeds planted
didn’t the night end,
didn’t the melting ice
flood the narrow gutters
wasn’t my body
rescued, wasn’t it safe
didn’t the scar form, invisible
above the injury
terror and cold,
didn’t they just end, wasn’t the back garden
harrowed and plantedI remember how the earth felt, red and dense,
in stiff rows, weren’t the seeds planted,
didn’t vines climb the south wall
I can’t hear your voice
for the wind’s cries, whistling over the bare ground
I no longer care
what sound it makes
when was I silenced, when did it first seem
pointless to describe that sound
what it sounds like can’t change what it is didn’t
the night end, wasn’t the earth
safe when it was planted
didn’t we plant the seeds,
weren’t we necessary to the earth,
the vines, were they harvested?”

— Louise Gluck

Honoring Our Ancestors Through Poetry

Poetry is a powerful medium for expressing our deepest emotions, thoughts, and connections to the world around us. One of the most profound themes that poetry can explore is the relationship we have with our ancestors. Honoring our ancestors through verse allows us to celebrate their lives, acknowledge their legacies, and reflect on the wisdom they've passed down through generations. In this blog post, we'll explore a collection of poetry prompts designed to help you to honor your ancestors and create beautiful, meaningful poetry.

Ancestral Memories:

Prompt: Write a poem that vividly describes a memory, story, or moment shared with an ancestor. It could be a tale passed down through generations, a personal encounter, or even a fictionalized account inspired by their experiences.

In the creaking rocking chair, I see her face,

As she spun tales of a bygone time and place,

Her laughter like music, her wisdom profound,

In her stories, ancestral voices resound.

Ancestral Landscapes:

Prompt: Describe a place that holds significance for your ancestors. It might be the country or region they came from, a family homestead, or a place of historical importance. Craft a poem that pays tribute to the beauty and significance of this location.

Example:

In the rolling hills where my forebears tread,

Their footsteps in the soil, their stories widespread,

The ancestral landscapes where my roots were sown,

In the whispers of the wind, their spirits have known.

Ancestral Traditions:

Prompt: Write a poem that explores the traditions and customs that have been passed down through your family or culture. Celebrate the rituals, celebrations, and values that continue to shape your life.

Example:

In the kitchen's warmth, where stories were told,

Family recipes, secrets in the fold,

Ancestral traditions, timeless and true,

In each lovingly-prepared meal, they shine through.

Ancestral Challenges:

Prompt: Reflect on the trials and tribulations faced by your ancestors. Write a poem that captures the resilience, courage, and determination that helped them overcome adversity.

Example:

In the face of hardship, they stood unbowed,

Ancestors strong, resilient and proud,

Challenges they faced with hearts unafraid,

Their legacy of strength, a debt never repaid.

Ancestral Blessings:

Prompt: Express gratitude for the blessings, talents, or characteristics that you've inherited from your ancestors. Write a poem that celebrates the positive qualities and attributes that you've received from your forebears.

Example:

In the mirror's reflection, I see their grace,

In every smile, the contours of their face,

Ancestral blessings, a gift from above,

A legacy of love, an unbreakable bond.

Honoring our ancestors through poetry is a beautiful way to connect with our roots, celebrate our heritage, and preserve the wisdom of those who came before us. These poetry prompts are a great starting point for delving into the rich tapestry of your family's history and the legacy left by your ancestors. So, pick up your pen, let your creativity flow, and let your ancestors' stories and spirits inspire your poetry. In doing so, you'll be paying a heartfelt tribute to those who have shaped your life and continue to guide you from the past.

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Here are a few books that can inspire and guide you in your journey of honoring your ancestors through poetry and other creative expressions:

"The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution" by Richard Dawkins:

This book offers a unique perspective on ancestry, taking readers on a journey through evolutionary history. It can inspire poetry that connects the broader concept of human ancestry and our shared origins with all life on Earth.

"The Lost Spells" by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris:

While not directly about ancestor honoring, this beautifully illustrated book contains enchanting spells and poems that celebrate the natural world and its creatures. It can serve as a source of inspiration for poetry that connects with the earth and its ancient wisdom.

"The Way of the Earth: Encounters with Nature in Ancient and Contemporary Thought" by T.C. McLuhan:

This book explores the relationship between humanity and the natural world throughout history. It provides insights into how various cultures have honored their ancestors through their connection with nature, which can be a rich source of inspiration for poetry.

"Ancestor: A Novel" by Scott Sigler:

While this is a science fiction novel, it explores the idea of genetic ancestry and its implications in a futuristic setting. It can inspire creative and speculative poetry on the themes of genetic inheritance and ancestral connections.

"The Poet's Guide to the Cosmos: Poems of the Night Sky" edited by Jeff Bahr:

This anthology includes a collection of poems that celebrate the night sky, constellations, and our connection to the cosmos. It can serve as a starting point for poetry that contemplates our place in the universe and our ancestral ties to the stars.

These books, while not specifically focused on ancestor honoring through poetry, can provide valuable insights and inspiration for your creative endeavors. They offer diverse perspectives on the themes of ancestry, nature, and human connection, which can enrich your poetic exploration of honoring your ancestors.

Poetry as a healing art: Words that mend the soul

Poetry is often thought of as a form of entertainment or self-expression, but it can also be a powerful tool for healing. Reading and writing poetry can help us to process difficult emotions, make sense of our experiences, and find solace in the shared human condition.

Here are some of the ways in which poetry can be healing:

• It can help us to process difficult emotions. Poetry can provide a safe space for us to express our pain, grief, anger, and other difficult emotions. It can also help us to understand and accept our emotions, and to find healthy ways of coping with them.

• It can help us to make sense of our experiences. Poetry can help us to reflect on our experiences and to see them in a new light. It can also help us to find meaning and purpose in our suffering.

• It can help us to connect with others. Poetry can help us to feel less alone in our experiences. It can also help us to connect with others who have shared similar experiences.

• It can offer us comfort and hope. Poetry can remind us that we are not alone in our suffering, and that there is always hope for healing.

Poetry therapy is a type of therapy that uses poetry to promote healing and well-being. Poetry therapists work with individuals and groups to use poetry to process emotions, make sense of experiences, and connect with others. You do not need to work with a therapist to find poetry as your own healing way.

Here are some tips for using poetry as a healing art:

• Find poems that resonate with you. There is no right or wrong way to choose poems for healing. The most important thing is to find poems that speak to you on a personal level.

• Read the poems slowly and carefully. Take your time to savor the words and images. Pay attention to how the poems make you feel. Engage your senses as you read through some of your favorite poems.

• Write your own poems. Writing poetry can be a powerful way to process your emotions and to make sense of your experiences. There is no need to be a professional poet to write healing poetry. Just write whatever comes to mind. Poetry is for the people!

• Share your poems with others. Sharing your poems with others can help you to connect with others who have shared similar experiences, and it can also help you to feel less alone. There are poetry circles that offer a supportive atmosphere . Libraries , art centers, senior centers and community spaces may offer something creative in your local area.

If you are interested in using poetry for healing, there are many resources available to help you. There are books and articles on the subject, and there are also poetry therapists who can work with you individually or in a group. In my Biography & Sacred Arts work - poetry is a meaningful, healing practice.

Dandelion Seeds

Nature Aria

by Yi Lei
translated by Tracy K. Smith and Changtai Bi

Autumn wind chases in
From all directions
And a thousand chaste leaves
Give way.

Scatter in me the seeds
Of a thousand saplings.
Let grow a grassy heaven.
On my brow: a sun.
This bliss is yours, Living
World, and alone it endures.
Music at midnight.
Young wine.
Lovers hand in hand
By daylight, moonlight.
Living World, hold me
In your mouth,

Slip on your frivolous shoes
And dance with me. My soul
Is the wild vine
Who alone has grasped it,
Who has seen through the awful plot,
Who will arrive in time to vanquish
The river already heavy with blossoms,
The moon spilling light onto packs
Of men. What is sadder than witless
Wolves, wind without borders,
Nationless birds, small gifts
Laden with love’s intentions?

Fistfuls of rain fall hard, fill
My heart with mud. An old wind
May still come chasing in.
Resurrection fire. And me here
Laughing like a cloud in trousers,
Entreating the earth to bury me.

“Poetry really is the cure.
When we stop jabbering long enough to listen to what is going on around, among, and inside us—and we have someone to help us put that into the fewest, truest words available to us—the air clears and the aliveness flows through all the spaces in between.”

— Barbara Brown Taylor

The Herbcrafters Tarot

Hard Knot

Gather up simple tools of lifeways - teapot, herbs, kettle to cook in -
Pestle to grind away at the hard knots of rumination -
Carried communion - linen shroud will cover ignorance -
Heat - steam dilates a question to essential point - it simmers -
Distillation - contemplation - excavation - dig into marrow -
Embrace internal wisdom of priestess - people’s wisdom is not captured -
Turmeric - earthen colorway - warmth carried - dyed escape across oceans -
If rooted footsteps find - possible freedom - embodied -
Road side mandalas created - sign posts of what is to come - measured -
Forgotten - disagreement etched into memory - permanence -
Hat removed - carry the tablets across arid landscape -
Sweat pours down furrowed brow - rankled - wronged - wretched -
Blood pools - ask the question - another moon night glimmers across - Time -

~Linden of The Bone Lines

The Herbcrafters Tarot

Today the Moon is in Virgo. Wednesday is named for the god Woden, who is paralleled with the Roman god Mercury - both gods shared attributes of eloquence, the ability to travel, and the guardianship of the dead. The gods Woden (also known as Odin) and Mercury have been associated since Scandinavian and Roman cultures crossed paths. Under Woden’s supervision, the earth and sky were created from the dead body of a giant named Ymir. Woden also created the first man and woman from an ash tree and an alder. Woden also established the laws of the universe. Mercury was the messenger of the gods, alson with being the patron of science, the arts, travelers, and athletes.

Of course words, story, myth and meaning have a wide ranging deep well to draw from for our own lifeways. Creating our life as its own story or myth, is a magical way to live. It is not escapism but, a very intentioned way to live. We can work with a story for a period of time - to see what bubbles up from its essence. One way of working with story and biography is too look at images. When we take in an image in a dream like gaze - its own journey may begin to unfold.

Artistic Exercise: Browse through the images here today. Slowly look through the photographs and find one that your eye is particularly drawn into. You can begin by just gazing at the image. Perhaps save the image and print it out to look at a later time. Write down some quick impressions. What awakens in you. Write about a time in your life that this image reminds you of. It can begin as an exact moment - later switching to a bit more abstract.

Does the time in your life that you are recalling relate to the image in a particular way? Look more closely at both the image and what is coming up in your minds eye. Write this down. Perhaps a story begins to form. This is an activity to help you wander through your own storied life. Attempt to write in a continuous fashion without editing as you go. What is showing up? How does this resonate with your life today? Are you feeling good - are you feeling badly? Bring to the page what is speaking to you the most in this moment. The importance of looking at this later on can reveal hidden layers of beauty and surprise for you. I hope that this finds helpfulness for you. You also might explore an image with a particular idea in mind. Sort of like an oracle today. What does your business need more of from you currently? At the upcoming family gathering - how might this image give you some new ideas to approach a challenging family member?

* Remember as always - take good care of yourself with these Biography Exercises. Keep going as long as feels comfortable. Try to take a break and come back to the image and exercise later on if you are feeling discomfort - that you feel unable to handle. Ask for support if you need it. Please do not attempt to work with emotional feelings that feel too overwhelming for you to handle alone. Find a trusted support person.

*I think that we are resilient beings. All people deserve the right to self exploration and creative expression. Trust in yourself. The resources for this are not always present. These exercises I offer here are for you to work with on your own - in the privacy of your own space. See what comes from them. Part of developing resiliency in a time when resources are often lacking is finding ways to self-develop in strength. Of course mental health support is often needed and required. However, as human beings - for millenia humans offered care to one another. A time may come in the future when - we have developed ourselves enough - to hold one another in caring support. I trust that you will do what is needed for you in this time.

““Story, as it turns out, was crucial to our evolution — more so than opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs let us hang on; story told us what to hang on to.” ”

— Lisa Cron

The fire will hold you. It is an elemental part of who we are. We work with our story of our own life - our biography. As we find embers to work with - the bits of our life story that need tending - it is a gift of warmth of what often appears to us. May the home fires create a warm place for you to gather your thoughts.

House Garden
thread and thistle weave a story of being - sky blue dome is my roofed thinking - legacy channeled into foundation of soil - in our belief of small, insignificant - an entire life can be moved through or along - not held back by stationary movement - the questions formed are of a great magnitude - slightest breath flutters an oath or a path of hurricane.

thoughts found wily enough without brittle contemplations - doldrum might ask you if you have yet climbed Dolomites - travel inward toward essential nutrients - searching horizons anew brings renewed sense of lack - leanings into immediate surroundings arch over the bridge you forgot to cross.

sense of pace rises and falls again in the light of your eyes - weed ways grow to keep moisture in thought reveals - color ways are wefted stories that hold where imagination ables - the mythic fable is your life way - held in close proximity to shimmering beauty of - just beyond - presently a home garden is where you will natively grow a set of beeing wings - you don’t need saving - I will catch threads entangled.

~thebonelines

I traveled to a garden of a different kind this week. The Farmers Daughter in Rhode Island is a beautiful garden place and nursery. It is one of my favorite places to go for plants - inspiration - friendship - imagination - wonder. The plant keepers there are friends that have grown over time - just like all my plants from this wonderland.

Gymnocarpus physocarpa, or Hairy Balls is in the milkweed family. Of course the name makes me laugh inappropriately! This plant makes me smile whenever I see it. It is also stunning to see up close. Here is some information about Hairy Balls from The Garden Diaries if you want to try growing it.

This change in the season here in New England is generally quite short. It sneaks up on you and suddenly we have the woodstove fired up - yesterday while the rain drizzled down all day. When it reaches the high 40’s F here at night, a woodstove fire is needed to take the chill off of an old 1700’s house.

It seems that many people like to decorate during this autumn time - especially with gourds, dried grasses, obligatory mums, and of course the wide variety of pumpkins available. I tend to love the misshapen, wonky, bumpy, other than orange colored ones. Even if I don’t purchase many, I love to look at them and run my fingers over a few with especially fancy characters. I think one way to enjoy the season can be to go and have a look at garden nurseries - botanical gardens - parks - or a walk or drive around your area. It isn’t necessary to purchase something. Drinking in others celebratory decor can provide us with a fill of beauty - if we don’t have the money or do not want to purchase more. If you do decide to purchase decorations - it would be useful to buy from your local farmers and perhaps decor could be made from items in nature. It does not have to be costly. A lovely dried branch stuck in a bottle you have on hand is just perfect.

A cart full of sugar pumpkins is the perfect autumn image. When you walk down the pathway and are greeted by such an abundance of orange in this old fashioned vintage cart - I feel full, and joyful and there is a sort of contentment that the simple things in life are available to us. Just a simple note with the price for you to step right up and pick out an orange pumpkin treasure. It is just the right small size to sit on a window sill. Things do not always need to be big and fancy. Small and simple can be just as satisfying.

In a time of life when we might wallow in lack, worry, trepidation about the world - the earth - finding ways to celebrate in quiet ways is helpful. The big fancy celebrations are wonderful of course! If we find smaller ways to celebrate and ritualize our daily lives - imbuing magic into them - life can begin to take on a festive and meaningful practice as we walk through the obligations that we hold.

Begin to find ways that make life feel sacred and meaningful to you. Of course this is different for everyone. For me here at The Bone Lines - finding meaning is a daily practice. It is not always the same and what is needed has varied over the years. Seeking small and doable moments will begin to build up a Life Way of living a breathing magical story. Your life is a biography. Imagine living in what is most important to you. Don’t let too much time pass. If a tiny inspiration catches you on an inbreath - try to pay attention to what is calling to you. Creating a meaningful and magical life is where The Bone Lines tromps along. Cinch up your skirts or belt up your pants - being land pirates of our lives is so much fun!