Happy Summer Solstice everyone! Another little inspirational message came to me yesterday which I found appropriate for this time of the year.
Do you know why koala bears are so cute? Why ospreys dance in flight? Why cheetahs run so fast? Arctic terns fly so far? Flowers smell so good? Blueberries taste so blue? Butterflies flit? Parrots talk? Whales sing? And doves coo? Because I was having fun. Which is my greatest wish for you in all you do.
This time of the year is about having fun. Celebration, wildness and joy for tomorrow the dark begins to return. Play now, because work is upon us with the harvest.
Our crops are in and we are watching them grow. The hard labor of planting is done, the hard labor of harvest is coming. We can take a break now and enjoy all the Earth has to offer us.
The joy of school children freshly out of class is infectious. Swimming, lemon-ade stands, playing hide & go seek in the dark, catching lightening bugs. All of these things remind me of Summer and of those by gone days of childhood. But do they really have to be gone?
Take time this summer to grow things, play in the grass, spray each other with the water hose and watch the little flickers of light in the dark. Our Gods are playing above, why not us below?
Beltane approaches...
I realize that I missed Spring Equinox when I checked the comments here. Life is a bit hectic and things slide. My apologies.
I recieve these little inspirational messages in my email each day. Recently, as if the Universe knows, they have a good bit of meaning. Here is yesterday's message:
Happiness, dear Morgaine, is what greases the wheels of life. It's also what opens the floodgates, marshals the forces, commands the elements, raises the sun, aligns the stars, beats your heart, heals what hurts, turns the page, makes new friends, finds true love, calls the shots, waves the wand, connects the dots, feeds your mind, frees your soul, rocks the world, and pays compound interest.
Yeah, so easy to forget.
It IS easy to forget. To find the happiness, the joy in life, sometimes we have to be kicked in the rear. Instead of dwelling in despair, worrying over things beyond our control, we can take a moment to breathe and find the happiness around us. Cultivate it like the seeds in our garden. Tend it with loving care and gently prune the weeds that don't bring us the harvest we desire.
In Tennessee, Spring has sprung. There is a green haze on the trees, the spring bulbs are up and many gardners are putting out their seedlings. Life is renewing, the Earth is reminding us of Her promise to return over and over. We can plant our seeds of happiness with the Spring tides and watch them grow to fruition over the Summer.
Happy Spring!
The importance of remembering to not sweat the small stuff came into play this weekend. It's a lesson we all are faced with at some point, often more than once as we slip back into habits we thought we had broken. Through someone else, I was faced with remembering this lesson for myself.
I am reminded that none of us ever stops growing, and that part of the function of a coven seems to supporting you when its time to look in the mirror.
Today Mercury goes retrograde and will remain so until February 18. From Astrology.com: At 20:32 UT (Universal Time), on Monday, January 28th, 2008, Mercury the cosmic trickster, turns retrograde in Aquarius, the sign of the Water-Bearer, sending communications, travel, appointments, mail and the www into a general snarlup! This awkward period begins a few days before the actual turning point (as Mercury slows) and lasts for three weeks or so, until February 19, when the Winged Messenger reaches his direct station.
While I know Mercury Rx has a play on things, I also know that you can have meaningful conversation during this time. It might make things harder, but it doesn't make them impossible.
As Witches, we are taught to do the Work in all scenarios. In life, sometimes we have to forge ahead. There are times when our energies lag, when we need a break. There are times when we do 'sweat the small stuff'. But part of the work we do, I think, continually teaches us over and over again that small stuff can be overcome. Especially with love and support. Mercury Rx can make the small stuff huge, but love can move mountains.
As we continue along in the cold of winter, I know the changes that lie ahead come regardless of whether you want them to or not. How we choose to face them determines how we grow from them. Large or small, change is hard. Part of the human condition is the ability to adapt.
Can we adapt, as a species or as individuals? We've been doing it for hundreds of thousands of years. I think we can keep on, expecially with the love of our Family.
As the Wheel turns towards Imbolg and a deeper Mystery is revealed, I feel I am coming out of Winter renewed. The last few months have been difficult. It seems as if the season is determined to remind us of what our ancestors went through in ancient days even though our trials are different.
I feel the first stirrings of activity and am reminded that life never stops. It just continues struggling, kicking, yearing and growing. It is an example for our species, one that sometimes I think we have taken a bit too seriously with our constant struggle to tame nature.
Sometimes it appears we are stuck in a rut, thinking that people cannot change nor will situations improve. Those who have lost your trust are forever beyond redemption, those whom you have parted ways forever lost to us. I think though that if we are to learn anything from the cycle of the seasons, it is that life is ever renewing it's self. That hope springs eternal from even the darkest moment. If renewal comes from the Earth, why can't it come from inside us too?
It can, if only we let it. Can we forgive? Can we see inside ourselves to our part, while letting go what is not ours? Can we realize that as we change others also change?
I think we can, if we want to. Holding on to the old when the new is stirring only stunts us. We have to grow, all things have to grow. It is our way.
