All things change.
All seasons end.
All life is transformed.
Until next time.
From fiddleheads and buds to full blown greenery
as we luxuriated in the bloom
of the May.
Ever ready to move forward.
This season has flown in a flurry of petals.
Beautiful May, season of flowers, season of expansion,
when the days are longest,
when there is so much to do and the glory of the day shines.
Life has returned full force and we are along for the ride.
It rains gently now,
though the barometric shift towards thunderstorms and heavy downpours
was ungrounding until the actual release.
Seasonal change everywhere,
the forest full, fruits setting, already eating from the garden.
Birds are singing long before 5 and it's not dark until late.
How do we manage in the Winter with so little day?
Notes after ritual are incomplete, the day so very whole.
Welcome to the May
Sitting by the wood stove this cool grey day after.
Fire crackling.
Days fly by, never enough time, even with these longer days.
on May Eve I tied new Maypole ribbons,
ribbons attached to ribbons.
Last year's ribbons found later,
all the new ones danced perfectly.
Magically exactly enough people,
the easiest and most well done one yet,
everyone working together,
over under over under over under.
Ribbons and flowers and dancing and the present.
Such is this time.
Ripeness of the now.
Gathering our sacrifice, our love and each other
We are here to honor the gods and the not-gods,
those who give meaning to life.
This is the time of the full moon, the Pink Moon,
the Pascal Moon the Easter Moon.
Springtime is undeniably here.
The rains are cold and the sun is strong.
Each day there is more in bloom,
bigger leaves, annuals popping up,
life renewed.
How blessed we are to have arrived.
In this overly digital age the line of raindrops
on the window's edge is comforting.
Slowing down to the speed of the present moment.
Snowing while the sun shines.
Glorious Spring.
Another Season of evolution and clearing and building
and letting go.
My notes from after ritual are a story of love and loss and awkward balance.
Of acceptance and stillness.
And now, weeks later, of faith and magic.
It's essential to open our hearts even if they're broken.
We have no choice.
Spring comes, even with snow.
Maybe we had to really feel all the Winter
in order to let go for Spring.
Sometimes going through the motions is what we got.
And what is is.
So oddly cold and enough
but not enough.
Enough is enough.
We are enough.
Should we have prayed more for peace?
Is our gratitude enough?
There is a feeling of large shifts
both positive and not so.
The greening happens regardless.
It seemed like ritual was about reaffirming
our balance
when in fact
it showed
how altered that balance is.
There is a necessary re-calibration of our senses,
awakened from the darkness of winter.
Staying present and still as nature goes on fast forward.
As always the pictures and notes and recollections
do not compare with being here
now.
