Greetings and all good wishes to you for the coming year.
In the months ahead, may you be enough, have enough, give enough, receive enough and most importantly may you deeply know that you are enough!
Such interesting tides and times we are in and each of us being called no doubt to stretch our arms wider as we encompass more and more in a multitude of ways.
I noticed a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote and it spoke to me:
“People wish to be settled;
only so far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.”
Mmmm, I said! I guess there is hope for me.
This past year has been many things, but settled, it was not…
Some highlights in our wee doings….
Loved the work we were privileged to do, the ceremonies we were able to co-create (Judy conducted four weddings – no funerals), and the places we were able to discover.
The weddings, ahhhh, the weddings…..of people we loved in places that caught our imagination (especially the island of Symi in Greece where 60 people from Britain, USA and SA gathered for a ceremony outside a tiny Greek chapel on a minute island with views to forever).
Our overseas travel also included time in magical Dalyan on the coast of Turkey, where we pondered ancient burial sites, swam with turtles in a great river that wound its way past our front door to the ocean, and relished the richness of the Turkish way of life.
Womens’ work has been part of Judy’s year, both in the form of rites of passage processes with teenage girls as well as adult women… the latter being the new Coming Of Age programme, held over three days in Gauteng. (Please see our schedule below for the next Coming of Age workshop in Cape Town.)
About 20 women have expressed interest in participating. I am grateful for the collective explorations. All the workshops, dialogues and conversations, keep the fire going around the book I am still writing, on rites of passage for daughters.
Building the Sacred Vessel of Relationship took us to the beautiful Magaliesberg in July. Four brave and beautiful couples showed up to do some deeper personal work together and what an inspiration we were for each other. Our thanks to Theresa Plewman for the key part she played in organizing and participating in both of the above programmes , and for her support and generosity. Through Circles of Stone, she and Kevin Rudham continue to offer Vision Quests in the Johannesburg region.
Vision Quests and facilitator training continue to be fixtures on our calendar last year and this one. We were delighted to support Tim Wigley and Yan Golden, who trained with us in 2006 and 2007, as they launched their very first VQ with a small group of men in the Eastern Cape in November…. May there be many more.
Geoff Dalglish has written a piece on Vision Quest for the Sunday Time Lifestyle Section - look out for it later in January. Well done and thank you Geoff.
On a very personal front, in late August we realized it was time for Judy’s mother Mary to move into our home and to let her house next door. This was accomplished in one month, following a major sort, clear and release process. One day in early October, Mary walked across the lawn and sat down in her chair in our house. It is an amazing opportunity to be three generations under one roof (Judy’s daughter Kara is visiting from England for two months) and to live closely with a substantial matriarch in her last years….it is such a gift and naturally brings a few challenges too.
Midway in all of this, Judy spent 10 days in Perth, Australia with her brother and his two daughters.
The Stanford Valley Project occupies a lot of Valerie’s time and if you have not signed up yet for the fabulous Freewheeling Festival 2009, in February, then please do so…. (See www.freewheeling.co.za)
You might also be interested to know that Stanford Valley Farm and Conference Centre has self catering cottages at very affordable prices, as well as a re-structured conference facility that enables groups to enjoy the magnificence of the place, hire their own caterers for their workshops and benefit from greatly reduced rates – please spread the word to NGO’s and other groups.
In looking ahead, I am curious about a year that will include Obama as US President, a world beginning to confront some of its economic shadow, our country and its political, social and educational struggles and so many steadfast hearts around the globe that are able to hold a place for what is to emerge.
I guess Emerson was right: unsettling it may all be, but there is hope.
With love
Judy and Valerie
Please see the 2009 event calendar here >
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