I am honoured to have written another guest post for the Abbey of the Arts, which was published yesterday: As a contemplative photographer I thought I knew quite a bit about light and brightness, shadow and darkness. It appears I was wrong. During 2020 and 2021 a series of COVID-19 ‘Lockdowns’ have been offering meContinue reading “a monk in the world of 2021”
Tag Archives: darkness
Beltaine 2021: skywatching in colour
The eye of the great God, The eye of the God of glory, The eye of the King of hosts, The eye of the King of the living, Pouring upon us At each time and season, Pouring upon us Gently and generously, Glory to thee, Thou glorious Sun. Glory to thee, thou Sun, Face ofContinue reading “Beltaine 2021: skywatching in colour “
Epiphany 2021
Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still rememberwhat we have forgotten,that the world is meant to becelebrated. Terry Tempest Williams I wonder if I can help ‘heal the worldContinue reading “Epiphany 2021”
Christmas Day 2020
O Colors of Earth, anoint me and robe me with all the attributes I need for my life work: purple for wisdom, meditation, transformation and spirituality; red for passion, energy and courage; blues and greens for calm restfulness, balance, healing, hope, serenity, and contemplation; golden yellows for optimism and joy, lucidity, compassion and illumination, andContinue reading “Christmas Day 2020”
Christmas Eve 2020
Here, where the rivers dredge upthe very stone of Heaven, we name its colors—muttonfat jade, kingfisher jade, jade of appleskin green. And here, in the glitteringhues of the Flemish Masters, we sample their wine;rest in their windows’ sun warmth,cross with pleasure their scrubbed tile floors.Everywhere the details leap like fish— bright shardsof water out ofContinue reading “Christmas Eve 2020”
day 25
I was afraid that with their blocks of concrete the skyscrapers might wound the dawn. But you ought to see how sensitive they are to the morning light, how they disarm and lose their cutting edge and steely soul! They too are caught in the irresistible spell of the holy hour when the whole naturalContinue reading “day 25”
feeling blue
(all images by Kate Kennington Steer) I put on some music, trying to catch a mood, but the invented rhythms do nothing. So I listen instead to the cackle and spit of the fire, the roar and hiss of the rain, the howl and whip of the wind and ah, yes, there it is. ‘MoodContinue reading “feeling blue”
Blue Christmas 2020
The twilight turns from amethyst To deep and deeper blue, The lamp fills with a pale green glow The trees of the avenue. The old piano plays an air, Sedate and slow and gay; She bends upon the yellow keys, Her head inclines this way. Shy thought and grave wide eyes and hands That wanderContinue reading “Blue Christmas 2020”
day 21
Your green all dissipated and dissolved, you part company with freshness and sap, suddenly alone and falling. Down and down, lower you swoop, till the ground greets you. Different colours are yours now, burnished golds and reds, as though the sunset of your days has painted itself on your canvas. The light shines through yourContinue reading “day 21”
day 19
Other incarnations, of course, consonant with the environment he finds himself in, animating the cells, sharpening the antennae, becoming as they are that they, in the transparency of their shadows, in the filament of their calculations, may, in their own way, learn to confront the intellect with its issue. And his coming testified to notContinue reading “day 19”
