Are we reaching towards our better selves? How do we know if we’re evolving or devolving?

Ah, the maddening ambiguity of becoming! We’re never done. We like to think we are. But life challenges us continuously. Keep up. Change and adapt. Nature does this, constantly evolving, and so must we. I try to take my cues from Her. Even the darn coronavirus is evolving, creating new variants.

When it infected my able-bodied husband, it turned him into a hospital patient. To get better, his defenses had to kick in. Luckily he got the help he needed, and he wanted to get better. His body was able to keep evolving. Although his CT values (Cycle Threshold measurements) put him in the mortality category, he managed to regain his health. Finally well enough to leave Qatar, he flew home on Valentine’s Day. But now my son has it. In an LA quarantine facility, he does not yet know how mild or severe his case will be. Will it ever end? My friends are coping with suicides, house fires and heart attacks… My heart goes out to every one of them.

Michelle Obama reminds us how vital it is, to keep reaching forward, despite the struggles. They can make us stronger but we have to marshal all our forces. Her attitude helped her become our First Lady. Yet she wasn’t done when she moved into the White House or out of it. She has not rested on her laurels, expecting the struggles to cease. She remains dynamic, reinventing her Self, evolving, becoming.

As we seek to better ourselves, to evolve, our expectations have to sync up with the realities of life’s complexities. The struggles are constant and we need to be nudged into a continuous process of realignment, with Nature’s forces. I see this conundrum reflected in survivors and new students of the Wisdom Wheel. It is not some static set of materials one masters once to pass a single test. Ideally it becomes a dynamic companion, on our up, down, all around journeys. The Wisdom Wheel mirrors this cyclical process, nudging the evolution of our understandings, to support our becoming. But Nature and the Wheel can help us only as much as we consult them.  

The quadrants of the Wheel help structure these investigations. During this month of March, those using the 2021 Return to Wisdom planners are focusing upon the Self. We carry this theme around the circle to better understand others and ourselves. Each week we consider one of our four basic parts: mind, heart, body and spirit. While doing this, we’re also learning how the Wheel works. It encourages a continuous form of inquiry. With each completion of the circle, we add another layer of comprehension to our multidimensional map of reality.

We are studying the Self theme at the Surrender time of year on the Wisdom Wheel calendar. Our Pisces friends and family are celebrating their birthdays. One thing they’ve taught me about Surrender is not to give up, but to give over. I try to rely upon my spirit, soul Self when my ego/personality small self cannot take anymore. Some lessons make me laugh, like my Misfits surprises. Each week another box of organic produce arrives at our house from this company. Sure, I could email them, and control what comes by giving them my orders. Instead I’m practicing acceptance, another word for Surrender. How else would I learn to ask for golden beets? Until they showed up in my box, I’d never heard of them.

Likewise, no one thinks to ask for the Wisdom Wheel.

News & Events

As we were running out of Return to Wisdom 2021 planners at our online store we created a version to offer on Amazon.

Our virtual gatherings continue, for those using the planner journals, based upon the Wisdom Wheel. We started with Balance in January, discussed Awareness in February and Self is our theme for March.

Our Zoom gatherings are Wednesdays, March 10 and 24^th 6:30 pm EST. To join us contact wisdomwheelwoman@gmail.com for meeting ID. Your feedback helps us to refine future planners for 2022 and 2023 as we complete all 36 Laws, 12 each year.

Ceremonies Spring Equinox celebrations -the dates of the four day group Bear Fast are March 17 to 21.^st We continue to monitor the pandemic situation and collect information about the safety of allowing vaccinated people to attend. Check HOPE HOUSE Facebook page for updated news about this and other ceremonies.

Note to Readers:

For simplicity’s sake we have split these newsletters into two subject streams.

If you were on my original mailing list, you will continue to receive both issues bimonthly, unless you request a change.

The newsletters are archived on separate websites, each with its own mailing lists: www.thewisdomwheel.com and my author site https://cynthiafdavidson.com  

On Full Moons – like this one – the subject is the Wisdom Wheel.

On New Moons, books and writing are the focus.  Change is not easy! So share your thoughts with us.

“Evolution requires the evolution of our human consciousness. Consciousness cannot evolve unconsciously. Humanity’s evolution must involve our will, which cannot evolve involuntarily.” – G.I. Gurdjieff

— Cynthia F. Davidson

Wisdom Wheel

What touchstones are guiding you as this New Year dawns? Over twenty years ago that motto arrived to guide me, coming the way dreams do, from beyond my petty ego mind. I took it to heart. And so far it has steered me through two decades of work with the Wisdom Wheel. I hope your dreams come to steer you through this and every year.

This is the Renewal time of year on the Wheel. And Renewal is being demanded of us. We will each undergo some type(s) of Initiation. On this New Year, I recall what has worked during my prior crises, like the one that brought me to Rhode Island in 1999. Hindsight is 2020 as some say… After each crisis it is easier to appreciate what got us through.

Back in 1999, there was no way I could know how things would turn out when I took the risk and left my corporate career, my former marriage, and my commuter life behind. Off into the wilderness I went, with my little bag of touchstones. Only later can anyone clearly see what worked when facing so much doubt and ambiguity, and so I share what worked for me and hope you’ll share what works for you.

Our country is facing transformative challenges. Between the pandemic and the politics, all semblance of normalcy has been removed for so many. We need trustworthy guidance. When facing my personal crisis in my early forties, all I consciously knew was my crying need for sanctuary and certainty.

“The peace which passeth all understanding,” was my desire. To stop the demands upon me long enough to figure myself — and everything else — out sufficiently. This is familiar to anyone who has been in survival mode. You feel propelled to take action but unsure which choice to take. I wanted Mother Nature to instruct me. So I departed the cacophony and confusion of city and suburbs and returned to the wisdom of bedrock principles, the Universal Laws of existence. And I used them to rebuild my life, more solidly and surely.

Spirit guided me to Rhode Island, a state not previously on my radar. I settled on a small island, six miles long and two miles wide, in Narragansett Bay. Reachable only by ferry, this place became my crucible. The island’s old timers considered me crazy. “You’re moving here with three young children, when you know no one and have not a single relative?”

Yet I stayed, creating a modest spiritual retreat center, to share my need for sanctuary with others. I named my little wooden home Touch Stone Center. And I taught those who wanted to learn about the Wheel. For the next fifteen years many others gravitated to the island, by word of mouth, for vision quests and ceremonies. I remained there the longest of any place I have lived in my sixty six years. In 2014 we relocated to the mainland, but the Wheel, the ceremonies, and the teaching and writing have continued, in our new home, Hope House. Thanks to each of you who have come here.

News & Reviews

And a big shout out to all those who ordered our 2021 Return to Wisdom journal planners! We have increased our donations to healthcare workers and teachers. Your payments allow us to mail theirs free of charge.

This year you will learn more about these touchstones by being “on the same page” literally, with me. If you haven’t received the introduction items emailed to those on that list, contact me right away. And we apologize if your planner journal is stuck in the mail backlog. You are not alone. As we discovered after mailing them, many postal workers have the coronavirus, or need to quarantine. I resorted to hand delivering the local ones in Rhode Island.

Our twice monthly Zoom sessions start this January, on the Wednesday evenings 6:30 PM EST, on the 13th and 27th. Contact me for more info. We still have some planners and places left. CLICK HERE to purchase the 2021 planner.

The other big news is my volunteer job on the board at Story Circle Network which officially begins today! Please visit their newly revamped website to learn more. A wonderful group, I will say more about all this in next newsletter. In mid-March 2021 I’ll be offering my memoir writing course via SCN. So be on the lookout for more info in mid January edition.

Email me if you are interested in any of our ongoing Zoom groups:

• Every Saturday morning 10:30 am Westerly Writing group
• Every other Wednesday evening 6pm Book Writers group
• Every Monday evening 7pm Zoom Lodge

The next issue is my 50^th . We are going to celebrate by sprucing things up a bit. Starting with the next newsletter, the contents will be slightly altered. They are becoming a bit too long. You won’t have to do anything about your subscription, but from now on the Full Moon editions will be mostly about the Wheel, like this one.

And the New Moon (mid-month) editions will focus upon the writing work. This helps us divide the contents between the two websites: www.thewisdomwheel.com and author site cynthiafdavidson.com. Hope your New Year holds some happiness! Please write to tell me what you’re up to.

— Henry David Thoreau

Wisdom Wheel

Maybe it’s the other way around. Living in this world changes our beliefs. Which of your beliefs changed over the course of this tumultuous year? Glancing backwards over the past months of 2020, what strikes me are the links between our beliefs, our politics, the on-going pandemic, and its economic fallout. Americans have been shaken to our very cores. Sadly our beliefs and behaviors have caused us more suffering than many other nations. Prior to this December 9th would you have believed a novel coronavirus could claim 3,124 American lives in 24 hours? That is more than we lost on D-Day, Pearl Harbor or 9/11. Over 2,000 souls are departing each day now.

Would Thoreau be surprised to see our United States today? When he died in 1862, at age 44 of tuberculosis during our civil war, his passing went unnoticed. His writings did not catch on until the next century. Yet his focused time alone on Walden Pond, for instance, remains a prime example of what it means for an individual to consciously choose which beliefs to live by, and bear the consequences. In his “Civil Disobedience” essay he wrote, “I cannot for an instant recognize the political organization as my government which is the slave’s government also.” An abolitionist, Thoreau was protesting more than slavery by making the case that we citizens are obligated to refuse to cooperate with political injustice, even when it is the current law. Thinking deeply about the outcomes of his beliefs convinced him of the need for evolutionary change. The same can happen for us. Read more about Thoreau here.

At least the first Covid vaccine shipments are on their way. My nurse daughter in the Rhode Island field hospital will be among the first to receive it. I worry about any unknown, long term side effects since it was rushed to market. My beliefs, and my experiences in corporate ranks, leave me suspicious about ‘for profit’ medicine, and exploitive value systems, whether it’s big pharma or big oil.

During my decades in executive education – as a global management development consultant – I was stunned to discover how few business leaders could write a list of their beliefs or link them to their behaviors. This is another reason why I developed the Wisdom Wheel in 1996. I knew we needed help to do this work to clarify our values. Unless we understand the bedrock of our own beliefs, how can we know which ones we share with others, and discuss them?

One thing we can do at home, to improve things in our world, is to begin taking inventory of our beliefs. On a blank sheet of paper you can write down at least ten of your core beliefs. Then connect them to your behaviors. What behaviors have your beliefs produced? For example, by choosing to believe, “I could never write a book,” our actions will tend towards making this true. By the same token, we are free to believe the opposite, “I can learn to write a book.” And voilà we commit ourselves to the work and the books get written. By taking stock of your inherited value system, you can trace how all your words and deeds spring from those rocks and roots. And you can decide to make new choices.

News & Events

A hearty thank you to each person who has already ordered our Return to Wisdom 2021 journal planner, co-created with graphic artist, Rosanne Romiglio. More copies are still available for $27, plus shipping, as soon as they arrive from the printer. This agenda book will make a unique Christmas or birthday gift. It gently guides users on a 12 month tour of the first 12 Laws on the Wisdom Wheel, starting with Balance in January, ending with Integrity next December. Contact me to order.

Complete with directions, quotations and lunar cycles, this exploration of beliefs can be combined with our twice monthly Zoom discussions, a members only Facebook group, and series of emails. Resolve to track your behaviors in 2021. See if this theme of the month Journey helps you synchronize your inner hopes and outer actions. Contact me to attend our Question & Answer Introduction session on Zoom. We appreciate your interest. Reserve a seat. 

Apologies for any difficulties you may have with the previous link to the Company Matters musical in last newsletter issue. Try this link now. Watch for the 50% off Cooped Up Covid Christmas sale, on the recording of my husband Malcolm’s brand new musical comedy. The upbeat music and satisfying storyline will cheer you up. A Russian theatre producer has expressed interest in a stage performance. Yes, Malcolm had his musical translated into Russian because he worked there often in the last few years. Stay tuned for more about this.  

The online Zoom version of my popular workshop, Would I, Could I, Should I Write a Memoir? is coming in 2021, around March 15th. This six-week series is designed to give you an overview of the entire process. We won’t do much writing, although we may form an on-going group at the end, for those who decide to go for it! Bring me your questions and concerns, and I will help you make an informed decision, about the commitment to write book about your life. My course will take you from understanding the memoir genre, through conception, the (many!) drafts of the writing process, plus publishing, marketing and distribution options. I will tell you the unvarnished truth about what it took to write my award-winning memoir, The Importance of Paris. Email me to reserve your spot.

Despite the pandemic our Westerly writing group managed to get our 2020 anthology published. This year our title was HOMELAND. Each of us has about five pieces inside. Kudos to Wendy Bradford and Dyann Boudreau. They did so much work behind the scenes to make this happen. This is our second year publishing our own work and we’re planning next year’s already. This was our 2019 issue.

Email me if you are interested in any of our ongoing Zoom groups.

• Every Saturday morning 10:30 am Westerly Writing group
• Every other Wednesday evening 6pm Book Writers group
• Every Monday evening 7pm Zoom Lodge

Ceremonies

We sadly canceled our traditional Winter Solstice (sweat lodge) Purification ceremony, planned for Sunday December 20th. The ongoing surges, in coronavirus cases, continue to make it unsafe to include anyone. Our prayers will be joined with yours from afar. We will retire the Bear song until the Spring equinox. By then we hope to be able to celebrate the annual four day Bear Fast. As this hibernation season begins, don’t be afraid to go deep into dark, rich, fertile loam of the mythic imagination. On the Wisdom Wheel, this is the Renewal time of year, along with the birthdays of our Capricorn friends. Mark the start of the return to light. Check HOPE HOUSE Facebook page for any updates.

“I think of you as a voyager, someone who has to travel, to explore, to try something new and different and maybe explore the past to preserve the wisdom of what was – to match the wisdom of what is – to build the wisdom of what will be. I’m glad to be part of the exploration.“

— Dawn Robertson, founder of Strategic Change Resources

— Toby Ord, senior research fellow in philosophy at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, author of The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity

Wisdom Wheel

What fascinates you at the moment? What fascinates me is how we’re going to save ourselves. Our belief systems are at the root of all our behaviors. They contributed to this pandemic, for instance. To navigate our way out of it, and our other problems, we need to reconsider the basics of our social structures, in light of what ensures our lives, hopes, and futures. 

Like many others, I’m back under lockdown again. Given the dire news of our current situation, Toby’s suggestion we “write a constitution for humanity” and become “founding fathers and mothers of the future,” sounds rather lofty and far-fetched. But so did the bold language of the US Declaration of Independence, and our Constitution, during their day. 

Crises create changes. They clearly demonstrate what’s not working. How to “ensure we set a course towards achieving bright potential” when our state has just run out of beds under the surge of Covid patients? This morning my nurse daughter reported for work at a makeshift field hospital, nine months into this catastrophe. She just moved back in with us because she couldn’t find a safe room to rent in Providence. People don’t want to share their spaces with healthcare workers right now. My husband is currently in solitary confinement quarantine, eight time zones away, in the Middle East. He must remain in his room on the 20th floor of a hotel in Doha, Qatar for two weeks before being permitted to begin his eight week consulting assignment. We did not have the luxury of celebrating Thanksgiving together, and he’ll be missing Christmas and New Year’s…but at least he has work. 

In the face of all this, what good can the Wisdom Wheel do? It steadies me. I use it to steer through the chaos as Covid continues to test our stamina, characters, and coping mechanisms. Before the Wheel, I survived other rough patches in my life, but I am grateful for its very concrete guidance more than ever. Not feeling lost, and knowing we’re in the time of Choices, heading toward Renewal etcetera helps curb my impatience. 

Until Toby Ord suggested it, I had not considered the Wisdom Wheel and its 36 Universal Laws to be a potential constitution for humanity but it’s a great idea. The world needs to articulate a common set of beliefs. And these themes come from the ground up quite literally. That avoids the resistance to a top-down set of rules, imposed by force. 

This is both the strength and weakness of the Wheel. People have to want self-rule. And voluntarily choose to live by a shared code, which honors the needs of the many as well as the rights of each individual. 

I’d like to invite you to put the Wheel to the test. Is it a potential candidate for humanity’s constitution? Let’s conduct an experiment. Join our 2021 theme of the month Journey. Use our new planner journal to keep track. To participate, all you have to do is commit to live consciously by the Wheel’s first twelve Laws. And see if your daily life improves by applying them. We will share our findings, via email, and a members only Facebook group. Twice a month we will check in, via Zoom meetings, to discuss our discoveries and cheer each other on. Those who contact me for more information will receive an invitation to our Question & Answer Introduction on Zoom. Reserve a seat. Your interest is much appreciated.

News & Events

We are taking pre-orders for the 2021 Return to Wisdom journal planner, I co-created with Rosanne Romiglio. This agenda book makes a unique gift for Christmas or birthday. Now available for $27, plus shipping, it guides users on a 12 month tour of the Wisdom Wheel. Complete with directions, quotations and lunar cycles, it features one Law per month, starting with Balance in January. Easy to follow, it can track the results of applying these bedrock principles.

My husband Malcolm’s brand new musical comedy recording is now available. On sale, at half price, for the next few days, the upbeat music and satisfying storyline will cheer you up. 

The online version of my popular workshop, Would I, Could I, Should I Write a Memoir? is coming soon. This six-week series is designed to give you an overview of the entire process. From conception through the writing process, publishing and distributing, it will answer your questions and concerns about this genre. Find out if writing a book about your life is what you want to do. I will tell you the unvarnished truth about what it took to write my award-winning memoir, The Importance of Paris. Contact me to reserve a spot.

You can see samples of the writing by our Westerly writing group in HOMELAND, our 2020 anthology. We each have about five pieces inside. Kudos to Wendy Bradford and Dyann Boudreau who did so much behind the scenes to make this happen. This is the second year we have  gathered and published our own work. This was our 2019 issue.

Email me if you are interested in any of our ongoing Zoom groups.

• Every Saturday morning 10:30 am Westerly Writing group
• Every other Wednesday evening 6pm Book Writers group
• Every Monday evening 7pm Zoom Lodge

Ceremonies

Soaring coronavirus cases have made it unsafe to include anyone from outside our immediate household for this Winter Solstice ceremony, Sunday December 20th. Prayers will be said for all as we enter this season of hibernation. Check our HOPE HOUSE Facebook page for any updates.

“We the People… in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution...”

Wisdom Wheel

What are you doing to improve your understandings and reform the broken world we’ve inherited? The Choices we put our Faith in have rarely seemed more important. I am relieved the majority of my fellow citizens voted for change in these fractious elections, during a runaway pandemic, with our economy sputtering. Although the man in our White House still refuses to respect the will of the American people, reform is already underway.

Many of us are consciously joining the Transition Team – in its largest sense. Adapt or die. Those are stark Choices. But with every decision we make, even about mask-wearing or how to spend our Thanksgiving holidays, we are contributing to an upward spiral or a downward one.

Sadly I say this after just learning my primary care doctor has committed suicide. He was my age, 66, and had recently retired. When his obituary omitted his cause of death, it seemed odd. I had to contact colleagues to confirm my suspicions. Adapt or die. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, white, middle-aged males account for 70% of the nearly 50,000 suicides annually in the US. Men kill themselves at 3.5 times the rate of women. In view of these statistics, none of us can afford to follow those who despair to the point of death, who lack understanding, or the hope necessary to reform our broken world.

As our indigenous friends have always advised, think of the next seven generations when you consider the future and your Choices. To make wise decisions we need to align ourselves with evolutionary energies during these crucial days.

News & Events

Feeling the urgent need to reach out in solidarity with those who want to keep the spiral turning upwards, I have teamed up with an old friend and ceremonial sister, Rosanne Romiglio-Ashley. During her work to revamp my author website, we decided to collaborate on another project, Return to Wisdom. 

We’ve co-created a lovely planner journal for 2021. You will see it in the next newsletter. Designed to support users daily, every step of the way, it lays out 12 monthly themes that reinforce the Wisdom Wheel’s bedrock principles. This is one way to keep the spiral pointed upwards. Contact me if you want to reserve a copy. 

For those who choosing to follow its guidance, we will begin holding regular Zoom meetings, and online check-ins, starting January 2021. More about this program in next newsletter.

In the meantime, I want my fellow writers to know – in time for making your New Year’s resolutions – that I will be offering an online version of my popular workshop, Would I, Could I, Should I Write a Memoir? Instead of waiting to resume the in-person kind at my home, we will do it via Zoom, starting in January. There will be more information in the next newsletter but this course is designed to give you an overview. I will share what I wish I’d known before starting out on my writing journey over twenty years ago. Bring me all your questions and concerns. I will tell you the truth about what it took to write an award-winning memoir. The Importance of Paris is the first in a planned series. Having participated in several writing groups, I am convinced of the need to support my fellow writers and for those wanting to continue with me after taking the initial workshop, I will explain the ongoing course. Please contact me if you are interested in committing to writing your book. 

One of the many benefits of penning a memoir is how it can reconnect you with people from long ago and far away, like Anora McGaha. As a child, she lived near my family in Saudi Arabia, and she also lived in Beirut, Lebanon. Anora McGaha could appreciate The Importance of Paris better than most and I salute her by sharing her review: “Bravo! What a captivating read! Between the mysteries of your quest and your loves, there was always a pull through the book! The Importance of Paris reads like a novel. What a weave of history, cultures, romance, and truth-telling. Informative, fascinating, tantalizing. Encore!” 

Our Westerly writing group has just published HOMELAND, our 2020 anthology! Very proud of my gals and pals and their work compiled in these pages. We each have about five pieces inside. Kudos to Wendy Bradford and Dyann Boudreau who did so much behind the scenes to make this happen. This is our second year in a row, gathering and publishing our own work. This was our 2019 issue.

Our ongoing Zoom groups meeting regularly.

• Every Saturday morning 10:30 am Westerly Writing group
• Every other Wednesday evening 6pm Book Writers group
• Every Monday evening 7pm Zoom Lodge

Ceremonies

Our November Lodge ceremony will be held on Sunday the 22nd but due to rising numbers of COVID cases, we are strictly observing restrictions. For our Winter Solstice ceremony, scheduled for Sunday, December 20th we will adjust accordingly. For all updates, check our HOPE HOUSE Facebook page.

“A word after a word after a word is power… War is what happens when language fails” — Margaret Atwood

Wisdom Wheel
Many of my friends are frightened right now, about the soaring COVID cases, the economy and the outcome of the US presidential contest. Despite the provocations, I remind them to have Faith in themselves. “Don’t to give in to the trumped up fear and chaos. We will get through this. Don’t descend into disorder. Focus instead upon what you can do, daily. Maintain order in your own life. No matter what happens on Election Day, decide to make the best of things.”

This is why Valerie Kaur’s words resonated so deeply when I listened to her TED talk recently. She describes our Choices with Clarity. Seekers of vengeance may find it hard to understand how many of us are not interested in it. We would rather respond to the need to “reorder the world.”  While some people I know are buying guns and ammunition, in expectation of post election violence, many more of us are expecting positive change, because we are already committed to it. 
We’ve seen how risky it is to rely upon external forces alone for law and order. We have to maintain order in our own worlds, at least. What are you doing to bring order, and some balancing stability, to your circle of friends and family?

Two decades of discipline with the Laws and order described on the Wisdom Wheel keeps me from flying apart. I ground myself, quite literally, by sitting upon the floor and laying out the 36 stones. I ask the Universe for guidance, Faith, Clarity and vision to keep me, and the people I love, in alignment with forces of Nature and evolution. No imposed, manmade order from the outside will help us evolve like learning to radiate our sense of order from within.

Request what you want to see more of like Balance, Right Relationship, Awareness, Trust and Integrity and so on. The more of us who resist violence, the better we can hold the center, together. Contact me if you want to explore the Wisdom Wheel this month. We will send you a calming series of emails to introduce you to this method. More than anything at the moment we need order.

News & Events
It didn’t feel right to reveal the newly improved author website, with so much going on now, so we’ll feature it in next newsletter on November 15th. It does feel right to reveal another completed project however. Our writing group has just published HOMELAND, our 2020 anthology! So proud of my fellow gals and pals, whose work appears within these pages. Each of us has about five pieces inside. Kudos to Wendy Bradford and Dyann Boudreau who did so much behind the scenes to make this happen. 
This is our second year in a row, gathering and publishing our own work. This was our 2019 issue. If you want to commit to your own writing work this winter, contact me. These ongoing Zoom groups meet regularly:
• Every Saturday morning 10:30 am Westerly Writing group
• Every other Wednesday evening 6pm Book Writers group
• Every Monday evening 7pm Zoom Lodge

Ceremonies
Due to rising numbers of COVID cases, our November Lodge ceremony is on hold. We hope to have it after the November 3rd election. The same for our Winter Solstice ceremony, scheduled for Sunday December 20.th We will adjust according to the restrictions in place as the time approaches. For all updates, check our HOPE HOUSE Facebook page

Wisdom Wheel

For a fellow who passed a dozen years ago, Crichton’s warnings have proven rather prophetic. Especially with regard to this pandemic and our politics. As we approach the Clarity time of year, October 23-November 21, let’s call upon all our powers of discernment, while choosing our candidates in next month’s election, and celebrating the birthdays of our Scorpio friends. 

Crichton’s Birth Law was Clarity. By plotting his life on the Wisdom Wheel, we see he also died at the Clarity time of year. Depending upon how we Process what we realize, Clarity can be a curse or a blessing. In Crichton’s case, I discovered some enduring lessons. 

During his Harvard student days, he realized one of his professors harbored a bias against him and his writing. What did he do? Rather than indulge in self-sabotaging anger, or wilt at having his talent rejected by this man, he exposed him. He enlisted another teacher ‘s help to conduct an experiment. He purposely plagiarized George Orwell’s work, to reveal this man graded even the work of a known genius poorly, when he assumed Crichton had written it. 

We can all conduct Clarity experiments, for any reason, including the revelation of bias, in others or ourselves. During this season of fake news versus facts, we need to reconsider our sorting methods. How do we distinguish truth from fiction? We rely upon our beliefs for our processing. Do we prefer Clarity, or fantasy, memoir or escapist entertainment, for instance? 

As new information comes in, writing is a useful tool, for tracking our thoughts and realizations. If he hadn’t needed to process more bias observations, during his residency practice rounds at Boston City Hospital, Crichton might never have become a professional writer. Seeing how often the reputations of doctors were favored, over the best interests of patients, upset him enough to quit medicine.

But those experiences provided the background for his ‘24 Hours’ pilot script. That turned into the ER television series, which lasted 15 seasons. In ’94 he had a #1 TV show ER, a #1 movie Jurassic Park and a #1 book, Disclosure. A feat no one else has duplicated, so far. Did the stress get him? He died at my current age, 66. His prolific output can be traced to his overarching Clarity about human failings. Nowhere are these more starkly revealed than in how we relate to our machines and technologies.

News & Events

Company Matters, the musical, debuted last Friday night for friends and family! This story, of triumph over corporate corruption, has been my husband Malcolm’s labor of love for over twenty years. In the next issue, there will be a link for you to listen to it. When he was still working at Sony Music, Malcolm would tape me plucking out a tune for his lyrics on my guitar as I sang them over the phone. Now in this podcast premiere, we got to hear the professionals, belt out the polished tunes. Thanks to the strange silver lining of COVID, wonderfully talented actors and musicians were available to work on this project, instead of touring with the Hamilton production, since live performances have been cancelled.

In my debate club, my partner and I just won our argument this week. We marshaled enough facts to prove “the fast fashion industry is paying only lip-service to the movement towards sustainability.” Two years ago I was invited to join this Rhode Island group of feisty women who care passionately about a wide variety of issues. My debate debut was scheduled for March. But the coronavirus suspended in person gatherings, for the first time in the club’s 123-year history. Thanks to Zoom, my partner and I were finally able to present our arguments, after an 8 month pause. 

Thanks to technology life goes on, despite the continuing havoc COVID is causing with in-person plans. If your organization needs to raise funds, or plan something fun, let’s talk. For book clubs, ordering more than 10 copies, I will bulk mail my memoir at a discount, and visit virtually to respond to readers’ questions. 

These ongoing Zoom groups meet regularly:

• Every Saturday morning 10:30 am Westerly Writing group
• Every other Wednesday evening 6pm Book Writers group
• Every Monday evening 7pm Zoom Lodge

Ceremonies

Due to rising numbers of COVID cases, our November Lodge ceremony is on hold. We hope to have it after the November 3rd election. The same for our Winter Solstice ceremony, scheduled for Sunday December 20th. We will adjust according to the restrictions in place as the time approaches. For all updates, check our HOPE HOUSE Facebook page

Wisdom Wheel

What “ideal condition of mind and heart” guides our lives each day?

My guiding ideals are the 36 Laws on the Wisdom Wheel although Baldwin’s words come from today’s page in the Gifts of Wisdom (email me to buy directly) my perpetual calendar. When putting the quote collection together, I organized them to honor each author on their birthday. This helps me remember their Birth Laws too. Baldwin was born under the Forgiveness Law, like all Libras, who are currently celebrating their birthdays. Although she passed away 42 years ago, Baldwin’s words are worth remembering. Wisdom never goes stale or out of style.

Despite how few ask for it, wisdom is the one thing I wish we all had more of, including myself. This desire inspired me to develop the Wisdom Wheel more than twenty years ago. It offers a way to define our ideals and live by them, day by day, year after year.

Today another group began their 1,000 Days Journey on the Wisdom Wheel. Each new (online) class starts on a full moon. The next group is being assembled for October 31st. (contact me for info about the Introductory offer) This sequence of daily emails takes readers on virtual, month by month tour of the Wheel and its 36 Laws. Every email includes a quote, some Daily Guidance, and an excerpt from my journal. Those who complete this course earn the certification to teach the Wheel to others in their study circles. Many do the Wheel with a study buddy. And several have done the thirty six month Journey more than once because there is a lot to learn.

A hearty thanks to each person, who volunteered to share their life Journey turning point details, for our research project, to validate the forthcoming Wisdom Wheel book. There are a few spots left. Contact me if you want to see your entire life laid out on the Great Spiral of the Wheel.

More gratitude is due to those who surprised me by purchasing a Gifts of Wisdom perpetual calendar after seeing it in the last newsletter. They make great birthday or holiday presents for men or women. I will mail them to anyone you designate for $19.95 (plus shipping). Supplies are limited so order yours soon.

Publishing News

Rosanne Romiglio continues to help me redo my author website. It will be unveiled in next issue of newsletter. The graphics for the Wisdom Wheel book are also coming along thanks to my talented designer/editor Gigie Hall.

The second memoir is now on hold as the Wisdom Wheel book has taken priority. The word count grows, slowly but steadily. All the hair pulling and teeth gnashing it took to learn to write the first memoir is paying dividends now. Knowing what readers want more of, and how to assemble scenes into chapters, is making this one easier to write. We are looking at publishing dates for both books. Stay tuned.

Events

Covid continues to play havoc with in-person plans, yet life goes on, thanks to Zoom. I am happy to report The Importance of Paris book club package raised $500 for Lisa Guillette’s non-profit Foster Forward online fundraiser auction. This package included 10 signed copies of my memoir, complete with my agreement to appear via Zoom, to answer all questions from book club members. The lucky winner Susan lives in South Carolina. You can still donate to Foster Forward. If you need to raise funds or plan something fun for your group, let’s talk. Bulk orders of more than 10 copies are mailed at a discount.

Several ongoing Zoom groups are meeting regularly:

Every Saturday morning 10:30 am, Westerly Writing group
Every other Wednesday evening 6pm, Book Writers group
Every Monday evening 7pm, Zoom Lodge

Those serious about getting stories written and published can also join The Story Circle Network and the National Association of Memoir Writers. Having participated for many years in both organizations I can vouch for their lasting impact.

Ceremonies

We held our Autumn Equinox Lodge ceremony and our next one is Sunday, October 4th. Updates concerning Covid restrictions and complete calendar for 2021 can be found on our HOPE-HOUSE Facebook page. We continue to experiment a limited number of regular participants doing their own rounds.

Lastly, today is also World Elders Day. Since watching the presidential election debate this week, I must say what I most hold against the current US president is that he shows no interest in wisdom or maturity, which Elders are supposed to have. This might be more forgivable if he was only running one of his companies, but not when he’s leading our beloved country.

“‘[…] women need to develop a new moral system in an otherwise doomed world… Not being sadistic, as a rule, women often fail to understand the basic fact about sadistic behavior: it is stimulated by the appearance of vulnerability in the prospective victim… It would be better for women to assert their right to judge, to be bolder in questioning male authority, to demand the respect due to them as mothers and decent, caring citizens… The Crone can still serve as an empowering image of biological truth, female wisdom and mother-right, to which men must learn to defer, if they are ever to conquer the enemy within themselves.” ― Barbara G. Walker, in The Crone

Wisdom Wheel

A good friend recently admitted, “I don’t always read your newsletters.” I congratulated her on the honest feedback. At my age the preference for truth outweighs the need for compliments. Although people may want to “see things in new ways” more than ever during these contentious days, do they read what anyone writes? Why do I persist?

Having lived with doubt for decades, I’m not easily dissuaded. Writing is my calling. I love it. The thoughtful words of other authors inspire me daily. I won’t deny the lovely feelings when readers tell me what my stories meant to them but I’ve committed to doing this anyway. Encouraging others to be brave gives me great satisfaction.

Doing this strictly for money would be ridiculous. Only 300 fiction authors in the US make enough to live on from their writing alone, according to a recent article. Cheryl Strayed, author of the best-selling WILD memoir admitted, after investing in her creative writing masters degree, “Well, I might make zero, or I might make $5 million!… But I would have written my books whether I was paid for them or not.”

Despite full awareness of the terrible odds, I hung out my shingle, published my work, and declared myself an author. And a mystic. The second informs the first. All writers must face the fact that our work may not be valued or supported enough for us to survive by our pens alone. Teaching, speaking, and other jobs fill in that gap. Remaining a writer, year after year, requires an odd mix of hubris and humility. To make our offerings, it helps to surrender attachments to particular outcomes. This is where being a mystic comes in handy.

You can look up the meaning of mystic or ask me directly. Formal definitions include those who believe in the possibility of attaining insight into the mysteries, transcending ordinary human knowledge, as by direct communication with the divine or immediate intuition in a state of spiritual ecstasy. A person initiated into religious mysteries, who seeks truths beyond the intellect.

Being a mystic is its own reward. No amount of money can purchase transcendence. When my best writing comes, I call it taking divine dictation, grateful that it originates beyond the scope of my small ego self. In 1996, this is how the Wisdom Wheel arrived, after I dared to ask the Universe for guidance about my work. I’ve discovered not many ask for wisdom. Entertainment and escapism yes, real wisdom, not so much. I’d love to be proven wrong!

To test this assumption, email me to order my Gifts of Wisdom perpetual calendar. Each is quoted on their birthday. For $19.95 I will personally put this labor of love in the mail to you. Surprise me!

Publishing News

Rosanne Romiglio at cleanclearcreative.com is helping me redo my author website, which took priority this month. The graphics for the Wisdom Wheel book are also coming along. We are currently seeking 10 volunteers. To demonstrate how priorities change over time in peoples’ lives, we are collecting stories. If you are ready to see your life reimagined in entirety, on the Great Spiral of the Wisdom Wheel, please contact me.

The second memoir word count grows, slowly but steadily. All the hair pulling and teeth gnashing it took to learn to write the first memoir is paying dividends now. Knowing what readers want more of, and how to assemble scenes into chapters, is making this one easier to write. We are looking at publishing dates for both books. Stay tuned.

Events

Covid continues to play havoc with our in-person plans yet life goes on thanks to Zoom. Tomorrow is the virtual 25th Anniversary celebration of Lisa Guillette’s Foster Forward non-profit. Please donate. The fundraiser auction includes 10 copies of The Importance of Paris. The lucky winner gets these for their book club members. I promise to attend their gathering via Zoom to answer all questions. If you are looking to fundraise, or plan something fun for your group, let’s talk. Bulk ordered copies are mailed at a discount.

Several ongoing Zoom groups are meeting regularly:

Every Saturday morning 10:30 am, Westerly Writing group
Every other Wednesday evening 6pm, Book Writers group
Every Monday evening 7pm, Zoom Lodge
Those serious about getting stories written and published can also join The Story Circle Network and the National Association of Memoir Writers. Having participated for many years in both organizations I can vouch for their lasting impact.

Ceremonies

In honor of the Autumn Equinox we hold our next Lodge ceremony Sunday, September 20th. Updates concerning Covid restrictions and complete calendar for 2021 can be found on our HOPE-HOUSE Facebook page. We continue to experiment with a limited number of regular participants doing their own rounds.

A hearty Happy Birthday to all our Libra friends whose celebrations soon begin. Having Forgiveness as your Birth Law, I leave you with this quote.

“Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something; forgiveness, however, is for those who are substantial enough to move on.” ― Christopher James Gilbert, better known by his pseudonym Criss Jami

Wisdom Wheel

Has this quote inspired you? I rediscovered it last week, while taking some time off from social media and the relentless barrage of negative news. The story behind this quote deserves telling. It also describes a Wisdom Wheel Journey with the Cause & Effect Law and a few others.

Perhaps you are one of the millions who still believe Nelson Mandela said those words. For a quarter of a century now Williamson’s quote has been consistently misattributed to the formerly jailed freedom fighter, who became the president of a post-apartheid South Africa in 1994. The New York Times has reported on its continuing misattribution, as even Senator Hillary Clinton, astronaut Mae C. Jemison, and former Spelman College president Johnnetta B. Cole have credited those stirring words to Mandela, rather than their author, Marianne Williamson.

She hasn’t taken offense. “As honored as I would be, had President Mandela quoted my words, indeed he did not. I have no idea where that story came from, but I am gratified that the paragraph has come to mean so much to so many people, ” replied Williamson when asked to comment on this controversy.

But last year while Williamson was leading her own campaign, for the Democratic nomination for the US presidency, her previous words received criticism not applied when people assumed Mandela had uttered them. For instance, in July 2019 Constance Grady wrote (in Vox): “[…] Williamson’s philosophy is seductive. It places the individual at the center of the world, and it appeals to our sense of grandeur. ‘Ah yes,’ you might think, reading, ‘I really am the most important person in the world; I always suspected it.’ […] If we are personally responsible for the bad things that happen to us, then we are personally responsible when we are the victims of crime, of war, of illness, and poverty. Structural inequality isn’t to blame for those problems: we are.”

Grady’s points have some validity, but it is also true that individuals need to stand up to change those structural inequalities, as we see today’s peaceful protestors and activists doing. We cannot sit back and expect a corrupt system to change itself.

Kerry Pieri was one of the writers who came to Williamson’s defense: “[…] Williamson is trying to teach us that our mind-set needs a new baseline, one of true empathy, so that it becomes impossible to deny people basic health care, so that Americans would never for one second think that separating breastfeeding mothers from their infants at the border is in any way acceptable.” (Harper’s Bazaar)

The Wisdom Wheel Laws are all about resetting new baselines too and in my last newsletter, I promised to show how the wisdom of the Wheel applies to the work of cleaning up corruption. So let’s put Williamson and Mandela on the Wisdom Wheel, to look for any relationship between their lifetime Journeys and purposes.

Marianne Williamson was born July 8, 1952 and Nelson Mandela was born July 18, 1918. They share the same Initiation Birth Law. Both are proven initiators of cultural change. And their messages resonate so well it’s no wonder they get co-mingled.

Another surprise came when I looked deeper into the origins of Williamson’s inspiration, for her best-selling 1992 book A Return to Love, where that controversial quote first appeared. Williamson subtitled her self-help book, “Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles.” (aka ACIM)

And the woman who “scribed” ACIM, between 1965 and 1972, was Helen Schucman, born July 14, 1909, under the same Initiation Birth Law as Williamson and Mandela. They certainly carried the Initiation baton forward. For a final insight, I put Oprah Winfrey on the Wheel too, because of all she has done to publicize Williamson’s work. Oprah’s Birth Law is Renewal, which happens to be Marianne’s balancer. Combining opposing energies strengthens each other’s work. Each has translated transformative energy into words, deeds and results. The key takeaway here is to remember how every person fulfills the promise of their Birth Law. And together this advances the peaceful power of evolutionary principles.

Yes, the coronavirus continues to ravage the world, and the fear mongering and conspiracy crap grows louder as we near another US election. But we do not have to succumb to the downward spiral. Practice self-care as if your life depended upon it because it does. Stay healthy. Step back from the human news hurricane regularly. Contemplate the Bigger Picture. Hit the reset button, often. Our journeys are longer than the current crises.

Publishing News

The second memoir has grown to 25,000 words, about one quarter of the total. Exciting to begin considering cover design and potential dates for publishing next year. In next newsletter we will share more news about the Wisdom Wheel book and its graphics. If you would like to volunteer to have your Birth Law story featured, please contact me.

Since winning an IPPY award, I have been invited to participate in reading and helping to judge entries for another contest, the Sarton Awards. It’s an honor to give back to this organization after benefiting from belonging to it for over a decade. I can vouch for the genuine impact SCN has on writers’ lives, including mine.

Work continues on the redesign of my author website. Can’t wait to unveil the new and improved version! Other initiatives continue on my social media pages.

And I must continue to thank each of you who have bought my books. Especially those how have given additional copies to friends. Word of mouth is the best way to reach new readers. Even if you write one sentence reviews, about the history you learned from reading my books, on Amazon and Goodreads, it will help tremendously. Measuring Distances is selling but we must wait for the coronavirus threat to end before having a proper, in-person launch party.

Events

Any of you doing fundraisers for worthy causes? Lisa Guillette has asked me to donate a Zoom Book Club facilitation session for the 25th Anniversary celebration of her Foster Forward non-profit. Please donate if you can. It’s an honor to be asked. The lucky winner also gets 10 copies of The Importance of Paris for their members. Contact me to set up something fun for your group. When ordering copies in bulk, I can mail them at a discount.

Several ongoing Zoom groups are meeting regularly:

Every Saturday morning 10:30 am, Westerly Writing group
Every other Wednesday evening 6pm, Book Writers group
Every Monday evening 7pm, Zoom Lodge

Ceremonies

Next Lodge ceremony is Sunday, September 20th in honor of the Autumn Equinox. See latest updates concerning Covid restrictions on our HOPE-HOUSE Facebook page. We continue to experiment with having a limited number of regular participants doing their own rounds

“When we look at the role that emotion plays in White Nationalism… the role of emotion in those movements is undeniable. Hate is powerful and hate is contagious. And it is not enough to meet [it] simply with an intellectual analysis or rational argument. The only way you can defeat them is by overriding them through an equal force is exerted when people are awakened to those positive feelings and positive emotions.” ― Marianne Williamson