Hi Jamie, I just smile ... "Reflection depends on our mirror." Indeed ... timely, as I was concluding a phone conversation with Cousin your post popped into the email inbox. "We drain words from our blood" ... "Pissing into the wind of knowing", love it. I will read again of course, but for now, so timely, so relevant. Thank you for the beautiful exchange of energy. Happy holidays to you 🙏💖
Thanks for a wonderful year of exchanging energy here! Team John has certainly influenced my own writing, cuoreosity and exploration. Expansion! Pissing into the wind of concrete knowledge to leave a little room for the mystery. Yep sometimes I get wet lol - most of the time I leave with more clarity in unknowing. Thanks for being here. Have a wonderful holiday Simone. 💫❤️🙏
Thanks Jamie too, for your wonderful writing, posing the questions, your beautiful poetry and for sharing the spaces in between, plenty of room for mystery and curiosity while the winds dries us off, enough to receive another layer of clarity 😂. Happy holidays. 💚🙏
Merry Christmas and happy solstice my friend. Life is such a mystery in so many ways and you paint it here…with feelings, images, and metaphor…so beautifully
Dear Poet, oh how your words rise like fire and river! Carrying both the ash and renewal of this year, reminding us that change will always … in all ways … claim the last word! Reading your poem felt like I was gazing into an archetypal mirror, where all endings and beginnings were spiralling into One … where the word-smith-ery of language transformed itself into sacred ritual.
In your cadence, I hear echoes of the Trickster and the Sage … beloved companions ... who love each other so much ... show that nothing, nothing is ever lost ... only transformed. Indeed, some pauses become lives, another life perhaps ... some years weighing so much more than others … yet all, all are folded into the eternal round. May it ever be so.
Jamie, you’ve been instrumental in helping me uncover my stories this year, as I continue writing my memoir with inspiration (and soulchronicities!) close at hand. I don’t think I’ve said it enough how very grateful I am … for your words, warmth and wisdom! For you, my dear friend, open doors into mystery and magick. You remind this poet that language is both vessel and flame. You remind me what a kindred soul feels like when one is nearby.
Thank you so much, for gifting us 'all' of your alchemical exchanges of energy this year, for showing us how sorrow and joy, flesh and soul, shadow and light can meet in the middle ... always and forever. I intuit that your poems and reflections are candles in the dark for many, and I’ll be carrying their warmth and glow, with my deepest gratitude, into this turning of the year.
Solstice blessings to you and your family. Thank you so much for being Here and for being You. Truly, I couldn’t do this poetry thing here without You. Your poet friend, Deborah 🙏💖🕯️
Deborah. Dear Poet. Thank You. Your enthusiasm and poetic passion for all things words and language was a huge inspiration this year. Thank you for helping create a safe space for vulnerability and curiosity. Cuoreosity! Thanks for being a kindred spirit. Kindred soul. I’m totally grateful for your presence here. Your kindness open doors. Magic and mystery know your name and your words always lean into the salt of sulphur and mercury. Sparks for my own.
Thank you so much for meeting me in the middle of language. For helping me ferry to the other side. Shadows and light. Joy and sorrow. The human condition. Flesh and soul.
Enjoy this soulstice and all it brings you. I look forward to all of your ink as it manifests into words. We can never underestimate the power of words. The ones we’ve said. The ones we hold. The ones we’ve yet to say. Keep writing. We do need you. Have a wonderful holiday to you and Lin and your family. You make it better!
Dear Jamie….. we are about to enter the dark days. we keep the fire burning. The flickering reflection of fire on faces as we gaze into the moment. The past drifts away, like galaxies, recedes further and further as we both shrink and expand awaiting the return of the sun.
Thanks Charlie! Thank you for a wonderful year of song and soul. I truly enjoy your poetry and all of your writing. Thanks for sharing your gift here. All the best to you and yours. The shortest days will open up into the longest growth. Blessings 🙏❤️💫
Thanks Muriel. I’ll be leaning into your book over the holidays! Thank you so much for all the guidance, and all of those books that I’ve put to good use. Diving deep. Here’s to attention, metaphor, love, and presence. All the best over the holidays and happy new year. You make it better. 🙏💫❤️
Thank you so much Robin for all of your wisdom in 2025! Releasing Memory. I’m definitely leaving room for the unknowing! See you again this next round of the sun. Enjoy the festival of lights and a wonderful new year. 🙏💫❤️
Thank you, Jamie. And here's to celebrating the sun's coming back 'round, as we approach the solstice. Finding promise in the darkness, and joy in renewing light.
Jamie, your post is so beautiful. Your words feel like the first snow, that softly covers the ground, letting the earth shiver underneath the cold embrace of change. I love the title and how you in a way weave the lessons shared in each article of this year into one poem. Amazing. Have beautiful holidays and a happy transition into the new y-ear. Which song will be playing?
Thanks Sadhbh! You have written more on substack this year than anybody I know! You are a writer’s writer! I appreciate you. Thanks so much for being here and for being an inspiration. I look forward to all of your articles and poetry! Time for that next book! Merry Christmas and have a wonderful new year ❤️🙏💫
"We write on. Into the fire. Out on the edges of word."
It's been a big year for you, for me, for all of us. Thank you for holding the space to ask the questions. Finding the balance. "We meet in the middle."
Have a special Christmas Jamie with your loved ones. Much Love and Gratitude. xx
Thanks Jo for the exchange of energy. Thanks for meeting in the middle from day one here for me. I appreciate you. All the best for a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2026 with you and yours. Big hugs back in love and gratitude. 🙏❤️💫
“We are mud” and earth keeps history, layer upon layer, living in layers walking into the future with intention, building sustainable energy and vitality. ‘Dog Days’ middle days aligned with who we truly are, let us hold space in 2026!
“We are the ink” I appreciate you, dear poet from the north and the blue fire you write with, Sir Jamie 💋 Cheers for a brilliant new blue new year. Love to you from CO, Geraldine
Thanks Geraldine! Sending love. Thanks for reaching out. Thanks for reaching - in. Enjoy this soulstice. Have a lovely holiday and a wonderful 26! Blessings 🫂
“We are children of the mud. The ash. We will continually be brought back down to earth.” love these lines, and the idea of time piling on us in layers, and time taking those aways. What gets added and taken away? What remains? Another year gone by, my friend. Blessings to you, and may this Holiday season bring you joy and peace, and another layer of blessed time.
Dog years – I've been wondering whether it's a metaphor (= an exchange of energy between two things. – between dogs and years? between doggedness and aging?)
What struck me most in this piece is your contemplation on change, with the sound and rhythm of a riddle...
"Change. Always gets the last word.
She often doesn’t give us a chance
to speak. There is no debate.
What gives rise to all change
yet itself - is changeless?"
The one big change in my/our life this year is Josh's recent and unexpected illness — leaving us hoping that the new year will bring a change for the better.
heartfelt wishes to you and your loved ones from both of us.
Oh Veronika! I’m so sorry to hear that. Please let Josh know. I’m sending love and prayers. Sounds scary. Big hugs. Thank you for being here. Definitely hoping and blessing you both for any change you both need for 2026. 🫂❤️
What a profound thought, "We drain words from our blood." I am picturing that exactly. And imagining draining them from a hundred other places, too. Plucking them from our scalp; scraping them from our skin, flossing them from between our teeth. They come from everywhere and each has its own message and weight.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and thoughts. XO
Hi Jamie, I just smile ... "Reflection depends on our mirror." Indeed ... timely, as I was concluding a phone conversation with Cousin your post popped into the email inbox. "We drain words from our blood" ... "Pissing into the wind of knowing", love it. I will read again of course, but for now, so timely, so relevant. Thank you for the beautiful exchange of energy. Happy holidays to you 🙏💖
Thanks for a wonderful year of exchanging energy here! Team John has certainly influenced my own writing, cuoreosity and exploration. Expansion! Pissing into the wind of concrete knowledge to leave a little room for the mystery. Yep sometimes I get wet lol - most of the time I leave with more clarity in unknowing. Thanks for being here. Have a wonderful holiday Simone. 💫❤️🙏
Thanks Jamie too, for your wonderful writing, posing the questions, your beautiful poetry and for sharing the spaces in between, plenty of room for mystery and curiosity while the winds dries us off, enough to receive another layer of clarity 😂. Happy holidays. 💚🙏
Hi Simone💋
Hi Geraldine 💋🙏🏼😊
A thought just popped in, perhaps I have new name, Kissing Woman 🤣💋
Sweet 🥰
Merry Christmas and happy solstice my friend. Life is such a mystery in so many ways and you paint it here…with feelings, images, and metaphor…so beautifully
Thanks Terra! Thanks for finding me in the spaces. Enjoy that warm Christmas down under. 🙏❤️💫
Dear Poet, oh how your words rise like fire and river! Carrying both the ash and renewal of this year, reminding us that change will always … in all ways … claim the last word! Reading your poem felt like I was gazing into an archetypal mirror, where all endings and beginnings were spiralling into One … where the word-smith-ery of language transformed itself into sacred ritual.
In your cadence, I hear echoes of the Trickster and the Sage … beloved companions ... who love each other so much ... show that nothing, nothing is ever lost ... only transformed. Indeed, some pauses become lives, another life perhaps ... some years weighing so much more than others … yet all, all are folded into the eternal round. May it ever be so.
Jamie, you’ve been instrumental in helping me uncover my stories this year, as I continue writing my memoir with inspiration (and soulchronicities!) close at hand. I don’t think I’ve said it enough how very grateful I am … for your words, warmth and wisdom! For you, my dear friend, open doors into mystery and magick. You remind this poet that language is both vessel and flame. You remind me what a kindred soul feels like when one is nearby.
Thank you so much, for gifting us 'all' of your alchemical exchanges of energy this year, for showing us how sorrow and joy, flesh and soul, shadow and light can meet in the middle ... always and forever. I intuit that your poems and reflections are candles in the dark for many, and I’ll be carrying their warmth and glow, with my deepest gratitude, into this turning of the year.
Solstice blessings to you and your family. Thank you so much for being Here and for being You. Truly, I couldn’t do this poetry thing here without You. Your poet friend, Deborah 🙏💖🕯️
Deborah. Dear Poet. Thank You. Your enthusiasm and poetic passion for all things words and language was a huge inspiration this year. Thank you for helping create a safe space for vulnerability and curiosity. Cuoreosity! Thanks for being a kindred spirit. Kindred soul. I’m totally grateful for your presence here. Your kindness open doors. Magic and mystery know your name and your words always lean into the salt of sulphur and mercury. Sparks for my own.
Thank you so much for meeting me in the middle of language. For helping me ferry to the other side. Shadows and light. Joy and sorrow. The human condition. Flesh and soul.
Enjoy this soulstice and all it brings you. I look forward to all of your ink as it manifests into words. We can never underestimate the power of words. The ones we’ve said. The ones we hold. The ones we’ve yet to say. Keep writing. We do need you. Have a wonderful holiday to you and Lin and your family. You make it better!
Big Hugs Deborah! 💖🙏💫
Received and returned, dear Poet! Few words, bursting heart. 🙏💖🫂
Wow, Jamie! This is 🔥🔥
Thanks Caroline! Thanks for showing up and sharing your own poetry here. Have a lovely holiday. Thanks for stopping by! 🙏❤️💫
Dear Jamie….. we are about to enter the dark days. we keep the fire burning. The flickering reflection of fire on faces as we gaze into the moment. The past drifts away, like galaxies, recedes further and further as we both shrink and expand awaiting the return of the sun.
All the best to you and yours.
Thanks Charlie! Thank you for a wonderful year of song and soul. I truly enjoy your poetry and all of your writing. Thanks for sharing your gift here. All the best to you and yours. The shortest days will open up into the longest growth. Blessings 🙏❤️💫
This is beautiful language dear one “the shortest days will open into the longest growth” 💥
Sweet!
Change may get the last word, but we still answer with attention, with metaphor, with love.
Thank you for this exchange of warmth and presence.
May the year ahead take what must go, return what matters, and leave room for mystery.
Thanks Muriel. I’ll be leaning into your book over the holidays! Thank you so much for all the guidance, and all of those books that I’ve put to good use. Diving deep. Here’s to attention, metaphor, love, and presence. All the best over the holidays and happy new year. You make it better. 🙏💫❤️
Dog-ear this Dog Years?
Refrain from past years’ refrains!
Claim, drain, rain. Again.
Thank you Marisol
Being a word messenger
Passionate Poet
Thanks for the inspiration . 🙏💫❤️
Nice!
I love your photos and the poem is wonderful 💖
Thanks Emily! Happy holidays! I look forward to that next “soulstice” post. 💫❤️🙏
2025-what a year.
"Another round. Another ring.
Another wrinkle."
And leaving room for the unknowing. Such wonderful counsel.
Thank you, Jamie, for connecting through the door of language and the exchange of energy--here!
Happy holidays and wishing us all a miraculous entrance into 2026. Much to dream on.
Thank you so much Robin for all of your wisdom in 2025! Releasing Memory. I’m definitely leaving room for the unknowing! See you again this next round of the sun. Enjoy the festival of lights and a wonderful new year. 🙏💫❤️
Thank you, Jamie. And here's to celebrating the sun's coming back 'round, as we approach the solstice. Finding promise in the darkness, and joy in renewing light.
Jamie, your post is so beautiful. Your words feel like the first snow, that softly covers the ground, letting the earth shiver underneath the cold embrace of change. I love the title and how you in a way weave the lessons shared in each article of this year into one poem. Amazing. Have beautiful holidays and a happy transition into the new y-ear. Which song will be playing?
Thanks Sadhbh! You have written more on substack this year than anybody I know! You are a writer’s writer! I appreciate you. Thanks so much for being here and for being an inspiration. I look forward to all of your articles and poetry! Time for that next book! Merry Christmas and have a wonderful new year ❤️🙏💫
Which song will be playing? Perhaps, Walk on the Wild Side! Love and white light coming your way, Sadhbh, Geraldine
the writing is truly wondrful, the photos are grand, rockin' it!!!!
Jeanne! Thank you so much. I hope all is well out there on the West Coast and you’ve painted some beautiful cards again this year. Big hugs 🙏💫❤️
And thank You Jamie for the exchange of energy.
"We write on. Into the fire. Out on the edges of word."
It's been a big year for you, for me, for all of us. Thank you for holding the space to ask the questions. Finding the balance. "We meet in the middle."
Have a special Christmas Jamie with your loved ones. Much Love and Gratitude. xx
Thanks Jo for the exchange of energy. Thanks for meeting in the middle from day one here for me. I appreciate you. All the best for a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2026 with you and yours. Big hugs back in love and gratitude. 🙏❤️💫
Gorgeous photos, honey💥
“We are mud” and earth keeps history, layer upon layer, living in layers walking into the future with intention, building sustainable energy and vitality. ‘Dog Days’ middle days aligned with who we truly are, let us hold space in 2026!
“We are the ink” I appreciate you, dear poet from the north and the blue fire you write with, Sir Jamie 💋 Cheers for a brilliant new blue new year. Love to you from CO, Geraldine
Thanks Geraldine! Sending love. Thanks for reaching out. Thanks for reaching - in. Enjoy this soulstice. Have a lovely holiday and a wonderful 26! Blessings 🫂
“We are children of the mud. The ash. We will continually be brought back down to earth.” love these lines, and the idea of time piling on us in layers, and time taking those aways. What gets added and taken away? What remains? Another year gone by, my friend. Blessings to you, and may this Holiday season bring you joy and peace, and another layer of blessed time.
Thank you for the lovely wishes, Jamie. ♥️ 🙏
Dog years – I've been wondering whether it's a metaphor (= an exchange of energy between two things. – between dogs and years? between doggedness and aging?)
What struck me most in this piece is your contemplation on change, with the sound and rhythm of a riddle...
"Change. Always gets the last word.
She often doesn’t give us a chance
to speak. There is no debate.
What gives rise to all change
yet itself - is changeless?"
The one big change in my/our life this year is Josh's recent and unexpected illness — leaving us hoping that the new year will bring a change for the better.
heartfelt wishes to you and your loved ones from both of us.
Oh Veronika! I’m so sorry to hear that. Please let Josh know. I’m sending love and prayers. Sounds scary. Big hugs. Thank you for being here. Definitely hoping and blessing you both for any change you both need for 2026. 🫂❤️
thank you ❤️
Dearest Jamie,
What a profound thought, "We drain words from our blood." I am picturing that exactly. And imagining draining them from a hundred other places, too. Plucking them from our scalp; scraping them from our skin, flossing them from between our teeth. They come from everywhere and each has its own message and weight.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and thoughts. XO
Thanks Danielle! Merry Christmas and all the best for 2026! Thanks for being here 🙏💫❤️