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.
The Month of Joyful DedicationJuly 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 […]
Encaustic “River of Joy” by Pat Heck SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: This Month’s Joy Ride visiting the world and people of the Darling River of Australia, chosen primarily for its name, rich with stories and heritage, must be postponed. Our beloved captains, Patti Kaufman and Pat Heck, are facing physical challenges which demand […]
Excursion Four: Growing Joy The Month for Joyful Acceptance and Acknowledgment May 1 – June 9, 2022 we are saying thank you faster and faster, with nobody listening we are saying thank you thank you we are saying, and waving dark though it is. W. S. Merwin For our excursion this month we go from […]
The Month of Joyful Awareness March 22 – April 30, 2022 EXCURSION THREE: DISCOVERING JOY EVERYWHERE If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. – William Blake We will discover more about cleansing the doors of perception this month through the practice of becoming Joyfully Aware, […]
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 […]