monday’s child is full of healing.

pregnant doggess

changing fortunes

care for where you are.

walk through the arches to another world.

welcome hearts.

chinese lanterns

words to live by.

a stairway for supplicants

in the garden of prayer.

the view.

frere andre’s heart

more votives.

(click each photo for a larger view.)

i thought monday was going to be my one day off this week, as i was supposed to head into the hills for a “psychedelic family reunion”, but it looks like puppies might vet the festival…
that to say, i woke up that morning determined to do something healing for myself.

i won’t lie. i’ve needed a bit of that lately. my words are hesitating…they dry up or change their minds quickly, to head in strange directions…whenever they hesitate, i know i need to check myself up.

well, healing should be like a tune-up anyway, not just because one is ailing.

so i headed, first of all, to chinatown, a neighbourhood in montreal i don’t think i’ve ever visited before, much less explored. my boss is really into feng-shui, and while neither my home nor my wallet is ready for the feng shui charms that are supposed to bring and nurture good luck, i thought i could start moving the energy into that direction with a visit, a wander, an adventure.

it’s amazing. i glutted myself on the riotousness of it all: the smell of frying pork wafting out of street lunch counters; the colours that fell over each other on the lamps and street-signs; the birds calling to each other from telephone poles. i wandered in and out of stores, touching the good luck coins, the statues of dragons and buddhas, the paper lanterns. i self-consciously stood in doorways and snapped photos.

and then my heart started to feel full.

after i’d been there for about an hour, i left to go run a few errands and then i took myself up to the oratory.

a friend of mine has been telling me for years about the back of the church, telling me i should go there. he’s an energy healer and knows that i have studied that in the past, and there is apparently the biggest natural outcropping of crystal growing in the side of the mountain there.

it is an extremely holy place. i can’t really describe it any better than that. i felt this hush fall over my spirit when i went there. i could see why frere andre, the monk who was inspired to build the basilica, felt called to build his monument on that site; to be buried there. his heart remains on display as a relic in the crypt.
i wandered around, trying to find the crystals (not really knowing what i was looking for, and even though i covered the whole grounds, i’m still not sure if i found it) for a long time. i lit a candle. i went into the church and sat and prayed. i watched a woman start to cry as she put her hands on andre’s coffin.

it was raining all day. i took the bus home and read my book. i went over to a friend’s place for vodka. and even though i’m scared about the next few months (what the hell do i know about raising puppies, for god’s sake? how many will i have? how big will they be? how much WILL IT COST?) my heart feels better. more complete. more still.

more soon.

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~ by bee on July 8, 2009.