05.05.2025. The Unfolder of Trees
Hello dear Friends,
“At last came the golden month of the wild folk– honey-sweet May,
when the birds come back, and the flowers come out, and the air is full of the sunrise scents and songs of the dawning year.”
― Samuel Scoville Jr., Wild Folk
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It is the season of betweens, the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice—a liminal space of "greening" where the world awakens into bloom. Trees, trilliums, trout lilies, and mosses unfurl their tender, delicate green leaves. The moist ground beneath our feet, awakening from winter’s long, dark sleep, resonates deep within our "tree-bones."
We feel this undeniable, unstoppable life force surging—a "holy birthing" pushing through every living thing—a hope and persistence that will not be denied, a gentle unfolding that demands our presence and surrender. This is Spring, the feminine aspect of the Divine, the Great Mother, Mary the Unfolder of Trees. This breathes cashmere air into my soul!
Just home from a weekend retreat, "Spring Awakening Retreat: A Celtic Journey of Renewal & Connection," in Vermont's Green Mountains, what lingers to share is the morning ritual of "dew washing"—the anointing of dew on my face; the silent conversing with rocks, streams, and the wisdom of old stumps (a nod to Mary Oliver); listening to birdsong; and falling asleep to the chorus of prayers from the spring peeper frogs. And, the inaudible sacred song of spring in each person’s heart that attended, heard yet unheard.
May you open to the Beloved’s "greening” life force, insistence to bloom,
God and Beauty are bedfellows!
“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
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Today is Metta (loving-kindness) & Calm-Abiding Meditation Practice
All Welcome. No meditation experience needed.
Come as you are, open heart and all.
2 - 3pm: Drop-in Meditation Practice
3 - 4pm: Conversations on the Practice of Meditation–what it means, how it feels, and how it supports your life.
Where: 1765 Glenview Road, Glenview in the Patio Shops
Cost: No Fee. Donations and poems appreciated.
So grateful we are here together.
Love,
Wini
🌸 This newsletter is full of inspiration and resources to linger in. Made with ♥️.
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🌸 Two Poems to Share
We Look With Uncertainty | Anne Hillman
We look with uncertainty
beyond the old choices for
clear-cut answers
to a softer, more permeable aliveness
which is every moment
at the brink of death;
for something new is being born in us
if we but let it.
We stand at a new doorway,
awaiting that which comes…
daring to be human creatures,
vulnerable to the beauty of existence.
Learning to love.
At the River Clarion | Mary Oliver
I.
I don’t know who God is exactly.
But I’ll tell you this.
I was sitting in the river named Clarion, on a
water splashed stone
and all afternoon I listened to the voices
of the river talking.
Whenever the water struck a stone it had
something to say,
and the water itself, and even the mosses trailing
under the water.
And slowly, very slowly, it became clear to me
what they were saying.
Said the river I am part of holiness.
And I too, said the stone. And I too, whispered
the moss beneath the water.
I’d been to the river before, a few times.
Don’t blame the river that nothing happened quickly.
You don’t hear such voices in an hour or a day.
You don’t hear them at all if selfhood has stuffed your ears.
And it’s difficult to hear anything anyway, through
all the traffic, the ambition.
🌿 This poem found its way to me during the Spring Awakening retreat with Simon DeVoil this past weekend. It was read by a small stream, after walking on sacred ground, and after sitting at the feet of the natural world's teachers—trees, rocks, roots, and fiddlehead ferns—receiving their teachings and dharma-wisdom.Hearing the Holy singing everywhere once our selfhood and ambition stepped aside.
🌸 Three Quotes | Brian Doyle. George Saunders. Francis Weller.
“But you cannot control everything…All you can do is face the world with quiet grace and hope you make a sliver of difference…You must trust that you being the best possible you matters somehow…That being an attentive and generous friend and citizen will prevent a thread or two of the social fabric from unraveling.”― Brian Doyle, One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder
“What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering and I responded… sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.”― George Saunders
🌿 Responding “sensibly”, who does not know this–
Numbing of tears, buttoning up our hearts into a tidy box of compassion for “reservedly”. Stopping, blocking, freezing off what is natural in our bones, the impulse to be tender and kind.
"The work right now is to become immense. We have to get our arms around immense things. Violence and hatred and bigotry and racism. And also around love and compassion and devotion and a certain fidelity to protect what is alive. We have to become immense. This is not a time to become small." — Francis Weller
🌿 May we remember: "This is not a time to become small..." And behind these words, we hear the ancient echo of Rumi: "Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion."
🌸 Something to Watch | ThE buRRoweD SuiT
“She commands presence, not because she's loud, but because she finally sits in the center of the space that she used to give away…”
This came my way from a friend who supports women standing fully in their heart, in their brilliant-strength, in the fire that flares up for love and burns what no longer serves.
A spoken word powerful poem. Lisa Marie @SeasonedDialogue
“You see, she used to wear strength like a borrowed suit sewn from expectations handed to her tailored by trauma tight in the chest, hard to breathe in, but still showed up, wearing it like it fit. They taught her how to be digestible, so she dimmed, not out of humility, but for safety. Not to be loved, but to be less offensive to people who couldn’t handle Brilliance unfiltered….” WOWZA Keep listening here (2:12 min)
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🌸 Sign Up| Healing Vessel: A Sacred Energy Circle
“Silence is the language of God,
all else is poor translation.”
― Rumi
The Conversation is Silence Tonight: In the gentle embrace of silence, discover the language of your soul. Join us for Healing Vessel: A Sacred Energy Circle, a meditative healing prayer experience designed to nurture your heart with self-love, healing, and balance.
Energy healers Julie Fedeli & Wini Nimrod will facilitate the flow of prana through gentle touch within the circle, amplifying the individual intentions held in each heart. The session will be beautifully enhanced by the harp music of Margaret Pasquesi.
Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Time: 6:00 pm–8:30 pm
Come Sit is Sacred Space.
Rest in Silence.
Tend to Your Heart.
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🌸 Closing Song | A Classic ❤️
One of my favorite artists, Johnny Cash. My son sent me this song via text with a note “Mom, meant to share this with you in our car ride to the airport”. (The magic time with our kids, car time, where conversations and songs just open and sing) He knows Johnny Cash hits every heart string. One of the last songs he ever recorded.
“If You Could Read My Mind”. Songwriter: Gordon Lightfoot
Listen on YouTube (6:30 min) or Spotify (4:29 min)
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“May rest and drink in the sweet nectar of Spring
the sacred feminine energy of hope.
May the silent whispers of fiddlehead ferns, moss and rocks
open you to the invisible holy everywhere.
May you follow your sweet tender tears–
This is the holiest form of water.”
Have a blessed day,
Love, Wini 💖
🌸 I’m grateful you’re a part of this community.
Please share on, to a friend who might need tender dollops of kindness and love. Click here to subscribe
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✨ may we bloom more Light together.
💞 may we grow more Goodness for the healing of all
🌎 may we stitch more heart-tenderness into the fabric of our planet.
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….Until next week. 💖 ✨
