By Celia Coates One of the reasons we enjoy stories is that they often allow us to see beyond our own lives. We can envision events and characters that are different from what’s familiar and imagine new possibilities for how things might be. We can get these glimpses without plowing through dense texts or attending…
Category: Wisdom
Dorothy Walters, Mystic and Poet
by Celia Coates Dorothy Walters, Mystic and Poet Word came this week of the death of Dorothy Walters. She was born on March 17, 1928 and became a professor of English literature who also helped to found one of the earliest women’s studies programs while at Wichita State University in Kansas. In 1981 her life,…
Sacred Sites and Earth Energies
By David Yarrow For nearly fifty years I have traced water veins, mapped water flow systems, located wells for friends, learned about ley lines and earth energies, and discovered vortexes and sacred spaces. I have spent thousands of hours walking fields and woods studying how water and energy form networks on and under the land….
On Science and Wonder
In March of 2021, Garvin McCurdy published “A Boffin and Subtle Energies”. He wrote that in calling himself a “boffin” he was using a World War II term for “useful nerd”. It would be a good idea to read the post so you can learn he is so much more than that: http://www.WINNpost.org/2021/03/05/a-boffin-and-subtle-energies/ Like the…
Fallen Heroes and Healthy Egos
By Brian Luke Seaward When Joseph Campbell travelled the world collecting stories, myths, and fables that solidified his understanding of what he called The Hero’s Journey, he was made aware of the occasional hero who was caught up in the glory of the quest, overtaken by greed, and who refused to complete the journey by…
What Do You Treasure?
By Celia Coates Katherine Rundell has written a short article about real treasure. I can only include a few quotes here, but her essay is so lyrical and to-the-point that it would be good to read all of it – if you can – in the magazine NEW SCIENTIST. (“Another Sort of Gold”, 22 October…
The Opposite of Fear
By Celia Coates How are you feeling these days? What kind of mood have you been in? When I asked myself these questions, I couldn’t answer right away, but then discovered I was feeling an edge-y restlessness that was really a form of fear. There are so many things to be alarmed about – the…
More Than One World
By Celia Coates I was reaching for a large book on my shelves when I noticed a small, rather ragged paperback with the title BETWEEN TWO WORLDS – and an author named Nandor Fodor. I opened it , saw that it had been published in 1964 (no wonder it was ragged) and then I read,…
Wisdom From Fractals
by Celia Coates Last week Brenda Molloy sent an email that I wanted to open immediately. Brenda is an artist who works with fractals to create stunningly beautiful images. (You can find her two earlier posts by clicking on “By Author” at the top of the Home Page.) In the email she wrote, “This week…
What Is It Like To Be A Bat – Revisited
By Celia Coates First, I’d like to bring forward a post that was published in October of 2019. “What is it like to be a bat?” is the question headlining an editorial in a recent issue of NEW SCIENTIST. It continued, “Philosopher Thomas Nagel’s 1974 question has evolved to dominate our thinking on consciousness. Nagel’s point, simply…
What Do You Want?
by Celia Coates In this country we are in trouble with wanting. There are still too many people who are in want – they don’t have enough food, or safety, or health care, or the other basics of life in a rich country. Actually, they are in need. It’s more than want. Then there’s a…
The Spartans, The Stoics, and Harry Potter
by Celia Coates My mind was on a ramble the other day with my thoughts wandering from the question of what makes a good person, to what values are in fashion in this 21st Century, and then on to the story of the young Spartan who chose to die rather than face discovery. That’s a…