First Fruits of Harvest Blessings, Reflections Long, sunny days shrilled by the rise and fall of the cicada’s hum carry us from July into August. The first day of August marks the half-way point between the summer solstice and the fall equinox. The ancient Celts named this day Lughnasa (loo-na-sah), after Lugh (loo) a powerful […]
Reflections Seductively bright, the summer solstice is upon us. While joyous dances and bonfires into which herbs with magical properties are thrown mark June 21, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, beneath the blazing sun on the Texas/Mexico border, children are being separated from their parents in a drama that lacerates […]
Merry May We awake to May Day dawn fresh from the valley of the shadows of sleep. In the northern hemisphere, the earth is stretching itself into green and shaking itself into bloom. May is a time of joy but also of uncertainty. As the song “June is Bustin’ Out All Over” from Carousel, reminds […]
Reflections Welcome Spring! Light is returning with a vengeance, but spring’s promise of growth is delayed for us in the northeastern United States as we prepare for yet another snow storm. Someone seems to have hit the reset button for winter. Somewhere, however, Demeter’s heart bursts with joy to see her daughter Persephone rise again. […]
Because I had to be awake early for work, on January 31, I saw the partial eclipse of the moon as she set just before dawn in Massachusetts. Wispy black clouds, tangible as lace, ethereal as smoke, like a widow’s veil, coursed across the glowing orange disc that grew larger and brighter as she sank […]
Reflections What lies dormant in the frozen ground? What lives beneath the thick ice of ponds? What hibernates in caves? In the northern hemisphere, the energy of life has left the surface of the world and gone underground. Winter solstice or Yule is the longest night that marks the boundary of the dark and the […]
Come for a walk between the worlds this Halloween, or Celtic Samhain (sow-en). Reflections Halloween, the Wiccan sabbat known as Samhain, marks the end of harvest and limits possibility. The growing world is dying. Withered leaves scratch a death knell as the wind drives them over rough pavement. This is the season of the crone, […]
Abundant Fall Blessings Happy homecoming! At fall equinox, we celebrate the return to school, work, church, and community connections, as earth comes into balance in its journey around the sun. The harvest is well underway and farmers’ markets are overflowing. However, this year at summer’s end, we humans in North America are roiling in the […]
Reflections Heat! The fully stoked engines of the sun are charging full steam ahead into harvest. We are at summer’s midpoint, and while the heat is at its most intense, the hours of daylight begin to visibly decline. Vegetables, grains, and fruits ripen in the fields and orchards. For those of us who live in […]
Musings from a Beach House Halloo to summer! Wild roses and daisies festoon sandy paths that meander near the ocean’s edge and carry me down from my cottage to the beach. I want to explode in joy as I play tag with the incoming tide and watch tiny translucent beach hoppers jump about the sand […]
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