Suddenly Summer

finally written, coded and uploaded and coded again.
It's still the Magical Month of May but barely.
regular work gone irregular and twice as much.
The glitch of computers make this an old-style almost manual posting
without as much creative options which make this a loving art form for me.
We are always limited by our mediums, by our programs, by the center or left or right setting.
And it is good to be in the summertime,
when there is so much abundance and so much to do
even with the constraints of our humanity.

It is now Memorial Day weekend, early but still.
3 weeks exactly since our Beltaine Ritual.

It is completely summer.
Catskill Mountain summer, of potential frosts and layers of clothes for warmth in the shade.

But it is very dry.
Even with the blessing of a few nights of rain,
the ground is thirsty.

We take this long weekend to rest,
to walk the land a bit and garden a bit
but mainly to be languid.
We have earned this time off, this time of not doing,
even though there are still chores we finish slowly
in between naps.

Once again we prepared for many
and less, but enough, showed up. 3 of us and three others, having lost lists and reconfigured connections
those who were here were.

Back then there was no canopy of dark leaves,
it was the blooming of the rest of the daffodils
and the magnolia
and before the columbine, irises and other purple flowers
in the garden now.

the cycling of flowers in their time fascinates me,
impossible to keep up with but only to fully immerse in,
I blink each week at the newness
as the garden changes colors.

The Maypole is still up until the end of the month,
grateful that this year we had the strength to erect it ourselves.

simple simple

we gather, eat fruit & spicy chocolate, drink water
and talk and talk as always.
With petals and flowers and pieces of ribbon in my pockets for sacrifice.
we process to to the gentle drumbeat and the bird calls
past the 5-circle fire pit across the brook
and through the just budding woods and fiddleheads
to the nemeton
and find our places on the earth.

  

 

(photos by boy)
                                                              offering sacrifice

 final sacrifice

       

 
(photos by me)  
             

there aren’t too many words to say,
the fire was doing all the talking

                            pulling omens, giving thanks

 Just enough to dance
around the Maypole, always
much silly laughter

   

Our omens
From our Honored Dead:Mannaz – Man or Self
From the Spirits of Nature & Place: Laguz –the lake,
drawing up, drawing from
From the Gods & Goddesses:Elwaz-Attention, prayer
For the Season:Berkanu-NEW BEGINNINGS!

(photos by him)

now at 9pm it is not totally dark,
the moon grows larger and the night still lessens,
fruit grows on the trees and I keep my fingers crossed.