Category Archives: spirituality

An ending…and a beginning

Posted on June 21, 2016 by Priscilla Stuckey, PhD

After seven years, I am drawing This Lively Earth to a close. I have started a new blog called Nature :: Spirit, where I will continue some nature spirituality threads begun here and introduce others. The first post explains why … Continue reading →

Posted in nature, spirituality | Tagged Earth spirituality, matter-spirit, nature & spirituality | Comments Off

Finding gratitude before breakfast

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Priscilla Stuckey, PhD

The Earth has completed a full turn around the sun since, inspired by the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, I set the intention to offer gratitude to everyone in the natural world every day, first thing in the morning, for a year. … Continue reading →

Posted in nature, spirituality | Tagged animism, attitudes toward nature, birds, climate change, cosmology, global warming, gratitude, thanking nature, Thanksgiving Address, trees, wildflowers | 5 Comments

Listening to Nature as Source

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Priscilla Stuckey, PhD

We just passed the longest day of the year and are now into summer. Happy Solstice! In my Santa Fe yard the Rocky Mountain penstemon (Penstemon strictus) of late spring is giving way to the firewheel (Gaillardia aristata) of summertime. … Continue reading →

Posted in nature, spirituality | Tagged nature & spirituality, shamanism | Comments Off

Healing from Bell’s palsy

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Priscilla Stuckey, PhD

The facial paralysis arrived overnight and crept away stealthily. Though my case was quite severe—nearly complete paralysis on the left side—in only two and a half weeks my face had healed to the point of a normal smile; the impairment … Continue reading →

Posted in nature, spirituality | Tagged Bell's palsy, gentleness, healing, joy, music and healing, nature and healing, self-acceptance | 6 Comments

With tender hands: A solstice musing

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Priscilla Stuckey, PhD

This month, recovering from Bell’s palsy, I remembered how to live gently. (Am happy to say my face is good as new again—what a gift!) Being sick can take a person to that tender place, where comfort foods and soothing … Continue reading →

Posted in nature, spirituality | Tagged animals, Bell's palsy, choral music, Christmas, healing, living and dying, living with heart, Morten Lauridsen, music and healing, nativity, new year, O Magnum Mysterium, solstice, tenderness, winter solstice | 2 Comments

Living with Bell’s palsy

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Priscilla Stuckey, PhD

I am caught up in a new adventure, the kind no one ever bargains for. It began a week ago with a dry and scratchy left eye. Why was it tearing so much? The next morning I awoke to a … Continue reading →

Posted in nature, spirituality | Tagged Bell's palsy, disability, facial paralysis, gratitude, joy, nature and healing, paralysis | 23 Comments

Thanksgiving and peace

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Priscilla Stuckey, PhD

On Sunday we hosted a Thanksgiving potluck, and before we sat down to eat I offered a grace that I’d been working up courage for twenty years to offer. I thanked the animals and plants who gave their lives and … Continue reading →

Posted in nature, spirituality | Tagged attitudes toward animals, attitudes toward nature, gratitude, nature & spirituality, peace, peacemaking, saying grace, thankfulness, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Address | 5 Comments