ItвЂ™s fascinating to discover that the communications and songs of whales can travel hundreds, even thousands of miles in deepest oceans. In April this year we visited and could still see the destruction everywhere and had the chance to hear stories of survivors. November 8th 2018 was the day when wild fires raced through the town of Paradise in California in a catastrophic way. Sometimes there are moments in silence when suddenly we see again those things that have become lost and shrouded in mist, like Mount Ararat. Sometimes it seems unlikely, often unrecognizedВ or ignored but IвЂ™m so glad that it comes afresh to our troubled world. Sitting in darkness and the miracle of transformation happens again. Perspective changes, walking with angels. WeвЂ™re hearing a different drumbeat others donвЂ™t hear, glimpsing the new vision, fully aliveвЂ¦.ДЄt last I clearly see these far horizons. ThereвЂ™s a new invitation for us to explore. This journey takes us upwards, always upwards, and then we emerge to see this new landscape spread before us. Through the storms and darkness this guiding light is still shining out. The most important journey is our journey home. New song rising but we will never forget. Into a world where everything had changed. Wild flowers and the singing of the birds. When the sound of grief was heard on high. When the raven stalked the evening skies. When the winds of death blew through the streets. Now we are living in the midst of such days Everything we thought was normal is no longer normal, but as we know вЂќThis too shall passвЂ¦вЂ¦.вЂќ

Sometimes there are days when we wake up and know that everything has changed. And sometimes for us too the tide suddenly goes out, and we waitвЂ¦.And so the movements of hearts and livesвЂ¦вЂ¦.

You can smell it in the air, feel it in the sand. You know that feeling when the tide has gone out! Everything has changed. Travelling light to the Gate of Awakening. Some of us on journeys taking us to places we donвЂ™t even want to be on, but thereвЂ™s always another journey we can go onвЂ¦. Some walking the old pilgrim roads across Europe. Some of us in exile, some of us in confinement again. In this time of transition and deep uncertainty and when we cross the threshold into the new season, may we yet find that вЂќstill point in the turning worldвЂќ that is waiting for us even in these wild wetland placesвЂ¦. Then days come when tectonic plates shift This poem was written as a collaboration with artist Linda KellyвЂ™s painting вЂќGold, Frankincense and Myrrh, The Art of SufferingвЂќ Sometimes there are moments in the meeting place between the ordinary and the extraordinary when these unexpected encounters come.

Wings of fire storm of sands