Reads I Return To : Celtic Wisdom by Matthews and O’Donohue

Though I immerse my self in fiction reads a great deal of time, I also have several books that I return to repeatedly for comfort and wisdom. I turn to Anam Cara frequently and will usually open to a random point in the book to see what passage catches my eye. Yesterday I was feeling really down and ended up giving into a craving for candy bars. They were ok but of course they didn't fix the emotions I was dealing with.

The passage I opened to was a piece titled “The Body is Your Only Home”.  In this beautiful essay John talks about the Celtic belief of the body being molded from the clay of the earth and how the four elements live within us. It was this passage however that really touched me: “At other times you will find sorrow moving through you, like a dark mist over a landscape.This sorrow is dark enough to paralyze you.It is a mistake to interfere with this movement of feeling. It is wise to let this weather of feeling pass; It is on its way elsewhere.”

These words meant so much to me. I did some gentle stretching and took a walk and I’m happy to say those emotions have passed.

The Celtic Devotional is a guide to adding meaning to the turning of the seasons. This book gives you a look at the various celebrations the Celts celebrated and also a lot of activities to help you slow down enjoy the gifts contained in every day. I’m so grateful to have discovered these books, they add a depth of feeling to my everyday spiritual practices.