wordless wednesday 3: range of warmth

all the power i was born with i have fought to keep

just look at the ocean throw itself
at my feet.
i do not believe
that a power
greater than myself

will restore me

to sanity. i don't
accept jesus christ
as my lord and personal
savior.

and just look
at all the god gone out
of my lungs
as i sit in this
fractured
circle,
listening to us grovel
to the deaf: not
one of us can muster
so much as a single
namaste.

how easy it is for you to forget me













once choice thirsts your mind--











one hollow gene a faulty rung on the helix,











but your troubles are not mine.

see? heregoes heredity









like the windworn sea reeds










sun-bleached,









shallow-rooted,













and under the tide

love, it would be much better

wordless wednesday 2: willow wreath

willow wreath, a gift for aunt deborah...

winter solstice

Light is the most stable of these cues, and it can be used not only to signal dawn and dusk, but also, since the amount of light falling on the Earth varies precisely with latitude and season, to calculate the time of the year. This is how the salmon and the loon and the monarch know when to migrate, the roe deer and the wallaby and the cicada when to mate, the squirrel how to find its stash on time, and the tobacco plant and the evening primrose when to release their scents for pollinating nocturnal insects. It is how the internal private message becomes the external natural poem.

--Oren Harman

Happy Yule!

Today marks the winter solstice, midwinter, the longest night of the year. From here on in, daytime lengthens; light seeps back into our half of earth, as winter's shadow recedes from the hemisphere. The goddess as mother-goddess births the sun god, the horned god, and the Holly King departs as the Oak King arrives. (In Spanish, the verb "to give birth" is dar luz, literally "to give light.")

This article explains the astronomy of today's celestial event, when the sun appears to stand still in the sky, as the North Pole points directly away from it.

"The term [solstice] is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still)."

Here are some lovely midwinter thoughts to read and reflect about:

At winter solstice, the sun moves into Capricorn, a solid, stable earth sign. Also the beginning of the new solar year, it's a good time to pause, like the stilled sun, arced low in the sky at the Tropic of Capricorn, to reflect on the past year, let go of troubles, and yoke new intentions with the strengthening sun...

"During this dark season, you can attain great wisdom by contemplating the karmic lessons from the past year. This is also the time to incubate your new vision for the coming year."

Especially in winter, when i'm inside so often for such long, dark hours, my mind can snag on obsessions and angry, anxious tics. This article, with its simple, loving, practical meditation, has been incredibly helpful to me in learning to take stock of harmful negativity--like beating myself up for past wrongdoing or getting lost in frustration and anger--and release it to make space.

"Follow the Golden Rule and treat others as you would want to be treated. Be grateful for your life. Look for ways to appreciate others. All these things begin a process of purifying hidden feelings of guilt and resentment. Let those feelings come up."

In those moments i sometimes feel utterly overwhelmed and try to practice Pema Chodron's "compassionate abiding."

"Contacting the experience of being hooked, you breathe in, allowing the feeling completely and opening to it. The in-breath can be deep and relaxed--anything that helps you to let the feeling be there, anything that helps you not push it away. Then, still abiding with the urge and edginess of feelings such as craving or aggression, as you breathe out you relax and give the feeling space. The out-breath is not a way of sending the discomfort away but of ventilating it, of loosening the tension around it, of becoming aware of the space in which the discomfort is occurring."

This article about Winter Solstice traditions suggests a ritual for letting go:

"Release is powerful medicine, a plumbing of the depths, fertilizing your foundation. This Winter Solstice, write down what you would like to release into the darkness. You can write as many thoughts as you wish, about a situation, energies, a person or a habit. This is a time to revere what has taught you well, not to revoke yourself for the past. Think about what you would like to release, as well as what you would like to replace it with. With your fire or candle lit, cast the written offerings into the fire, and as it burns, affirm this release by declaring what you would like to replace things with. After fully finished, let your fire or candle burn completely to the end, releasing that which is now gone. If there are any remnants of your ritual fire or candle, you can either keep a few ashes or a piece of wax to commemorate your releasing next year, and recall that which you have consciously "let go" of for 2010. Lastly, celebrate your awareness by enjoying pleasure! The long night has just begun, your fire is burning and there is much to treasure."

Remember that the wheel of the year keeps turning. Everything is dormant, the bare trees laced with snow, but now, "the seeds of new beginnings are planted, and by February 2 at Imbolc, your intentions will have sprouted." Being in the dark lets us appreciate the gradual, incremental return of light. May we all nurture the return of our own lights, too.

in the night of the year
when the sun is at its farthest
we can find the darkest part
and glow like stars

blessed be. ♥