I’ve been sitting in on a lot of classes this week, writing, listening, being still.
When the fog sets in here in the San Joaquin Valley, it can mask the sun for days. It is damp, cold (not like you northern folks snowy temperatures) but bone deep chilly for us sun loving folks. It is also heavy, the energy of gray and dark. It feels sad, like a heavy quilt is tied around my shoulders and I drag it everywhere with me, sometimes to the point where it feels like I’m strangling and the only way to breathe, is to curl up under it.
Yesterday Ryan would have been 50. I can’t believe it. I remember asking my mom how it felt to have both her kids over 50… she didn’t really answer. She wasn’t a talker.
The full moon lit up the night this week, I watched my lunar-lit shadow follow me across the yard. When you can get away from the town lights into open space, the light from the moon is phenomenal. I heard an owl hoot, a first for this place I have lived now for more than five years. This morning a hawk called out through the misty gray and reminded me that even though they don’t show up to wave at me in this place, they are still around.
Listening through the fog, metaphorically and in reality, is to hear without sight. When the grayness hangs on the ground and visibility is 100 feet, even with your eyes open, hearing takes precedence over sight. When I find a still place to listen, even in the fog, the messages come louder, clearer, and more distinct because I can’t see the messenger or be distracted by the world spinning around me.
This week proved to be a time of letting go, so perfect for the full moon. I am letting go of the sadness that seeps in with the fog and the heaviness of a blanketed landscape. I feel like I’m in the song, Jesus Take the Wheel. It takes a lot for me to take a step back and let Spirit take the lead.
I’ve gotten away from the spiritual practices I was always reminded of when I was regularly attending workshops and retreats with my teachers. Last week I took a virtual class with Don Oscar and set up a small, portable mesa in my office. I walk past it on the way to and from my computer. A gentle reminder that I need Spirit in my life, every day. I need to be connected to the Great Mystery, the Oneness of it All, and to the roots of who I am.
I invite you all this week as we approach this season of joy, love, giving and receiving, to find a still moment and listen. Listen for the falling leaves, rain on the rooftop, the flutter of wings as the birds fly overhead, or the whistle of a passing elk. Listen for the voice of your own wisdom from within. What is the message you hear? Are there things you are ready to release?
Gift yourself with a single, simple practice that you haven’t done in a while. Today, I wrote the word LOVE on the bottom of my water bottle. As I did, I held my hands to each side of the bottle and from my heart, through my hands, I sent unconditional love into the water I was about to drink.
It is a small ceremony, seconds in time but infinite in feeling. Today I am drinking and absorbing that pure loving energy as I release all that has been hanging on like the last leaves of fall.
May you be blessed with unconditional love and the voice of Spirit guiding your steps as you walk the path ahead, ready to step into 2026 with clarity and joy.
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Vicki Dobbs is a bold and adventurous warrior walking a path of heart to manifest spirituality in everyday lives. She opens existential gateways for individuals to face their challenges and embrace these tests as the great teachers that they are.
Her goal is to see everyone walk in beauty and balance every day of their lives empowered by the voice of their own authentic truth.
Through Wisdom Evolution and Sacred Wisdom Workshops, Vicki creates opportunities for others to make deep personal changes through experiential classes, ceremony, sacred art and story. She endeavors to inspire others to create their lives intentionally. Vicki is an Inspirator of everyday awareness, an Instigator of spontaneous stories and a Connoisseur of Creativity. Gratitude and grace sprinkled with humility and humor are the medicine she brings to the world.
As an Elder, Teacher and Entrepreneur, Spiritual Coach, Ordained Minister and Crafter of Sacred Art and Tools, Vicki perceives life’s journey as an ever-upward spiraling ascension of the human spirit leading her to wisdom, wholeness and authenticity.
Her experience includes being trained in the Harner Method of Shamanic Counseling and the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition of Cross Cultural Shamanism. She is a Graduate Teacher and Mentor with the Lynn Andrews Center For Sacred Arts and Training and has been the Administrator and Writers Guide for Writing Spirit, the School.
Vicki is also an Artist of the Spirit Certified Spiritual and Energetic Life Coach, a Graduate Mentor in the AoS program and a founding member of HeatherAsh Amara’s Warrior Goddess Leadership Team and Facilitator of the Warrior Heart Practice.
Connect with Vicki here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vickildobbsauthor