Sacred Imagination for Chapter 12

Sorry for the delay in getting around to posting this - chronic illness is boring (I find it particularly frustrating when I more or less have the spoons to post less involved entities on my own journal but can’t quite manage anything that involves concentration. Anyway I’ve chosen the passage describing the Punch and Judy Company arriving at the unfriendly village for Sacred Imagination practice:

One day they came to the village that was less pleasant than the rest.
The houses were grey and dirty. No flowers grew in the gardens, which were full of weeds. The street was littered with rubbish, while the pond on the village green was thick with duckweed and slime.
Nobody came out to greet the Punch and Judy show when the showman put up his striped box on the green.
A few children, slouching home from school, stared rudely but went home to tell their parents, for just as the showman was about to move on, a few people began to straggle up and stood about in little groups to watch the show.
The showman would willingly have left such disagreeable people behind, but being a merry-hearted man himself, he thought he had better do all he could to cheer their misery, so he set Gobbolino beating a drum and drew up the curtain.
The children and their parents watching did not clap their hands as most children did.
Instead they began to make rude remarks.
“Punch has cracked his nose! Judy’s pinny is torn! Look at Toby‘s face! Who ever saw a black dog Toby before?”
“The old show-box could do with a clean! And the showman too, I dearsay!”
“And Dog Toby, he’s black enough!” shouted someone else.
All the children laughed, but it was very disagreeable laughter.
Suddenly a voice from the back called out:
“That isn’t a dog at all! It’s a cat!”
Gobbolino bristled all over with rage, and the voice called out again:
“It’s a cat, I tell you! And what is more it is a witch’s cat, or I am very much mistaken!”

Blessings for Chapter 12

My first, most obvious Blessing is for the Punch and Judy Company in general and particularly the Woman who first speaks to Gobbolino and suggests he take on the role of Dog Toby. For anyone who builds found families and communities of practice. May their welcoming be rewarded and may they always be given the companionship and support that they desire and give to others.

My less obvious Blessing is for Granny Dobbin. She was wrong to publicly out Gobbolino as a Witch’s Cat but otherwise she is actually almost kind to him. She remembers his family and although her explanation of what he can ongoingly expect in the non-magical world as a Witch’s Cat is harsh it is also largely true. She is definitely speaking from her own experience of either being a Witch or being seen as a Witch by her neighbours and it’s obvious that attitudes towards her are hostile. I wonder who she negotiates her precarious position in this unfriendly village? So I would like to Bless outsiders and anyone who has been rejected - may they be welcomed and valued. And everyone who has painful truths to share - may they be able to be honest and clear with compassion and sensitivity.