Month by Month Reflections for the Year of Joy.
Nine Goddesses to Nurture Nine Steps on the Path of Joy
This Year of Joy calendar gathers nine steps along the Path of Joy into nine months, composed of four ten-day weeks. The weeks invite you to explore joy through each of the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air, which can be experienced as metaphors – the fires of passion, for example, or the tears of sorrow – as well as richly concrete in themselves. The nine months, 360 days, come to an end on December 26, leaving five intercalary days before the Year for Joy begins again on January 1.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES OR TITLES below to read the full month’s reflection.
Welcome to the River of Joy, 2022 “Faith is the courage to say yes to life.” —Paul Tillich “River Dance,” encaustic by Pat Heck EXCURSION TWO: SEEKING—AND FINDING—JOYFUL BELIEFS February 10 to March 21 During these forty days afloat on the River of Joy, we explore what seems possible and feels rewarding to believe about […]
Welcome to 2022 This is your invitation to embark ona year-long excursion,nine months, each forty days long,afloat on the River of Joy.Our journey takes us toward a deep dive into the Ocean of Bliss. “River Dance,“ encaustic by Pat Heck EXCURSION ONE: EXPLORING THE SOURCES OF JOY To begin your voyage, you are invited […]
Holy Days of the Lady’s Year for Joy We have miraculously arrived at the end of a wild ride – through the extremes of joy and sorrow carried on the winds of 2020. For the year’s fierce (though sometimes tender) teachings, I give thanks. May I understand, embrace, and metabolize these teachings in ways that […]
The Month for Joyful Service, Joyful SharingNovember 17 – December 26, 2021 If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.—Meister Eckhart Greetings and Thanks to the Natural World a daily thanksgiving inspired by the Onondaga Nation, Haudenosaunee GREETINGS and THANKS to each other as people TO THE EARTH mother of […]
Joy in the World The Month of Joyful Transformation October 8 – November 16, 2021 “Turn Me To Gold”Kabir exhaustedMany yogic alchemiesBut found noneLike the Lord’s love: If even one dropEnters your bodyYour whole beingTurns to gold. -From Andrew Harvey’s Turn Me To Gold: 108 Poems of Kabir The Great Goddess – that Beingness whom […]
Joy in the World The Month of Joyful Remembrance August 29 – October 7, 2021 What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the side streets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon. In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into […]
Joy in the World The Month of Remaining Dedicated to Joy July 20—August 28, 2021 All Aboard for the Joy Bus I’m willing to climb onto your bus of joy and love this day. I’m willing to stop where you want to stop. I’m willing to get off where you might need me to do […]
Joy in the World The Month for Practicing Joyful Presence June 10 – July 19, 2021 Ah, not to be cut off,not through the slightest partitionshut out from the law of the stars.The inner—what is it?if not intensified sky,hurled through with birds and deepwith the winds of homecoming. — Rainer Maria Rilke It is enchanting […]
Joy in the World The Month for Accepting and Acknowledging Joy May 1 – June 9, 2021 Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. –Marcel Proust Endless opportunities for growing joy in the world reveal themselves to us (in the Northern […]
Joy in the World The Month for Cultivating Awareness of Joy March 22 – April 30, 2021 “Why do I see the heron and the woodpecker and the orange salamander when I go into the forest? Because they are beautiful to me. I desire them, and love, far from being blind, has hawk’s eyes. Here […]