From Shane Pinata,
I'm Colleen Thomas.
This is Everyday Magic for Ukraine.
Today we honor Ukraine's sacred cultural sites.
Welcome to the Circle.
Welcome to Everyday Magic for Ukraine,
Where we honor Ukraine and also practice self-care to stay strong as allies.
If you're new here,
Welcome!
So I'm going to invite you to find your place in the Circle,
To take your seat in the Circle,
And to begin to let go of whatever you might have arrived with.
Perhaps you feel the floor or the chair or the earth a little more beneath you.
And perhaps you can feel down into the earth,
Whichever part of the earth you are on,
Reaching down into the land beneath you,
Greeting the earth,
Greeting the spirits and the energies of any peoples who are walking on that earth before you,
Greeting your own indigenous ancestors wherever they walked on the earth.
And maybe,
Maybe take a breath if that feels right to you,
Breathing in and out.
And just see what it feels like to arrive here,
To arrive here with us,
And to arrive here with yourself.
So our work today focuses on honoring Ukraine's sacred cultural sites.
And I'm not going to take us through a big list of sacred cultural sites in Ukraine,
But I am going to mention a few.
And I invite you,
If you know the places I mention or your own favorite places in Ukraine,
To allow them to come to memory,
Allow them to come to mind,
Allow them to fill your heart while we're together here today.
Because as you know,
When we come together in circle,
Our work transcends space and time.
So as we think through and as we bring these sacred cultural sites of Ukraine to mind and to heart today,
You can travel there.
You can imagine stepping into those places,
Those buildings,
Those cities,
Those regions.
You can imagine your feet on the wooden floors.
You can bring yourself there.
On the wooden floors,
You can bring yourself there.
And I invite you to do that while we work today.
So let's bring to mind and to heart a few of Ukraine's sacred cultural sites,
Beginning with the ancient part of Lviv city.
This city was founded in the year 1254.
Isn't that incredible?
Think of walking down the street in that city and knowing that the arc of history goes back that far.
That's almost 800 years.
So if you know Lviv,
Picture yourself walking down the street there,
Seeing the beautiful buildings,
The black house,
The former Dominican church,
The city arsenal,
And feel the history beneath your feet.
Moving to the Carpathian mountains,
The wooden churches,
The forests in the Carpathian mountains,
Places to go to escape from the stress of living in a city.
And right now,
Places to go to escape some of the stresses of the war.
And now coming back to the city,
Going to the south,
To Odessa.
To Odessa.
If you've seen Odessa or you know Odessa,
Picture the eclectic architecture of central Odessa.
So much beauty and so many different cultures represented in this architecture.
So now that we've brought just a few places to mind and to heart,
I invite you to just feel into these places on an energetic level.
Feeling into the jewel that each one is.
And I invite you now to bring yourself to your favorite one.
And imagine walking into the space,
Stepping into the city,
Stepping into that building,
Stepping into that forest,
Stepping onto that beach,
Wherever it is for you.
And feel down into the earth and see if you can sense the spirit of the land.
And see what it has to say to you.
And see what it has to tell you about the vibration of that space.
Just listen very deeply.
And we're working at a very intuitive level here,
So trust your gut,
Trust what you see and what you hear.
And then ask this energy of the land how you can best honor it.
And just notice what you hear.
We're going to slowly,
Slowly begin to come back from this meditation,
Just very gently.
So let's now release and thank the spirit of the land in the special place you've chosen.
Offer our gratitude.
And begin to slowly,
Slowly return to the space.
To wherever you are on the planet.
Maybe let your eyes open.
Maybe take a breath.
Maybe remember how incredibly powerful culture is and how it's important to deeply,
Deeply honor it.
May it be so.
Thank you so much for being here with us today.
Your presence,
Your energy,
And your heart make all the difference in healing our world.
And remember to breathe today,
Breathe and expand.
And I hope you join us again next time.
Please consider inviting a friend.
