Welcome to my inaugural Substack article! I wear a lot of different hats, which you’ll see when you get to the tagline, and I’ve wanted a place where I can talk about all of them, and weave my work together. I’m a Peacemaker. It’s not where I started out, and there have been a lot of stops and starts along the way, but it is my soul work. Everything I’ve done has simply been honing focus, discerning my values, and developing skills to put my work out in the world. As I continue to post, you will see where my journey has taken me, and why Sacred Village is always home. Somewhere along the way, I turned into a Peace Bard — wandering the world creating ritual to form small sacred villages around people, family, communities and Nature and the World; experimenting with different writing styles, from Prose to Poetry; composing and performing Music; calling people’s attention to the Beauty and Wonder of this World; and exploring differing ways of creating communities of Peace.
Let’s start with a central understanding: Peace is not the opposite of War – or its absence. Peace is its own path: it is invitational — there is always room for others to join; it is aware and present; it is deeply serious and wildly joyful; it is complicated (complex?) and stunningly simple; it is both sacred sanctuary and wild dancing. Peacemaking, walking the Peacepath, is a journey of discovery surrounded by friends and colleagues, where safe, sane, encouraging space is created. How do we do that? Trial and Error. Together. Giving ourselves Grace when we mess up.
When I started thinking about this – years and years ago – I was writing poems and prayers, and thinking about a sacred village. We were just finding out about how the internet worked to connect us. I was wondering what a Global Sacred Village might entail and how I might serve and support it. We had to discover if, where and how community could be formed around the desire to live a dedicated life — not apart from the world as some religious traditions would style such a life, rather a life connected to other like-hearted, -souled, -minded people, in our own Sacred Village and in one across spreading across the world.
This desire to make Peace and invite connection has only become more urgent for me, particularly as a White, American Woman living in these unsettled times. Particularly as a Priestess, who knows the value of ritual in establishing and connecting community. Particularly as a Poet, who understands her work to be inviting the world to notice the offered Beauty that sustains and delights us. And, particularly as a Chaplain, whose work is to offer safety and assurance to those who are wounded, in need of healing, or at the end of their journeys.
In this broken world we inhabit, and despite my having little or no affiliation with the Catholic Church, I am always interested in the work the Popes undertake, because they are among the few really public figures who call us to spiritual paths and value-driven lives. Pope Francis had been a beacon in his call to heal the rifts that separate us. My worry, as we waited for the conclave to be decided, was that we had lost a voice for Peace and Justice and might not have a new voice lifted. But Pope Leo was “elevated,” and on his first Sunday, he proclaimed this: “Never again war!” I was so pleased. Here is a voice strong enough to speak on the world stage for an end to the wildfires of greed and hatred spreading across our planet, claiming lives and ruining our ecosphere. I wrote this in my daily musing:
Leo’s becoming Pope, claiming a name that stood for Social Justice and rights for the People, is hugely hopeful. But then I remembered. I was allowing myself to sink into a false dichotomy, one that is so easy, so seductive, which is to equate the absence of war with Peace. Peace is a discipline of its own. It is challenging and complicated, and yet simple enough that everyone can choose to put themselves on its path. The next day, I wrote this:
I write about the Peace process every day, as I write my daily 14-line Peace Musings. Peace is an invitation rather than a negotiation. It looks at what is possible rather than fixating on what we cannot accept. Negotiations may well be what we need to end war. But creating Peace is altogether different. Creating Peace means asking what do you need to thrive? It means acknowledging that our joint task is ensuring the well-being of children, women, and men and of all creatures! It means caring for the Earth as well as for the People. It means discerning how we find Joy together and comfort in knowing that, even if we’ve chosen a fairly solitary life, we are not alone.
Peace is Possibility. We’re so well trained in this world to default to criticism. “Can’t do that!” “That won’t work.” “People will hate it.” We so often respond to suggestions of thinking Peacefully defensively. We don’t always show people — and maybe we don’t think this through — that Peacemaking is a well-thought-out, well-structured process (ok, that often starts from a wild what-if idea!) that requires all of us to offer input and labor. Peace isn’t something that someone else can do. Your participation is required.
What do you think? Could you possibly be a Peacemaker? Could you choose Peace as your primary value? How would your life be enriched by knowing, each day, you were changing the world to make it saner, safer, happier, simply by using your sweetest gifts for the benefit of all?
Salaam, Shalom, Peace, and Blessed Be!