seasons

For Summer is A-Coming In

by Cari on 05/01/2013

in Wheel of the Year

Heel-and-Toe! Jolly Rumble-O! We were up, Long before the day-o, To welcome in the summer, To welcome in the May-o, For Summer is a-coming in, And winter’s gone away-o! We were, yes, dancing up the sun on this May Day morning with the Morris dancers at the Baylands. Rolling out of bed at dark o’clock [...]

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Reading the Equinox

by Cari on 03/20/2013

in Earthwise

Equinoxes are perhaps the most bipolar of holidays, the light and dark in equal measure, the yin and yang, the joy and sorrow. In keeping one’s balance, there is a heightened awareness of “both sides now”. So it is with this Equinox. In the quiet of equanimity, people pass through the gate into something else, [...]

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Light in the Darkness

by Cari on 02/02/2013

in Wheel of the Year

This year’s Brigid’s altar glows in the still-dark year, casting strands of hope and connection to those who circle around it. I like to use different symbols for the elements and Spirit, and this year’s choices are especially poignant for me.  For the center I use my first Brigid’s cross, one I bought years ago [...]

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Peace to You and Yours

by Cari on 12/21/2012

in Wheel of the Year

Wishing you and yours a blessed, warm, and safe Yuletide on this shortest day. This greeting was printed inside my first Dona Nobis Pacem card in 2000, the first year I produced it as a personal card. I was having a lot of fun with my new parallel pen! This year, winter solstice observances are [...]

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A Celestial Revels

by Cari on 12/12/2012

in Wheel of the Year

Sunday evening I had the communal pleasure of being enveloped in the magic that is a Revels performance. This has come to be the crowning activity of the holiday season for our family, always much anticipated. The Revels are tradition bearers who bring the past to life to cast a light in the joyful present. [...]

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The Spacious Firmament

by Cari on 09/22/2012

in Wheel of the Year

As we enter into the dark half of the year in the northern hemisphere, the night sky takes on extra luminosity and mystery. The vast cosmos whirls overhead as we contemplate our small place in the great universe. Here at the autumn equinox, we contemplate the balance of light and dark, in the length of [...]

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Lammastide Reflections

by Cari on 08/01/2012

in Wheel of the Year

How can I tell you about the beauty of my creek? How can I tell you about the magic that is happening there every minute of the day and night? The mandalas that appear before my eyes, the patterns made of light and wind, water and tree? How, when two circles of ripples meet, diamond [...]

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Marking Summer Solstice

by Cari on 06/20/2012

in Wheel of the Year

I like to mark the turning of the year in my art journal, but never know just what form it will take. This was a little scrap of gilding on black paper that was left over from another use, and it resembled the brilliance of the horizon when the sun is rising, oh so early [...]

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Moon in June

by Cari on 06/01/2012

in Earthwise

The gibbous moon in June, waxing as the year is waxing. So bright, even alongside the setting sun’s bright highlights on the treetops, in the early evening. My companion the moon, day and night. A bit lunatic, in the domain of dreams and cycles, reflections and musings.

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Spring Comes

by Cari on 05/01/2012

in Wheel of the Year

sit quietly doing nothing spring comes and the grass grows by itself Today is Beltane and the mood is quiet as the Wheel turns and another season arrives. By the same reckoning that names winter solstice as midwinter and summer solstice as midsummer, today is the first day of summer here in the northern hemisphere, [...]

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