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Hello Friends,

This morning, I glanced outside before sitting in meditation. After days of brutal heat and smoke haze, in which friends have been desperately trying to help those living on the streets? Clouds were gathering.

I stepped outside to commune with the puffy shapes collecting water above me. I watched the crows, and listened to the chickadees, finches, and squirrels. Beneath the pale gray sky, I did some gentle stretching, then went inside to sit quietly and breathe as my tea water boiled.

After days of heat and pain and violence, my spirit knew it needed soothing, even though the rest of me wasn’t fully aware. I needed the small break in routine, and a chance to look up and out instead of focusing on work, or the news, or getting cold drinks to those who needed them.

I needed to just be and breathe with the clouds. I snapped the photo below before heading inside:

A shift in routine can be a shift in perspective. With Laura Tempest Zakroff, I’ve been leading a year-long magical working with a small group to invoke The Star tarot card as a beacon of hope during tumultuous times. We meditate on the Star daily, while monthly working our way through the rest of the major arcana, to incorporate what they might have to teach us.

Right now, we are in the month of Death. The falling away of old systems, the stripping of inflated ego and entitlement, the harbinger of change.

This morning’s clouds were a reminder of the fact that, whether we will it or not, change happens. As the writer Octavia Butler wrote in her Earthseed books: “God is change.”

So today, I plan to punctuate the stack of work tasks yet to do with moments of peaceful contemplation. I will envision the Star. I will allow my ego—that wants to control the world—to fall away, even if only for a few minutes. I will pause and breathe.

I will remember this morning’s clouds, and I will, in that moment, open to change.

wishing you well — Thorn

(if you can't see the photo, at the top of your email click Display images below - Always display images from thorn@thorncoyle.com)

A big thanks to all of you who have backed my current cozy corgi mystery campaign on Kickstarter! Good news: we passed another stretch goal, so, along with the two new corgi adventures, there are also special edition hardbacks on offer! It's here: Pride Street.

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