Summer Solstice

"If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god."  --Napoleon Bonaparte

Our Summer Solstice tradition: Harvesting St. John's Wort in our secret spot.

A few small gifts, a celebratory breakfast, and our summer nature table

It wouldn't be summer without a trip to the beach.

The Spring Equinox (also called the Vernal Equinox)

We welcome the balance of light and dark today and the beginning of the spring season. It is a time of balance, rebirth, and renewal; a special time for intentions, new projects, change, and growth.

As we celebrate today, our little part of the world is still adorned with winter's snow, however, despite the snow and cold I can feel spring and have been feeling her presence more strongly this past week. Remember that the last cold bite of winter  is strengthening all the buds and seeds and small plants (us too!) that are starting to emerge from the earth--this last bit of winter toughens them and will help keep them strong and healthy through the rest of the spring, summer, and fall. The overlap of the seasons is magical, and all together necessary, as all aspects of the natural world are.

Celebrate the coming of warmer weather, soft dirt, longer days, and young plants today. Here are some ideas:

·         Grow something (inside or out)

·         Sprout something

·         Create a spring alter in your home with objects that remind you of spring

·         Drink warming, sunny-colored mead

·         Drink tea using herbs from last year's spring or herbs that first show up at the start of spring, like nettle

·         If you have fresh, young nettle or dandelion greens steam them and eat

·         Take hair from your brushes & lint from your drying and bring out side for the birds to collect for their nests

·         Create a meal in honor of the equinox (eat eggs, a sign of fertility)

·         Dye eggs with natural dyes

·         Clean/organize a space that hasn't been touched in awhile

·         Make a space for creativity/creative energy in your home

·         Create a space in your home for growth of something--drawing, writing, babies, spirituality

·         Take a walk outside and find signs of spring (collect objects for your alter)

·         Start clearing your garden, if you can, or begin planning out your garden map

·         Clean your yard and neighborhood of litter with friends and neighbors

·         Wear bright colored clothing

·         Practice balancing yoga, dance, or stretching

·         Burn incense that is sweet and invigorating to cleanse the air

·         Do a white sage smudge ceremony with your loved ones

·         Meditate on rebirth. What parts of your life need to be given new life and awareness?

Winter Solstice

The Solstice brings celebration and keen awareness of our surroundings...of light and dark. Our little family will eat homemade pizza by candlelight and embrace the darkness that surrounds us on this night. Perhaps we will light a fire, smudge dried cedar bundles, read together, sing and dance. In the morning we'll awaken with the sun--thankful it has risen once again over our little part of this land and that it will continue to grace us with its presence for longer and longer stretches. We'll enjoy breakfast together, open a few small gifts, and then spend time outdoors walking, feeding birds & small animals with seeds, collecting pine branches to adorn our home. The winter solstice is my time for deep reflection, pausing, resting. Nourishing my body, mind, and soul. Happy Winter Solstice!

Silent night, solstice night.

Quiet rest, dim the light.

Turning ever the rolling wheel

Brings the winter to comfort and heal.

Rest your spirit in peace.

Rest your spirit in peace.

Silent night, solstice night

All is calm, all is right.

Nature slumbers in forest and glen

Filling streams as she wakens again

Sleeping spirits grow strong.

Sleeping spirits grow strong.

Silent night, solstice night.

Silver moon, shining bright

Snowfall blankets the slumbering earth,

Yule fires welcome the sun's rebirth.

Hark the light is reborn!

Hark the light is reborn!

Recently...

 

 

 

The designs of the universe radiate through you...

These are the ways of our grandmothers, the ancient ones. Every pain, every plant, every problem is cherished. Night is loved for darkness, day for light. Uniqueness is our treasure, not normalcy.

These are the ways of our grandmothers, the ancient ones. Receive abundance with compassion, knowing you will be food for others. Know that dying is a portal just as birth is. Celebrate all comings and goings, they are the turnings of the spiral. 

These are the ways of our grandmothers, the ancient ones. The joy of life is the give- away. You are the center of your universe. You are the axis, life's matrix, the still point in the ever-moving. The designs of the universe radiate through you. You are god, goddess, unique and whole.

- Susan Weed 

 

Happy Winter Solstice!

The Shortest Day
By Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!
Hope you enjoyed and embraced the darkness. The sun has returned and we can begin to welcome the light. Our days will now slowly grow longer. It's a wonderful time to rest, relax, eat good, hearty nourishing food (especially fermented foods), and drinks a lot herbal tea.
Take the time to feed the local wildlife, enjoy a warm fire, read some good books, and thank the Earth for providing for us even during the cold winter months ahead.

Happy Spring Equinox!

A magical & beautiful morning spent outside celebrating the return of spring and saying hello to old friends...


young spring Nettle

a bed of purple and white crocuses

March: Awakening, Beginning

"In March the earth receives the melting ice into her body, exposing a terrain with patches of yellowed grass surrounding tiny islands of snow. The bald, muddy soil, rich with water, sinks beneath each footstep that leans upon it, but this muddy dirt hastens the emergence of tender, green tree shoots, of down-covered baby weeds and bulbs planted in the fall. The yearning for newness born of the incessant cold that tossed our restless bodies in February is now satisfied as the dance of change begins in earnest and our eyes, ears, nostrils, and skin are deluged with signs of the returning spring."

Judith Berger, Herbal Rituals

Thanksgiving Prayer

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in Whom is embodied all goodness, and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.
Iroquois Prayer, adapted