Behind the Harvest

I joined a farm! That means I pick up lovely produce every two weeks from a working farm that services about 400 families. Melanie, my daughter, and I took a tour of this working farm while trying to find basket weaving classes (another story). The tour was fantastic and we learned a great deal about growing food. Two very interesting pieces of information are included here.

First, the owner of the farm said that farming is “war.” Essentially, what the farmer is saying is, “I am claiming this piece of earth to grow food for me and mine and anything that tries to take my food, I will kill.” That sounds very …well, violent. But when you think about it – moles that take the young potatoes, weeds that strangle young beans, and wild dogs that steal the chickens are not the friends of farmers. It made me respect the work done by food growers much more.

The other great bit of information is that “raised organic” can mean that chickens just eat naturally raised corn. However, chickens want other kinds of foods like greens and bugs, so there is a higher order of food production that “organic” and our farm does that.

All in all, I am in such awe about raising food! It was thrilling that Melanie and I got to see the leeks in the ground that were in our food box the next week. That is quite wonderful! I also cooked mustard greens and ate white radishes – two new gustatory pleasures for me and mine!

Happy harvest to all.

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Harvest Blessings at Lughnasadh

I just got back from a precious vacation with Michael, my adult son, and Melanie, my nearly adult daughter. We went to my childhood home in Tucson, Arizona, a place which was not to known to either of them. I, myself, had not been to Tucson in decades.
With many years to grow past my youthful adventures, loves, sadness, and joys, I was able to put pieces of my life into perspective that feel very complete now — so appropriate for harvest time. I was also able to see all that was so normal to me through the eyes of my children, who were seeing things for the first time.
On our trip I appreciated the beauty of the desert that I remember seeing as just …brown and prickly in my youth. I heard the tremendous variety of bird calls in the early morning that I never remember hearing. I was inspired anew by the electrical storms and the big and small flash floods of southern Arizona in the monsoon season.
I meditated on the idea of “beauty” since I was experiencing so much of it, in a place that was never particularly beautiful to me when I lived there. I came to the understanding that each and every natural place on our Mother Gaia is beautiful when one is open to the beauty. I even imagined that if I lived in the desert again that I could look for and bless each new segment of a prickly pear cactus as much as I look for a bless each new rose bud in my current rose garden. I imagined that I could practice this deep seeing anywhere I paused in a natural setting. Once again, I gave thanks to what ever choice-maker it was in me that chose to live a life on our dear earth.

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Summer Solstice and Conscious Endings

It is almost the Summer Solstice. On June 21st the northern hemisphere of our earth home will experience the longest day of the year and the shortest night. For me, the two solstices are not merely opposite in their amount of light and dark; it is more complex than that. The winter solstice is the pure celebration of the birth of the light and the promise of the spring to come. It is joy, gratitude, and new beginnings. Summer solstice has more layers to its meaning. It celebrates the time of greatest activity, highest sun, most light, and enough time for two day’s activities in one day….and yet, it is the beginning of the shortening of the days. It reminds me that all good things come to an end on this earth plane. Oh, there are always plenty of new good things in each era and time of our life, but the good things of summer 2011 will come to an end and I am reminded of that at the summer solstice.
I think that conscious endings are something that we do not do very well. That is the reason behind hoarding, much addictive behavior, to do lists that are too long, and folks who die in the first year of their retirement.
On the summer solstice sunset I build a fire in my Weber bar-be-que – sort of a backyard bonfire. Even with this simple act, I am connecting with ancestors of hundreds of years ago who celebrated in the same way – just much, much bigger bonfires. I reminisce about the blessings of the season of light and think about what is ending that I need to consciously release; these ways of being go into the fire. I feel unburdened and clean – available to my current life.

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Seeing the Divine at Work

Have you noticed that there are some people who reveal the Divine One at work, when THEY are at work? For example it is easy to see God in my gardener. He reminds me of a poem by Theodore Roethke entitled “The Old Gardner.” If memory serves me right, here is part of the poem…

” …tamping and stamping dirt into pots.
How he could flick and pick rotten leaves or yellowy petals
Or drown a bug in one spit of tobacco juice
Or stand all night watering roses, his feet blue in rubber boots.”

In this poem the gardener is the life giver and taker, but all with tireless, infinite love… like the Creator of us all.

I recently experienced another person as God in his work. Dan Earl, the Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphonic Chorus, conducting the 80 voice choir last weekend in the performance of “Carmina Burana.” Dan makes beauty through all of us with the power, creativity, definiteness, and love of God. I, as one of the 80 people in front of him (along with dancers, readers, a children’s choir, and six percussionists) sang better than I thought I could because he was helping me… specifically, individually, personally, ME. Just like the Author of the universe, supporting the whole and each and every sparrow, lily, and person, at the same time – I experienced this in the conducting of Dan Earl.

May it be that we all remind others of God, Goddess, All that is, as we do our work in the world.

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The Truth of Red Rock

I just got back from a ministers’ planning meeting held in Denver, Colorado. At the end of our deliberations we visited the Red Rock National Monument, just outside of Denver at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The photo shows four of the Clergy Council team: Virginia Barnes, Heather Clark, June Clark, and myself at the base of a red rock towering many stories above us. Thanks to Barbara Rush, who took the picture.

Red Rock National Monument is amazing! Gigantic slabs of red rock rise up out of the valley floor. They are striated with sediment of various shades of red and emerge from the ground at a 45 degree angle. We all marveled at the power of Mother Earth to make such fabulous formations out of Herself. We were in awe at Her handiwork and grateful that we were witnessing the natural world in all her glory.

Then, we realized that a cataclysmic geologic event had to be the cause of such huge rocks, mountains in themselves, rising out of the plains. No one said, “Oh! What a horrible earthquake it must have been.” Instead we kept saying, “How spectacularly beautiful!”

The experience made me think of the weather and geologic events that are moving over our planet now and how negatively we judge them. Of course, when human suffering is involved, we will probably not look first to the natural beauty and wonder, and rightly so. Responding to human suffering with love, compassion, and assistance is a call to all of our hearts, but seeing natural events as a curse or retribution or a sign that God is angry just does not make sense.

As John Muir wrote,”All Nature’s wildness tells the same story – the shocks and outbursts of earthquakes, volcanoes, geysers – storms of every sort… each and all are the beauty making love beats of Nature’s Heart.” This is the Truth that lives in me.

Being Known on Mothers’ Day

We are right in the middle of my personal “High Holy Days”…the week bounded by Beltane and Mothers’ Day. It’s what I love!

On Beltane weekend my daughter, Melanie, and I visited our friend Doreen in Washington and we went to a hand-made broom store. Melanie bought me a broom for Mothers’ Day. She knows me. It’s such a blessing to be known so well.
The wise and ancient use for a broom is for sailing through the night sky, but there is another magical use for it, as well. Sweeping unwanted energy and circumstances from our lives feels like magic when we accomplish it. We have such a clean, fresh feeling filled with new potential and possibilities. All symbols of the ancient wise women were plain household items which could hold magical powers, as well. Think how useful the cauldron is for making dinner, when one is not using it for cooking potions. Think of how powerful a “pointer” a wand is.

Transformation by cooking, cleaning, and deeply choosing can be sacred acts, facilitated by tools that hold power for us. I am going to consciously cleanse my life the next time I sweep. I am going to consciously transform food into energy as I cook and eat. I am going to point my wand and my awareness powerfully in the direction of my dreams.

Happy Mothers’ Day, everyone.

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Let the World Love Us

I just got back from a wonderful speaking and teaching trip to Bellingham, Washington. I spoke on the topic, “Let the World Love Us.” I believe it is true that our soul chose to come to earth to have experiences on this earth plane which we could enjoy in no other realm in the universe. However, I believe that the earth also drew us here out of love. Mother Gaia surely loves all her children – the four leggeds, the crawlers, the crystalline ones, the leafy ones, the swimmers, the winged ones. So, it must be true for us two-leggeds, as well. I believe that when we notice natural beauty, or marvel at a creation of the Mother, or see a life lesson in an expression of nature, that we are allowing Her to love us. How many moments of noticing do we enjoy and how many do we miss?
When I was in Bellingham, I was shown a “nursing tree.” The photo here is not the exact tree, but it looks much like it. A nursing tree is one that has grown up on top of a fallen tree. It uses the nutrients of the fallen tree to build its own great body, sending roots down over the mother tree in an embrace.
This amazing connection is not only beautiful, it is inspirational. It is an example of how the Mother provides for all her children. It is the natural way of things. When I can harmonize with the natural systems of this earth plane, I am loved and provided for. It is only when I consciously or unconsciously go against the natural systems that I am distressed.
I could go on about other symbolism of the nursing tree, such as immortality, standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before, the symbiotic nature of all life, the ease of new beginnings, but I will stick with divine support today.

 

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How Far Within Do We Go?

In the ancient calendar, the time between Samhain (October 31) and Yule (December 22) is the deepest, most quiet time of the year. It is before the new light of promise and after the sacred holiday celebrating death. It is the time when our souls beg us to turn within.

I have noticed that this is the time of year that many beloved ones go so deeply within that they pass through the doorway into the realm of infinity. They become our ancestors. They move into the next realm. They die to the earthly plane so they may be reborn into the eternal. They go before us to prepare our way and teach us that there is nothing to fear about that journey. We all will make it right on time.

It is fascinating to realize that this is also the time of year when most babies are started. It is true that Beltane (May 1) conceived babies born at the time of Imbolc (February 1), are the stars of the symbolic ancient calendar. However, it is also the truth of our modern era that most babies are born in August, meaning that their parents were giving thanks for each other right around Thanksgiving.

Join me in pausing, lingering, meditating, cuddling, sleeping in, slowing down and minding our soul’s request to go deeply within. The new light of of the Solstice will come soon enough.

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Where Ancient Wisdom meets modern day living

Eyes in the Back of Our Heads

I just returned from Boston where I had the thrill of attending the opera, “Little Women,” which my son, Michael, conducted. It is a new, gorgeous opera and the staging was very innovative on the plain, smallish stage they had to work with. The orchestra was onstage toward the back of the stage; the set and singers were toward the front of the stage. There was a video camera on Michael and a video feed into monitors that the singers could see, and thus follow the conductor. Except…. that the monitor went out for the second act on the night I was there. And the audience never knew! The musicians were instantly expert at listening and feeling the music; the singers on stage flowed with each other so perfectly that the opera’s magnificence did not suffer a bit. Everyone seemed to have eyes in the back of their heads.

There is an ancient Druid training practice of walking silently through dense forest with eyes up and forward. The trainee is to “feel” his surroundings so completely that there is not a snap of a twig or a disturbance of any living thing. The Druid-in-training learns to perceive his physical surroundings completely, using all senses and intuition in order to learn how to perceive even deeper realities.

It is said that there are currently tribal peoples who can run through brush and rocky terrain in the dark of night with as much ease as in broad daylight. They perceive everything around them.

We all can train ourselves to express this ancient wisdom, to perceive much more about life around us than we normally do. We can become a part of our surroundings so much that there is no separation between ourselves and the path, the trees, and the other beings. That skill is deep within us. We can awaken it.

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It’s “Turn Within” Time

As Autumn moves into its fullness and the leaves turn, glow from within, and then drop, it is natural for us to follow the divine turn of the year and move within, ourselves. We spend more time inside walls, because it is colder. It is also natural for us to slow our activity level and turn within our hearts. Contemplation is the perfect activity for this time of year as we lay our first fires and bring out the heavier blankets. The ancient wisdom of our ancestors teaches us to metaphorically mend the wheels of our carts as we mend the stressed places of our lives. It shows us that stories told in the dreamtime prepare us for the next creation cycle. Now, my dear friends, I invite you to slow down.

Today, I’m working with Tom, my fabulous web guy. We are finishing up the cover to the Celtic Cross Prayer Kit and the cover to the Meditation CD for the Prayer Kit.

I’m so excited about our Malta Sacred Journey in 2011 with Sacred Britain Tours. The information about the trip and the full itinerary is on my website.

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