“Learn your theories as well as you can, but put them aside when you touch the miracle of the living soul. ”

— Carl Jung

“Don’t claim in spring on stone some verdure grows
Be soft like soil to raise a lovely rose -
For years you’ve been a stony-hearted
Try being like the soil now if you can.
”

— Rumi

“Live adventurously. When choices arise, do you take the way that offers the fullest opportunity for the use of your gifts in the service of God and the community?”

— Britian Yearly Meeting: Quaker Faith and Practice: Advice and Queries 27

A mandala, made by a spiritual direction student I mentored, of a corona encircling a dark sky background, dotted with white stars, and in the middle, two hands, holding dirt with a sprout thinking like the divine feminine. Grass above, dirt below — A mandala, made by a spiritual direction student I mentored, to represent my work. A yellow corona, encircling a deep blue sky, with white stars dotting the area. In the center, two wrists and two hands, joining to hold handfuls of dirt, with a sprout, representing the divine feminine, growing from the held dirt. Below the hands is dirt, above the hands is green squiggles representing grass.

Who listens to your spiritual life? Who is a witness to your inner work? Who helps contain your journey?

I am a gardener, and like many gardeners, I know that gardening begins in the soil. Physical gardening is so similar to spiritual gardening and I often think of spiritual direction as soul gardening. In spiritual gardening, the components are within yourself. It′s all about the internal work you do.And, sometimes it is nice to have a companion gardener, someone with a detached eye to remind you what resources you have and help expose what illusions exist within.That is what a spiritual director is, an inner journey coach, a soul gardener who accompanies the journey of connection with self, others, creation and the Divine.