For All of Us

"The world is violent and mercurial -- it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love --  love for each other and the love that we pour into the art that we feel compelled to share: being a parent, being a writer, being a painter, being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love." -- Tennessee Williams

And so this week I begin with a prayer, for all of us, but especially those touched personally by the tragedy in Orlando -- may we all open our hearts to the giving and receiving of love. The poet Jack Gilbert's brilliant "A Brief for the Defense" explains that "we must risk delight" in the "brutal furnace of this world."

And so that is what we do this week. We will lay out cards and light candles and say prayers and hug our loved ones. We will share whatever gifts we have. We will come together.

And later this week, when the sun does not feel so raw upon my skin, we will discuss the three cards that will lead us into the Summer Solstice -- Judgment, The Moon, and Temperance. Because there will always be a Solstice for as long as there is a Sun and Earth. We can count on that.