From Shane Piñata,
I'm Colleen Thomas.
This is Everyday Magic for Ukraine.
Today we weave hopes for a bright future.
Welcome to the Circle.
Welcome to Everyday Magic for Ukraine,
Where we honor Ukraine and we also practice self-care to stay strong as allies.
If you're new here,
Welcome.
So today we're going to be braiding some concepts together,
Weaving some hopes together.
So if you have something that will allow you to do a little physical braiding while we're together,
Such as three bits of string or three ribbons or three of anything braidable,
Go ahead and grab those now.
And as we land together today,
As we settle down to be in circle together for the next few minutes,
I invite you to see if you might like to take a breath or do a little stretching or do a little shaking.
Just do something that kind of brings you into this moment,
This now moment,
Reminds you that you're in a body.
Maybe gives you a little bit of space from the rest of your day,
Something to carve out our intentional time together.
And while we're gathering,
We might also begin to connect with the earth.
So feeling down,
Down through whatever you're standing,
Sitting or lying on,
Down into the earth beneath you and say hello.
And see what it feels like to connect to the earth right now.
It's fine to let go of anything you don't want to hold anymore.
To release what is no longer needed.
And when you feel ready,
You can come back to this space and we will move on to the work we're doing together today.
So I have three pieces of embroidery floss because that was the easiest thing for me to grab to braid together.
And this is something you can do as always in your mind.
If you do have a physical object,
It will help you kind of anchor in the intentions,
But you don't need to have it.
If you do have it though,
You might want to go ahead and fasten the ends together of whatever you're using and look at your three different threads or cords or whatever you're braiding.
And we're going to go ahead and assign a meaning to each one of them.
And today we are weaving hopes for a bright future in Ukraine.
So you are welcome to braid together whatever elements you feel are most important at this moment in time to weave together for a bright future in Ukraine.
I would like to suggest three that you can choose if you'd like to.
One is integrity,
Meaning in territorial integrity and integrity within the justice system in Ukraine,
Integrity within the way countries in the world relate to each other,
Integrity of the individual,
And integrity for all of us who are supporting Ukraine,
That we are clear in our hearts,
What we are doing,
That we stay on the right side of history,
That we are in integrity with our own higher calling and our own values.
The second one is justice,
And that's probably pretty obvious.
Justice,
An end to this unjust war,
Justice for anyone harmed in this war,
And justice and truth,
I feel like goes with justice in our world.
So we have integrity and we have justice.
And the third one I would like to propose is renewal.
Renewal might look like lots of things.
It might look like reconstruction,
Ongoing reconstruction during the war.
It might look like Ukraine coming out of this conflict even stronger.
Ukraine is going to be such a leader now,
I feel.
So that kind of renewal,
Certainly renewal for anyone going through any kind of heartbreak,
Heart shattering event,
That as they heal and as they move into whatever their new normal is,
That their hearts are renewed,
Their strength and their hope,
If possible,
Is renewed.
Renewal for a beautiful country,
And maybe renewal for the whole world,
If I could be so bold,
Because now we have seen what's possible.
Ukraine has really been showing us what's possible.
The strength,
The hope,
The commitment,
The innovation,
The strong spirit,
Just incredibly strong spirit.
So our three threads to weave together are integrity,
Justice,
And renewal.
So if you're holding your tools,
Your thread,
Your ribbons,
Whatever you might be weaving,
Go ahead and let those intentions go into the materials.
These three words,
These three concepts,
Or whatever concepts you are using today,
And just begin to braid.
Knowing that as we do this,
We are stating an intention,
But we also want to leave this weaving open to spirit.
I always feel that while we are in our bodies on planet Earth,
We can't always see the big picture.
So we always want to leave room for the highest good of all involved.
And spirit to work its magic.
And if you are doing this weaving inside your heart,
Inside your mind,
Just imagine weaving together these three concepts with deep integrity and deep intention and deep focus,
Because this is a prayer.
It is something to be done with intention and reverence.
Just trust the process and notice what you notice while you work.
Again,
Integrity,
Justice,
And renewal.
We're taking our time.
We are weaving together these concepts with love in a prayerful way so that it harm none and for the good of all.
Just trusting the magic,
Showing up and doing the work.
Integrity,
Justice,
And renewal.
And it's okay for this process to be very soft and for there to be deep listening during this process.
We are weaving our hopes together.
We are offering this as a prayer.
We are asking that spirit,
That great mystery,
Helps to connect integrity,
Justice,
And renewal to create a bright future for Ukraine.
You can perhaps see as you do this work,
How sewing and weaving are magical arts.
They take time and they take focus.
And they are very open and easy to do spell work with.
So we're just coming close to the end of our weaving.
So wherever you are with your weaving,
With your cord you're weaving together,
Or in your mind,
Just notice what you need in this process to feel complete.
And you are welcome to run the podcast back if you need more time.
Just make sure that the work you are doing right now feels right to you and feels complete to you.
And when you have finished,
I invite you to look at this beautiful cord you've woven together.
And you can see in there the magic that we just did.
You can see our prayers for integrity,
Justice,
And renewal.
And maybe even you can feel it energetically.
And so I invite you to tie off your cord if you have not already done that.
And to give a prayer of gratitude.
Gratitude to these materials,
Gratitude to those people in our circle who are joining you in this work,
And gratitude to the Great Mystery to whom we dedicate this work and into whose care we release it.
May we remember the importance of gathering our hopes and weaving them together for the good of all.
May it be so.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
Your presence,
Your energy,
And your heart make all the difference in healing our world.
Remember to breathe today,
Breathe and expand.
And I hope you join us again next time.
Please consider inviting a friend.
