#6 Joyful Dedication 2022

The Month of Joyful Dedication
July 20 – August 28, 2022

Clearly discover your work and attend to it with all your heart.
–From the Buddha’s Dhammapada, translated by Anne Bancroft

Welcome to a time for rededicating ourselves – joyfully – to the work of fulfilling our life purpose, attending to it with grace and gratitude.

Our focus turns to Europe and a river named for the great mother goddess of that land, Danu. This is only one of many rivers named for Her throughout the continent. In the Celtic tradition, she is known as the mother of the gods.

So, in this month of Joyful Dedication, and Re-dedication, we invite our imagination to explore the Danube River as one of our Earth’s dynamic representatives of the River of Joy.

The Danube, this Mother Goddess River, rises waltzing from two rivers born of springs, and dances Her way through and past many countries to pour Herself into the legendary and mysterious Black Sea, as do the Don and the Dnieper, sister rivers also carrying the goddess’s name.

Our joyful task for this time is to recognize life purpose as the flowing music of this lifetime, pouring from us and through us, spreading its messages and melodies even through distraction and despair.

We each carry gifts that only we can give. They can be offered as enchantments, as a way of living, as a faith enacted, as songs sung and unsung.

This is our month for acknowledging these gifts as our life purpose and re-dedicating ourselves to the path that leads to fulfillment.

May it be a path filled with the joy of rivers.

May you feel the Mother Goddess blessing you, encouraging you, just as all the rivers bearing Her name bless an entire rich landscape.

Here She is in Ukraine. Some part of your life purpose/gift no doubt includes the power of prayer. May we remember and pray for the people of this country so committed and so dedicated to freedom and independence.

Engaging with the month of Joyful Dedication,
this is a powerful month for me personally,
as the two major streams of my life purpose join ecstatically together:
one, celebrating the Divine Feminine and
two, learning enough about Joy to practice Joy.

As I rededicate myself to these two streams,
I invite you to join me by sharing your own words or gestures of rededication, below.

Joy in the World. And in me.
Praise. Praise. Praise.