Pulling threads

Notes and news from the present moment, on its swift way to becoming past.

Sky Mandala Silks
Rami Rami

Sky Mandala Silks

I have selected a handful of photographs from the vast collection of images collected in #skyproject, and reflected the sky back upon itself. As images of the sky in their random gorgeousness are mirrored, kaleidoscopic, soft-edged artworks in pattern emerge: SKY MANDALAS.

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Milkweed Birdbreast
Rami Rami

Milkweed Birdbreast

…All those seeds, ready to be borne on the wind, ready to be born as new green and flowering plants just a few months hence…

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For the Time Being
Teaching Rami Teaching Rami

For the Time Being

Time, oh time … I am a time-being, a being in a complex relationship with time. Who among us is not?

I grieve the speed of time flying … except in October.

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art for peace
Poiesis Rami Poiesis Rami

art for peace

I am delighted to announce that these unusual art objects were selected for display in the Art for Peace Exhibit at the Textile Museum the weekend of September 24–25, 12pm–7pm.

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a fresh start
Teaching Rami Teaching Rami

a fresh start

I was reading yesterday in the I Ching, hexagram 32. Hêng, or “Duration.” This hexagram is made of two trigrams: The Gentle / Wind, below, and The Arousing / Thunder, above. How fascinating that two such dynamic natural forces, combined, could yield an association with union and constancy! But in this iconography, the explanation goes:

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the gifts of summer
Teaching Rami Teaching Rami

the gifts of summer

So quickly this July is flying! And so many friends literally flying, springing free, outbound on wings of metal, after these strange years of such restricted movement. It is a gift to move freely when we have felt bound.

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Winter Solstice
Teaching, Poiesis Rami Teaching, Poiesis Rami

Winter Solstice

I have added a Winter Solstice meditation session to the calendar, on Tuesday, December 21, 2021. Join us! Also coming soon — the end of year mini-retreat — and in January, our weekly Winter meditation session is open for signup.

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Turn the Year Retreat
Teaching, Poiesis Rami Teaching, Poiesis Rami

Turn the Year Retreat

A Winter Solstice Mini-Retreat
8:30–9 :30 a.m. December 27–31, 2021

As each calendar year ends, on the heels of Winter Solstice, I make a point to mark the transition with intention. There is something so delicious about retreats at this time of year. I find a sense of newness emerges by paying attention to how the natural world changes with the season, and dropping into resonance with that. There is an inward quality to the season of winter, and an outward quality to our holiday celebrations. With tempering and balance, this can be a rich time of rest, and if we are lucky, a deeply generative quality can be found in these dark, cold days.

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Inspire / Respire
Rami Rami

Inspire / Respire

inspire … to fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative;

respire … to recover hope, courage, or strength after a time of difficulty.

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Familiar Ground
Rami Rami

Familiar Ground

It was so wet, and varied, as it is there in November. Such dynamic skies! The rain and wind and mist, the drama — things I know, deeply, but after such a long time away, my embodied perspective has shifted. I saw anew the scale of hills and mountains, and the hovering, dawn-coloured light that hugs the horizon’s mist for most of each day. Cedar and salt. A northern, maritime, rainforest place.

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Notes on Blues
Poiesis Rami Poiesis Rami

Notes on Blues

Picasso: Painting the Blue Period, at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

When I was about the same age Picasso was when he made these works, the Blue Period was my favourite. I was not alone — while Picasso could not sell them when they were new, they eventually became hugely popular. There is much to appreciate in the exhibit, yet as I view the work now, I do not have the same love for this Blue Period that I once did.

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Giving the Monkey a Job
Rami Rami

Giving the Monkey a Job

As I sustain a meditation practice over many years, I notice that there are similar mind-states that show up in day-to-day life. A formal, silent and still practice has helped me get better at noticing subtle shifts in states of mind, but those states of mind are not attached only to sitting meditation.

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