“I used to have so many plans, good plans,
grand plans. In the beginning, I would be
annoyed by the calamities I’d meet along
the way that would keep me from my plans.
I used to pride myself on how I could get
back on track so quickly. But the more I
loved and the more I suffered, the more
my plans were interrupted by those in
need.
Eventually, the call of life, unexpected
and unrehearsed, made swiss cheese of
my plans.
Now, like an emperor undressed by time,
I wander the days naked of plans, praying
that I will find love to give and suffering
to heal before the sun goes down.”
- Mark Nepo, Poem: Praying I Will Find
Thursday, September 8, 2022
I first heard the poem above in a podcast conversation between Mark Nepo and Zainab Salbi earlier this year. I made a note to seek out the poem because I hadn’t seen it in any of his books - and I’ve got them all. The poem (and the conversation Mark had with Zainab) seemed to capture what my life (and so many lives in our collective community) has felt like this past couple of years - a constant stream of interruptions, detours, plans gone awry, and pivoting to care for loved ones. I found the words comforting…this IS the call of life…to be of service from the heart, to give love and offer an ease to the suffering of others. There is also a wonderful part of the conversation where Mark and Zainab talk about how life prepares us for these unexpected moments while we are in our “training ground” of our best laid plans. In his new book, Mark goes more deeply into the rubble of the pandemic and how it unveiled the depth to which we need each other.
In case you assume that I have unquestioned acceptance of this swiss cheese-making, I am here to say - nope! I’ve got feelings! Lots of them. I have been dancing with frustration, disappointment, grief, anger, impatience, agitation, irritability, shame, and the occasional glimpse of hopelessness. I will not and do not bypass those feelings. They are an important part of honoring my process and are essential in revealing my own inner wisdom. Like a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly, there is no bypassing the messy and chaotic birth. It’s been six months since I first heard this poem. All my feelings happened in between. On this day, I feel deep acceptance, grace and greater detachment from the desire to have plans/things go my way.
 What brought this up, you ask? Two things. The first is that Mark Nepo’s new book, Surviving Storms: Finding the Strength to Meet Adversity, just came out this week and I got my copy on Saturday. I was delight that the first page I opened to was page 63 and the poem was on that page! Synchronicity and affirmation. The second is that I have been eager to make plans that involve travel to see places and people that I love. We scheduled one trip in late October to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 85th birthday. And just as I was starting to look at dates for other travel I got swiss-cheesed again - yep, more pokes in my plans. Our elder cat is experiencing health decline (needing greater detailed care) and my mother called with news. She is going to need surgery soon. The dates haven’t been determined but when it happens, I will be her caretaker.
In the middle of the conversation, I felt the swiss cheese hole-y sensations in my body. I let all my feelings run their course while being mindful that my mother has feelings too - she’s terrified of having surgery and doesn’t want to be dependent on anyone. And just when I thought I was about to spiral down a rabbit hole of despair, love came through. It’s not that love wasn’t there before, it’s that love was mixed in with a soup of “oh no, not again, I was just about to make plans for me…” Yes, a healthy dose of self-focused “I want to live my life.” These two things can be true. I can want to live my life and also tend to my loved ones. It’s a privilege to take care of my mother. I get to be of service to the person who never wavered in her care for me. And Goddess knows she likely had countless plans that got sideswiped, detoured and Swiss-cheesed by parenting! She always showed up for me.
I know that anyone with life experience, age and wisdom could have told me all of the above. I would have appreciated hearing those wise words. Their stories are medicine passed down from experienced to inexperienced folk. I also have a library filled with ancient texts that could have “told me so.” Still, the truth is that my own process of learning, understanding and wisening is essential to my own journey in the school of life.
 This knowing is the pearl that came through on my dance with the Hermit (Dancing Lanterns of Wisdom) this week. In class we each danced with an object in our hand. I held a wooden owl sculpture - a visual symbol of wisdom and wisening. As I moved the owl between my hands I imagined my plans in one hand and life’s unanticipated moments in the other. It was like playing ping pong and I was getting really good at it! What I felt was the grace of mastering agility. And, I realized that I need to feel my own process to uncover and distill it to something meaningful and purposeful - for it to become personal embodied wisdom. I need to FEEL my life. It does nothing (that lasts) to know it in my mind as a concept or hear (or read) about it in a sermon or lecture. Essentially the feeling (inner sensations) of swiss-cheese is what mines and unearth’s my own maturity, wisdom, truth and deep visceral knowing.
How has this been true for you? Or, what has your journey been with embodying wisdom and making sense of the swiss cheese moments in your life?
Classes in the weeks ahead - Sunday at 10:00AM PDT and Wednesday at 9AM PDT
Deeply grateful for this community,
Jennifer
Schedule Going Forward:
- Somos Luceros on Sundays at 10AM PDT
- Embodied Movement Explorations in Body Wisdom & Wellness on Wednesdays at 4PM PDT
- ArcanaDance - next workshop TBA
Somos Luceros
 Somos Luceros is a somatic dance practice designed to illuminate the wisdom of your body and cultivate deep embodiment of archetypal qualities that offer lightness, depth and joy. The dance moves are simple and guided by the language of storytelling, opening new chapters in our bodies where we can see and feel our most luminous potential. Release the stories in your body that weigh you down and reclaim your light. In Spanish, Somos means “we are” and Luceros means “bringers of light” or “bright stars.” This name honors my father, my paternal indigenous ancestors in South America, my heritage, and our collective oldest ancestor, the stars. We are dancing bodies of light.
With immense gratitude for your continued support,
Jennifer
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Somos Luceros – Dancing Stars: An Embodied Exploration of Your Celestial Body (via Zoom)
(via Zoom)
Date: Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 10:00AM PDT
Time Zones: 10:00AM PDT | 11:00AM MDT | 12:00PM CDT | 1:00PM EDT
Pay what you can in exchange for the class experience ($5-$25)
Register for class:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUvdeqorD8vE9TCQbszM3dGXQ2jHGkasFi3
Join us for Dancing Stars: An Embodied Exploration of Your Celestial Body
 “…every one of our body’s atoms is traceable to the big bang and to the thermonuclear furnaces within high-mass stars that exploded more than five billion years ago. We are stardust brought to life, then empowered by the universe to figure itself out – and we have only just begun.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson
A star, according to the Oxford dictionary, is a “fixed luminous point in the night sky which is a large, remote incandescent body like the sun.” Stars are hot, bright, and produce radiant energy.
To be celestial is to inhabit the sky or “visible heaven” beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.
 In the tarot, the Star card represents the symbolic archetype of the guiding light. Light is a source of hope, faith and divine guidance. We often send our most desired wishes up to the stars or we look up at the stars as we speak to the ancestors of our past and hopes for the future.
In this dance, we discover ourselves as guiding lights and explore our capacity to inhabit both a larger and outer (farther) space in our physical existence.
The dance moves are simple and guided by the language of storytelling. You are invited to receive the choreography, bring it into your body and make it your own.
Image: The Star from the Gentle Tarot
Somos Luceros is a somatic dance practice designed to illuminate the wisdom of your body and cultivate deep embodiment of archetypal qualities that offer lightness, depth and joy. The dance moves are simple and guided by the language of storytelling, opening new chapters in our bodies where we can see and feel our most luminous potential. Release the stories in your body that weigh you down and reclaim your light. In Spanish, Somos means “we are” and Luceros means “bringers of light” or “bright stars.” This name honors my father, my paternal indigenous ancestors in South America, my heritage, and our collective oldest ancestor, the stars. We are dancing bodies of light.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the class/meeting.
Pay what you can in exchange for the class experience:
Embodied Movement Explorations for Body Wisdom and Wellness (via Zoom) - NEW TIME - 9AM PDT!
Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Time Zones: 9AM PDT, 10AM MDT, 11AM CDT, 12PM EDT
Class is one hour
Pay what you can in exchange for the class experience ($5-$25)
Register for class:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpdO2trjIoGt1aRxXqO5lj2Qdoi6XaCnry
Join us for Embodied Movement Explorations for Body Wisdom and Wellness
 Body wisdom is being aware of and attuned to what our body needs to feel well. This somatic intelligence and tending can be accessed and cultivated in many ways.
Every week we will explore a variety of somatic movement practices that include somatic dance, yoga, QiGong, archetypal expression (mainly tarot), and other modalities that emphasize mindfulness and that guide self-knowing.
Classes for the month of September will focus on Listening to our Inner Wise Self.
It’s Virgo season, and soon the seasons will shift from summer to fall. We begin to turn our attention inward and to reflect on where in our lives we need rest, pruning, cultivation, attuning, and care.
 Our guiding tarot card for this class is the Hermit. In the tarot, the Hermit is the archetype of the wise-one within and teaches us the art of self-reflection, self-discovery and self-knowing. The Hermit is the ultimate template for the art of embodied listening. As a guide, it can reveal to us deeper understanding and can illuminate the things, qualities, people, and experiences in our lives that have heart and meaning.
For the entire month we will be exploring the Somos Luceros body of work, Dancing Lanterns of Wisdom: An Embodied Exploration of Listening and Revealing What Has Heart & Meaning. This dance is a template to explore connecting head and heart, walking with our lanterns, expanding our lens of perception, listening deeply, sifting and uplifting, and both embracing and sharing the wisdom revealed.
Image: The Hermit from the Spacious Tarot
In this class we center the experience of living, feeling, sensing and moving in our bodies. We learn practices to know ourselves more deeply, cultivate joy, restore from stress, explore creative self-expression, and ways to nourish the various systems (fluid, muscular, skeletal, organ, nervous, and cellular) of our body.
Come to move your body, develop a deeper appreciation for the intelligence and wisdom of your body, and to learn practices to be well in mind, body, heart and soul.
Wear comfortable clothes to move in. No shoes required. Feel free to have a yoga mat, blanket or towel for floor-based practices.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the class/meeting.
Pay what you can in exchange for the class experience:
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Tarot Sessions - Now late September and beyond
 I am now scheduling into late September and beyond.
These sessions are my lifeblood and I so appreciate your continued support in scheduling appointments and referring your loved ones and friends to me. As you know, I don't advertise. All of my client work has been via referral. For that I am immensely grateful.
To schedule a session, choose the session type at www.jenniferluceroearle.com/tarot-with-me/sessions and email me your questionnaire.
Tarot Consultation Packages
There are several tarot packages to choose from, including options for multiple one hour to two hour sessions throughout a one year window.
Huge thanks to Brooke Lowe Johnson for the photo (top) above!
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Mary Lenox's Poetry
Following is the poem, Come into the Light, that Mary wrote and shared with us after class this past Sunday, September 4. What a perfect poem to greet our sparkly stardust selves!
Come into the Light
Where love abides
Drink from the fountain of hope
Inhale the fragrance of the divine
Come into the light
Where peace welcomes you
And a rainbow, too
Echoing all Is well
Come into the light
Wherever you are
Like that tiny green plant
Cleaving to life in a crack of black cement
Come into the light
Breath
by
Breath
Come home!
©2022 Mary F. Lenox
To join Mary's email list: mflenox69@gmail.com
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To listen to the podcast conversation between Mark Nepo and Zainab Salbi, go to:
https://www.findcenter.com/redefined-episode/22/redefined-mark-nepo
 Excerpts:
..."I think one of the big things I’ve learned is that one of the constant menacing assumptions of the outer world is this misguided assumption that life is other than where we are.
One of my greatest lessons at this point in my life is that there is no there. There’s only here. There’s only here. I mean, certainly in the outer world, we travel to arrive at different points or places, but once we meet authentically, we always enter the same eternal moment.
...I remember going into a doctor, being first diagnosed with cancer, and of course being terrified and disoriented and believing he had the wrong folder. It couldn’t be me. But then when I left that appointment, the door that I had come through to keep that appointment was gone. There was no way back to life before that moment, which is what you’ve shared.
And I think that what the pandemic did was in a very rare way, do that for all of humanity. The old world is gone. Things may look familiar. There may be silhouettes of life before. The old world is gone, and the only way forward is through kindness and through the heart and through meeting each other, holding nothing back."
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