Today is Ash Wednesday. Ashes for leaving behind the shell of the past in order to travel into the future, a phoenix day. Our mortality is a gift that we share with the whole material universe. Our mortality allows for change in perspective, convictions, 
insight. And it is true that with change comes sorrow, but sorrow itself will change. I think the sign of ashes invites us to accept our mortality with thanksgiving for life, for connection, for the capacity to be self aware within that connection.
Ashes are the sign that what lives must rise out of the fire that burns away the past and into the light that leads to new life.
We do not originate in dust but in the rich environment of a woman. We are born from blood and water and, if we are fortunate, love. We are born to walk on the earth, share the breathing of the air, feel the tides ebbing and flowing in our veins. We are born to die, but also to live, looking forward to the next moment the next step.
Ashes, the sign of what is left when the phoenix is freed.
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