Slowly, I am coming out of deep winter dreaming… Catching a whiff of spring in the air, noticing more light in the evenings, and creative ideas percolating…
What are you noticing?
Stirring from Cozy Hibernation
Musings
River Revelations
This morning I recorded a little vlog at the river. In just under three minutes I muse on meditation and the wisdom of the water. Water is such a powerful messenger…
Wishing you a magical October!
Welcoming Autumn
Pumpkins, long walks in crunchy leaves, hot apple cider, and witchy stories. Threshold words—liminal spaces, thin veil, spooky, witchy, betwixt & between, mystery & enchantment. It’s all wrapped up in the same feeling essence as secret passages, the game of clue, hidden places, ghost stories, seances & black cats. They evoke such magical feelings. When we are unafraid of whatever is scary or strange we are actually having fun! Can we embrace darkness? How do we balance the light? Can we approach more oddities and unusual things in life with this kind of open-minded playfulness?
Today, instead of writing to you, I recorded a 2 minute reflection on balance…
And, here’s a 2 minute autumn mood making video to put you in tune with pulse of the season!
It’s my favorite season!! May yours be filled with magic!!
Time Travel to the Old West
Museums make me feel like a time traveler. My favorite kind are the self-guided, pay by donation, outdoor walk through immersive displays. My kiddo and I stumbled across one such amazing old western museum in Winthrop, Washington. The small town has wooden boardwalks, old-timey building facades, and a real western vibe.
We enjoyed all of the shops and ate a great meal at a last legally operating saloon in Washington before stumbling onto the museum.
The Shafer Museum sits atop a hill overlooking the town. Original buildings, mining equipment, and all sorts of original artifacts are on display.
I found myself wondering what life would have been like in the days of this grand sleigh!
In the print shop I found relics that I recognized from my own childhood when my folks ran a graphics art center. They used an old printing press with antique blocks. I still have some stashed around here someplace. As soon as I saw the display I could smell the ink and my childhood. It was time travel to 1892 as well as 1972. I loved it. I am ready for more time travel adventures!
Exploring Imaginative Powers
I just began playing with image generation via artificial intelligence. There are many apps out there, and the one that has me mesmerized is called Midjourney. Exploring this new medium of thought is certainly expanding my imaginative powers, as well as sparks of possibility, curiosity, wonder, and all the magical aspects of creation! Again, I am reminded of the power of whimsey in creativity. There is something so fun about the experimental process of typing in some text and watching images evolve before my eyes!
Midjourney is an independent research lab exploring new mediums of thought and expanding the imaginative powers of the human species.
www.midjourney.com
Whatever medium, the fun of creation expands imaginative powers. Without fun, imagination is diminished. We just naturally have a creative momentum that is best fed by joy, and the magic is in the process. My wish for everyone is that they have an accessible joyful creative practice. My life purpose as an Aficionado of Imaginative Souls, Advocate of Unlimited Possibilities & Amusing Muse gets activated by every form of immersion into imagination. From the most ancient form of imaginative immersion (stories around the fire) to modern virtual reality games, we are entering another world of our making.
Typos are an imaginative delight! This is “Wildflower Wonder Moo” as I missed the “n” in moon!
Art generated by artificial intelligence, futures envisioned in our dreamscapes, and emerging biotechnology are all extensions of human imagination. Humankind has always had a drive to bring what is in the mind outside and in front of our eyes! The creative process itself, bringing thoughts and visions into this three-dimensional space we occupy is fascinating to me! And it’s a big process. Artificial intelligence makes it look so easy!
And this one was supposed to be “6 of Cups Enchanted Faerie Tea Party” based on a tarot card I love, but alas, instead I’d accidentally typed in “caps” 😆
There is such a magical sense of instant gratification when entering text and then seeing it’s visual representation just moments later. There is a real wow-factor! It also makes me suddenly very aware that in this dimension, we are lucky our imaginings take longer to come into existence. What if everything we imagined sprung into existence mere moments after thinking it?
Seaside with the Sea Singers—a Lunasa Reflection
You’ve probably heard of Selkie, a shapeshifting sealwoman. Did you know that in the Irish tradition, the Sea Singer is called Celtic Merrow or in Irish, Murúch. Just as the mythical Selkie comes ashore and is unable to return when her sealskin is taken, in the Irish folktale of the Sea Singer, it’s his or her magical cap that is taken and he or she needs it in order to travel between deep water and dry land.
A loss of an essential part of self can become a barrier to fully exploring every terrain at will. In life we willingly give over parts of ourselves for the sake of accomplishments, relationships, and missions that are bigger than ourselves. This is a beautiful aspect of being human.
At the same time, a deep attachment or identification with any aspect of self can also become a barrier. For example, when we don’t take breaks from our day-to-day routines and explore the edges of life, we lose touch with our sense of possibility. In my little family, we’re so very aware of this in our personalities, we absolutely must have periodic adventures throughout the year, even if they are just short day trips. As far back as I can remember we’ve always had long weekends or weeklong adventures during August.
The Irish word for August is “Lunasa.” Traditionally spelled Lughnasa, it is named after the Celtic God Lugh, the god of sun, light, and harvest. Living in tune with the seasons and cycles, I recognize the ripening fruits of my intentions planted as seeds earlier in the cycle.
These sweet seals reminded me to harvest the magic of my life in gratitude to the sun and light. They lay in the sun resting a while. Then lift their heads and sing to the sun.
The Celtic Merrow and I are paying close attention to essential parts of self these days. As we explore the edges of various terrains we wish to remain free to come and go as we please! The message to remember my magical cap, my sealskin, was loud and clear on a recent seaside adventure with the Sea Singers we recognize as seals.
For my little family, the year has included grief and loss, kiddo’s 8th grade graduation, husband’s ER visits, surgery and a new job, and new kittens! I’ve been careful not to lose essential parts of myself through all of it. My intentions were set as potent seeds over the winter dreaming for this cycle—vitality and self-mastery. The seals remind me of the importance of both rest and play as components of vitality. The compelling life events happening all around me give me the chance to show what I’ve learned about keeping the essential parts of myself balanced—of growing in mastery with the art of living. More and more I recognize messages such as that of the Sea Singers. More and more I remember to notice when I become to identified with some aspect of myself or lose parts of myself to the circumstances of my life. I am learning to shape-shift! I am remembering to keep track of my magical cap. Life does not get easier, but we certainly can get better at it.
May your August, your Lunasa, be full of sun and light as you harvest whatever is coming to fruition for you this season.
Going Bananas
When you’ve looked EVERYWHERE for Monkey only to wake up and find this scene in the banana cabinet…! 🤣🤣 Of course (facepalm), why didn’t we check the banana stash?!
Lately this little bugger has been going everywhere with us – monkey this, monkey that… reading books, playing ball, in the swing, going potty, drawing pictures. Luckily Juniper can also be pretty persuasive and (sometimes) can convince Luna to do something she otherwise wouldn’t do.
I had a similar monkey when I was young. I felt like I was have a moment of re-living my childhood, only to realize I’ve actually played with and animated this monkey WAY more than I ever did when I was young. (At least it feels that way!) 🤣
In what ways have you/are you re-living your childhood?
Kittens! Meet Oliver & Willow
The Foleys adopted these two boys a few weeks ago. Oliver (as in all-over the place!) is the black one, and Willow is the grey one. They are demonstrating important life skills—play, nap, be persistent in meeting your needs, and snuggle.
And perhaps another life skill I could improve! Shhhhhh. Just be quiet!
Kitten wisdom is full of play and curiosity.
Of course, Lucky wonders why we would have done such a thing!
That look on his face!
Tea Time!
Inspired by our moon theme, Luna and I (and all her critters) have been playing with tea cups and saucers. Little did I know how easy it would be (under her leadership) to turn most meals, bath-time, and sometimes whole afternoons into an Enchanted Garden Party! I just had to get out of her way and be a dutiful guest! 🤣
To celebrate the Summer Solstice we went all out with a Midsummer’s Day Enchanted Garden Tea Party! It was totally worth the armfuls of supplies. Watching Luna master her technique pouring cup after cup to the brim, clinking cheers before each sip, and being decadently abundant with strawberries was a joy. We did have to move into the shade, and lure Finn over with some treats of his own!
Yes, we’ve been playing with our Christmas gnomes all year round. And no, I didn’t see it coming that she would would want to continue having epic tea parties every day after lol.
Deer have been showing up lately, with a doe and two fawns bounding across the field this morning. Deer medicine reminds us to be graceful and gentle, especially with ourselves. As a mama, it’s a welcome reminder – that it’s ok to prioritize tea parties over all the other things that need to get done (in my case it’s usually cleaning and organizing!)
Is there any way you can be more gentle on yourself? And weave a bit of playful magic into your life?
Yellow Roses
Yellow roses symbolize joy, warmth, delight, gladness and this year, for me, they mean summer has finally arrived! In the past, I’ve had these beauties bloom every single month of the year except January. This year, however, they were tight buds until this week! Today’s sunshine feels so good. I feel like I’ve been a tight bud and now I am ready to stretch, bloom, explore, and wander! It’s no wonder our ancestors worshiped the sun! In almost every culture yellow represents sunshine and happiness, and for our primitive brains it also represents survival. Imagine the world before electricity! These summer days of longer daylight held a much deeper significance in our ancestor’s lives.
Litha, meaning light, is a festival dedicated to the life-giving, regenerative powers of the sun. Litha was also a celebration of the Celctic goddess Danu (Anu). This goddess of earth and fruitfulness was the Universal Mother of Tuatha De Danaan – a tribe of ancient people in Ireland. According to Irish mythology, this tribe ruled until being defeated in war on midsummer’s day, after which they retreated to the hills and eventually became the Faerie folk. The ancient Irish were celebrating the Summer Solstice thousands of years ago.
Modern celebrations and meanings have a very different context but it is no less a victory of light over dark. My yellow roses are victorious over a seemingly endless cold and rainy spring. The light within me is beaming now. Just as mother nature does, I have my own winter seasons or times when my light is shrouded by the clouds of life. Just as my yellow roses, my victory of light over dark may come slooowly some seasons, but it always comes.
Happy Summer! May it be full of light and your favorite blooms!
