Hello, this is T. Thorn Coyle, stepping in for Gus today.

One of the things I do in life is act as a spiritual director. Recently, one of my clients was talking about a struggle with the fact that things change. S/he wanted something to remain inviolate, permanent. When I responded that everything is in a state of change, that the universe is always in process, that the Gods are in process, that God Herself, the Limitless Divine, is in process, s/he replied, “Yes, I know you say that. But I have a hard time believing it.”

Really most of us do. We have difficulty believing in constant process despite the fact that we experience it all the time. Our bodies change daily. Our minds shift with thoughts like clouds moving across the landscape. Our emotions dart like quicksilver from joy to fear to anger to love, except for those that get entrenched in sorrow or resentment. But even the entrenched feelings have their subtle shifts. Some things may feel permanent, but our very relationship to these things changes and therefore, the things that feel permanent also change. They seem static simply because they change at a barely perceptible rate.

The book of Nature is our great teacher in this. The mountains themselves are shifting, as I write these words. Therefore, I counseled this client to choose one plant to observe daily. We cannot observe plants during Spring without noticing change, and with this noticing comes a recognition that change is both necessary and beautiful. I myself, though sometimes struggling with emerging middle age, appreciate the life map traced upon the skin of my friends in their 40s, 50s and 60s. I can also appreciate a 12 year old’s face, and acknowledge that a different sort of beauty shines there. Nature is the teacher of cycles and impermanence. The cosmos is always on the move – stars are born, live, and die. Who knows what galaxies have come and gone already, and what are yet to be?

And if all of this is part of the pattern of God Herself, then that means God Herself is ever changing. Like the filk of that old Pagan chant (original by Starhawk, I believe, filk, author unknown) goes: “She changes everything She touches, ’cause She can’t leave well enough alone!” And why should She?  The creative impulse is embedded in us all. And every time something is created, the order shifts, things move, things disintegrate and reintegrate anew.

Why do we want to hold onto this idea that things should not change? Ah. Because the ego does not wish to die. Because we wish to feel we have solid ground to stand upon. We are afraid. To embrace change is to enter the mystery of the unknown, or the barely percieved. Who will we be tomorrow? There is no way to know. We do our practices, study our texts, read the book of Nature and our hearts. We feel the fear, take a breath, and move anyway. The outcome is never certain. The only certainty is change.

Magic changes us and we change magic.To walk in the knowledge that things are ever rising and falling is to walk with courage and ease. We can find our center with a breath, and live our lives knowing that everything is a joyous risk, because nothing is ever the same.

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T. Thorn Coyle is an internationally respected teacher and author of “Kissing the Limitless” and “Evolutionary Witchcraft.” She is founder of Solar Cross and the Morningstar Mystery School and practices near the San Francisco Bay. http://www.thorncoyle.com