Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series,
romantic women’s fiction with light paranormal elements. My stories show you
what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are
unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support,
you make choices to overcome the darkest nights and choose love and light.
My series The Sacred Women’s Circle is a good fit for this month’s topic which is sacred.
The main characters come together to create their own spiritual practices
that resonate with their views of the world.
We are
all part of the Divine. We
are all sacred.
And what is we? All that is and that includes the
rocks and trees as well as animals and plants.
At the time I wrote these
stories I didn’t know about animism. When I heard Colette Baron-Reid talk
about being an animist, I realized both my characters and I are animists. Animist (n), Animism (v), Animistic (adj)
Definition: Attribution of conscious life to objects in and phenomena
of nature of inanimate objects.
I’m not sure if all animists
talk to the trees, birds, rocks, flowers when out on a walk but they do
recognize a connection. We are all part of the Divine Matrix, Spirit, The
Universe, the God/Goddess, Higher Power – in other words, we are all part of
The Sacred.Mother Nature's Contribution to my Beach Birthday Party
That truth, for me, guides
much of my action. I see myself connected by sacred ties to people who are not
like me. Even people who don’t like me. Even people who spew hate instead of
love. Being an animist is who I am and impacts not just how I pray but also how
I interact in the ”real world”.
My questions
for you are these:
How would your
life be different if you saw yourself connected to all that is around you?
What would you
do different if you saw the people you disagree with, the people you fear as
not only connected to you, but part of the sacred?
If you not yet on my
mailing list, you can sign up for Choices here. I’ve
created a new free offering that includes the novella Sarah’s
Ankh along with the first chapter of Lily: The Dragon and The
Great Horned Owl. I hope you
enjoy them.
Look for my next non-fiction Yes, You
Can Create The Life You Love this fall.
All of my books are available at your favorite e-book vendor. Be sure to ask your local library if
you’d prefer to read my books through that resource.
Learn more about
Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series on her website JudithAshley.net
Follow Judith on
Twitter: JudithAshley19
Check out
Judith’s Windtree Press author page.
You can also
find Judith on Facebook!
© 2021 Judith Ashley
10 comments:
Hi Judith, Great post. I can see myself connected to all the natural world around me and that I truly am a viable part. With all the people, not so much at times. I probably need to work on that more. Perhaps that will be a New Year's resolution this year.
What an interesting post!
"How would your life be different if you saw yourself connected to all that is around you?"
I do feel connected to all that is around me. I am a part of the earth's ecosystem. I am also a member of humanity's evolving world-wide civilization. And I am a spiritual being learning and growing through acquiring virtues, gaining knowledge, serving others, practicing self-discipline, and through meditation and prayer.
"What would you do different if you saw the people you disagree with, the people you fear as not only connected to you, but part of the sacred?"
I do believe that every life is sacred, and that humans are able to grow and develop spiritually, but have been given free will. We all have different capacities for physical, mental and spiritual development. With free will, we can choose to work on developing each of our potentials as much or as little as we desire. We can let the animal side of our nature run wild and ignore the spiritual side completely. We can make mistakes. These beliefs help me to be more humble, less judgmental and more forgiving than I might otherwise be.
Thank you for making me think about these questions, Great post!
"How would your life be different if you saw yourself connected to all that is around you?"
I do feel connected to all around me. Whether it is the weather, the flora and fauna. I love the creatures and birds that come into our yard and feel a connection to all of them. My husband just unearthed a giant rock/boulder in the back yard and we both feel it is rejoicing being excavated from the earth to the sunshine. He named it Standing Rock.
"What would you do different if you saw the people you disagree with, the people you fear as not only connected to you, but part of the sacred?"
I have to think about this question.
Great post, Judith! It is your connection to all around you that I love and feel both in your words and deeds. You are one of the most loving spirits I have ever encountered.
I do feel a connection to all that is around me and, as many of said from the turn of the 20th century and still today, "“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star stuff.” (Attributed to Carl Sagan).
I am a physics and cosmology lover and that statement has always given me great admiration and pause that the creation of the universe is within me and every element I encounter, from rocks to plants, to all animal life including humans.
And to make that more expansive, I offer this quote from Neil DeGrasse Tyson, a modern astrophysicist who is a great communicator about the universe and our place in it.
What we do know, and what we can assert without further hesitation, is that the universe had a beginning.
"The universe continues to evolve.
And yes, every one of our body’s atoms is traceable to the big bang and to the thermonuclear furnaces within high-mass stars that exploded more than five billion years ago.
We are stardust brought to life, then empowered by the universe to figure itself out – and we have only just begun."
--Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
The first and last lines of that quote is what keeps me going in the days when I feel down or overwhelmed. First that the universe, also meaning me, continues to evolve. I cannot stay in one place, refusing to learn or refusing to change, or I will die. I and every other being on Earth and anywhere else life may be in the universe is trying to "figure itself out."
Being made of stardust is both weighty and freeing. I hope you find the same.
Intriguing post, Judith! On my walks, I talk to (what I call) spirit rock, lady in the cave, and head rock. I talk to the animals I come across. I actually do better with animals than people. I try to treat everyone as equals but there are some people that I can't rationalize. I don't hate them or love them, I just don't understand them.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, Dari. In my spiritual tradition, we all have a "dark side". Being able to embrace that side of me is part of the journey to accepting I am connected, a part of those with whom I disagree whether mildly or strongly. It is also something I must remind myself of as I go through my days when I'm confronted with that which I vehemently disagree.
Sarah, thanks for such thoughtful answers.
Diana, love your "Standing Rock" story. What a gift from Mother Nature to you both!
Maggie, I love "We are stardust brought to life". Carl Sagan and more recently Neil DeGrasse Tyson are people I've admired. Poets of physics and astronomy. The recent Nova series on The Universe was inspiring and to think we are all created from the same "stardust" that created the galaxies.
Paty, you have many more entities to speak to in some ways than I do. I've crows, trees, leaves and flowers, the occasional dog who is walking his/her human - and I always include the human. In my yard I have hummingbirds, the occasional woodpecker and flicker. I plan on purchasing a better small bird book so I can more easily identify those that visit me.
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