Winter Solstice Edition, 2007

Winter's Sacred Mystery - New Life from a Time of Death

In the season when cultures throughout the Northern Hemisphere ritually celebrate the mystery of new life born from the very darkest of hours, Tapestry has at last caught sight of the bright heart of hope in its own long night.

As many of you know, that night began back in the summer of 2006, when a devastating wildfire burned 40,000 acres of the Pine Ridge in northwestern Nebraska -- including 90% of our Sowbelly Canyon land partner. This fall the financial side-effects finally proved too big for us to handle, despite all our best efforts. On October 15 we had to leave Sowbelly. The experience was physically, emotionally, and spiritually devastating.

Yet, as is so often the case when great Power slices through our lives, blazing sparks of insight and understanding burst from the event every bit as much as deep, despairing anguish. That's the point of this time of year, after all:  you have to bury the seed in the cold, dark earth as a dead thing in order for it to come alive again and send up new shoots that will bear fruit and seed a hundred-fold the next summer. New life doesn't come without death first, however much we wish it did. None of this means that what happened didn't hurt, or even that it hurt less.  It just means we have to handle the emotional consequences of embracing grief and joy simultaneously.  And what joy we have found in our new home!

We are now on the east slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range of New Mexico's Southern Rockies, and we've found our new land partner. It's going to take a lot of hard work to raise funds to buy "BearLodge," but it's a powerful, active Place that has already given us a deeper understanding of the Land's Vision than we had before. Visit our revised website on January 1 to read about  BearLodge, see  more pictures, and celebrate with us this seed of new life, rooted in the darkness of our loss. 

Blessings to you and to all you hold dear, at this most extraordinary time of year. -- Dawn

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