The path was at times an open road of joy,

at others a steep and bitter track of stones and pain.

How could we know the joy without the suffering?

And how could we endure the suffering

but that we are warmed and carried on the breast of God?

told me as one of her kinsfolk

that everything that exists, including our Earth Mother,

is going to return to the perfection that they are,

in the uppermost and highest heaven.

We can now celebrate the "Age of Cherishing Waters"

that is in the time ahead.

So Be It!

from an era of materialism, to an era of the mind, to a millennium of life--

the latter an era in which reverence for life, for its utter dignity and sanctity,

is the absolute standard against which other, relative values are judged.

a wild, blissful dance, a paean of beat and bone and breath and blood.

It's a dance driven by spirit, fueled by spirit.

It rocks me in the world beat, whipping me into ten thousand shapes.

I reel from blue dance to elbow dance to fiery, funky, free dances.

Like a prayer wheel, I spin in the winds of time;

in the downbeat of the mother, in the dark heart of prayer,

I soak in the mystery.

And I do this for you and me and everybody we know and those we don't know.

It's my offering.

Inside my cathedral of bones, my blood pulses, my skin tingles with sweat--

pounding heart, swirling breath--

and, for a moment, I remember:

God is the dance.

struggled with confusion, battled with apathy and disillusion,

confronted my beliefs again and again until I thought I would drown in sorrow;

and yet, here I am, on the dawn of a new millennium,

profoundly informed by all life and love.

I am ready to take the next step.

Yet this time, I am filled with calm and grace,

I feel less fear than ever before,

I have learned compassion in spite of myself,

I do talk to the trees and listen to the wind,

and I am waiting for instructions.

Don't get it dirty with greed.

It is not too late to clean it.

Just as the health of a forest or fragrant meadow can be measured

by the number of different insects and plants and creatures

that successfully make it their home,

so only by an extraordinary abundance

of disparate spiritual and philosophic paths

will human beings navigate a pathway

through the dark and swirling storms that mark our current era.

Spirit of the earth we walk upon,

Spirit of the universe.

We have come to a crossroad,

to a time when every word matters,

to a time when we must reevaluate ourselves and our actions.

Our heart is fragile

our body is shivering in front of the unknown

our back is heavy with past burdens

burdens we do not know how to be rid of.

We ask that you shower us once again with love and compassion

make peace rain on our heart and soul

teach us how to see each other with a brand-new eye

help us to appreciate and welcome each other.

We need your blessings to move on,

we need your strength to make it through this time of turbulence.

Ancestors, hold us up in your peace and warmth.

in humanity's four-million-year history

has emerged a new awakening,

a new search for our place in the evolutionary journey of life on earth.

For two centuries, our civilization has striven

to perfect the technology, economics, and culture of domination.

In the closing decades of the twentieth century,

we have learned to hear the voices of those who speak

for the forests, rivers, and oceans.

Let us raise our voices.

Let us cry out to all the earth-loving people around the globe

and become a united voice for healing cooperation

and a peaceful, more compassionate future.

or the one beyond that

they say,

are valleys, pastures.

We can meet there in peace

if we make it.

To climb these coming crests

one word to you, to

you and your children:

stay together

learn the flowers

go light.