Transformation

I'm working a transformation: Turning myself into a patient and wise person, who exercises persistently; and also a magical transformation of our home into a tidy and ship-shape space (with a hot tub)!

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Agenda:

1. Read "The Sweet Spot"

2. Ongo journal
2. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

3. Halloween School plans

Enough

What is enough? My days become a blur, and I can't catch up with my intentions. I can't make enough progress with my attention, my patience and equanimity, my wisdom and growth. My projects don't get done - where is time going?

Agenda for today:

1. Ongo journal

2. Days of Passion

3. Abundance journal

Abundant creativity

Since abundance is my theme this month, I'm finding ways each day to create abundance. Today I will make some plans for creativity.  

Agenda Today:

1. Read "The Creativity Book"

2. Evaluate my creativity habits

3. Craftivism plans

4. Preschool plans

5. Studio

6. Do the smallest thing

7. Abundance journal

Patterns of Belonging

One ongoing pattern in my life is aloof cynicism. This kept me safe in the dangerous social climate of my youth, but has managed also to keep me isolated and feeling alone (especially in the aftermath of the pandemic). I'd like to cultivate a sense of wider belonging and usefulness, and an acceptance of my community as they are - community is the key to feeling an being effective

Agenda:

1. Read "The Earth Keeper's Handbook"

2. Set intentions

3. Proaction and reciprocity plans

4. Abundance journal

Diwali and New Chrysanthemum Moon

Endurance- acrylic and collage on canvas.

Tonight is the night of the new moon. The Chinese call this ninth new moon the Chrysanthemum Moon. The chrysanthemum is a symbol of long life and endurance because of its ability to withstand colder temperatures. According to Chinese scholars, it shows the virtues of one who can endure temptations and maintain grace.

The new moon is the start of the lunar cycle, a time of high energy and clear thinking. Historically, the new moon is when women took time to be alone; it's a time to retreat, set intentions, and initiate something new.

This is also the start of the five day Hindu Festival of Diwali, which falls on the new moon of late October or early November. Diwali is the festival of good luck and prosperity- one of the most important festivals of the year for Hindus. On Diwali, people wear new clothes, clean and decorate their homes, go to fairs with music, dancing, fireworks, jugglers and snake charmers, and give gifts to each other.

1. Retreat Day

2. Choose a month theme

3. Puja for prosperity

4. Read "Focus on the Good Stuff"

5. Start an Abundance Journal

6. Make almond katli

Monday

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

 

Agenda:

1. Read "The Sweet Spot"
2. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

3. Skeleton School plans

Mid-October Garden

October is often wet here in our valley, and finally the weather is starting to cool off, so I face the challenge of the lure of hibernation: I'd rather not garden in the rain!

But if I can be strong, get on my rain gear, and take a daily tour of my garden, I find many simple things to do, without getting too muddy!

The best tip I've read in any permaculture blog Is this: Be consistent with 15-minutes a day, year round. I try to take a 15-minute walk through my garden each day, and I alternate the front and back gardens so I don't feel rushed.

The consistency of the 15-minute daily visit keeps me connected to my garden even when I don't accomplish much. I notice the changes of the season, and how many bees I have. As Amy from 10-Acre Farm says, "It helps me to enjoy 'being' in the garden, rather than always focusing on the 'doing'."

Agenda:

1. October harvest

2. Save seeds

3. October garden care and bedding down

4. Fall planting

5. Raspberry pruning and thinning

6. Wildlife garden

Winternights

The Winternights, or Vetrnætr, is a twelve-day festival that begins on a night in mid-October, and marks the end of summer and the start of the winter. The name Vetrnætr (pronounced Vetter-natter) is Old Norse, composed of two words, vetr - meaning winter, and nætr - meaning nights. Vetrnætr is series of feasts and ceremonies (blóts, pronounced bloots) that celebrate the bounty of the harvest, and also honor the Disir, or female ancestor spirits.

2022 ofrenda

Vetrnætr is celebrated by the Ásatrú; Ásatrú is an Icelandic name, taken by the modern-day Norse and Germanic people who worship the old northern gods (such as Thor, Odin, and Frey) and goddesses (such as Freya and Frigg). Though its practice was interrupted, Ásatrú has been reconstructed as closely as possible to the original religion of the Northern European people, based on the surviving historical records. Ásatrú intrigues me, because it would have been the religion of my ancestors.

This month, Winternights festivals are held across Scandinavia, Germany, and New England and are marked by bonfires, tournaments, feasts, and arts and crafts vendors.

Agenda for today:

1. Ongo Journal

2. Set up my ancestor altar (ofrenda)

3. Disir meditation
4. Make more runes

5. Feast and blót

The Art of Positivity

I generally keep positivity at arms length, but this month I will explore why it is so important. I am trying to make a shift from cynicism to joy, because as Robin Wall Kimmerer says, 

"Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”

Agenda Today:

1. Read "The Creativity Book"

2. Evaluate my creativity habits

3. Craftivism plans

4. Preschool plans

5. Do the smallest thing

Earth Care Community

I need community and collaboration, and everything I'm reading this week is reinforcing that reminder. I have felt alone for a while now, mostly because of my own isolation and limitations, and inability to organize a community to work with. Now that I have a group to act with, I need to rise to the occasion!  

 

Agenda:

1. Read "The Earth Keeper's Handbook"

2. Proaction and reciprocity plans

Choose Positivity

Last night I spoke about the sadness I feel for our world, something I try not to touch on because I can get dark fast. And I realized how important it is to keep one finger on my sadness while choosing humor and happiness; I think that's how to keep cynicism from creeping in. If I stay aware that I am making a choice to live in positivity, then I can keep my grief under the surface, where it gives me power rather than fatalism.   

Agenda:

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Ponder this

3. Ongo Journal

4. Spiritual growth intention

Indigenous People's Day and Third Quarter Moon

Happy Indigenous People's Day! Some people celebrate the second Monday in October as Columbus Day, but many of us prefer to honor instead the people who were here in the Americas for centuries before Columbus "discovered" it. 

Many cities are finally making the name change official, adopting Indigenous People's Day to celebrate the people and their culture, and also to reflect on their ongoing struggles in this land. The celebration today includes powwows, drumming, dancing, Native American foods and crafts.

And today is the third Quarter moon. This waning moon energy is yin - quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. At this phase we can ease off a bit on actively pursuing goals, slow down, go within, and attend to inner work, renewal, and self-care. This isn’t a moment for starting new projects but for finishing up old ones, making peace with the past, and preparing for a fresh start at the next new moon.

Agenda:

1. Read "The Sweet Spot"
2. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

3. Pumpkin School plans

4.

 Ritual for Release and Realignment

5. Meditation and Evaluation Journal

6. Monthly journal brainstorm

7. A note about appropriation

Ayathrem

Ayathrem is the fourth Gahambar celebrated by the Zoroastrian community, who honor the six seasons of the year with six Gahambars - the word gahambar means "proper season". Each of these six festivals is celebrated for five days, and each honors one of the six material creations: The heaven, water, earth, flora, fauna and man.

Ayathrem celebrates the creation of plants, the time to sow winter crops, and the season when the herds come home from pasture. It takes place each year from October 12th through the 16th.

Agenda:

1. Ongo journal
2. Recite prayers
3. Renewal plans
4. Plant garlic
5. Start native iris seeds

6. Autumn awareness walk

Water-wise

My focus of study this month is water, and becoming wise about it. Water-wisdom is concerned with planting to conserve water, but also with awareness of the water all around and within; we are water! 

Agenda:
1. Ongo journal

2. Love Meditation
3. Water-wise plans
4. Next steps for my wildlife garden
5. Days of Passion

Autumn Art

Fall is a great time to make art. I've defined three areas for What I Want and What I Will Do to Get it:

I want to make things with my hands to give away - useful things, things that inspire and teach, gifts and craftivism.This will be my late week focus, Thursday and Friday, and I will plan and prepare on Thursday morning. 

 

I want to make artworks with a message - things that explore and support my Nature-Culture writing. This will be my weekend focus, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, with at least two hours in the studio, and I'll envision, explore, write, and set out supplies on Saturday morning.

 

And I want to make things with my grandsons - fun things, exploring basic skills, seasonal materials, and folk crafts. This will be my mid-week focus, Tuesday and Wednesday, and I will do all the prep on Monday, gathering all the supplies and making samples.

Agenda Today:

1. Read "The Creativity Book"

2. Evaluate my creativity habits

3. Craftivism plans

4. Preschool plans

5. Do the smallest thing

Getting Organized for Action

We had a great Earthcare Action Meeting on Sunday, and generated ton of ideas. As the leader, my next steps are to make a plan, discern and do my parts, and find volunteers for the other bits. 

Agenda:

1. Read "The Earth Keeper's Handbook"

2. Proaction and reciprocity plans

3. Love meditation

Change my Beliefs

"If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?" ~ Robert Anthony

Agenda:

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Ponder this

3. Ongo Journal

4. Spiritual growth intention

Full Squirrel Moon and Chung Ch'iu

The squirrels are creating great entertainment these days

Today is the start of Chung Ch’iu, the 3-day Mid-Autumn Moon Festival - a happy and beautiful Asian family celebration that comes each year at the time of the full moon in September or October.

And tonight is the full moon called the Squirrel Moon, because now the squirrels are busily gathering nuts for the winter. We are now at the peak of the strong-energy yang phase of the waxing moon, and will soon begin the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon.

Agenda for today:

1. Take a vision walk
2. Celebrate balance

3. Read "The Sweet Spot"

4. Fall cleaning and Home projects

5. Make moon cakes

6. Make a floating lantern

7. Have a moon-viewing party

Mindful of Needs

Today I finally feel like I am on the mend and caught up with life.

Agenda:
1. Ongo Journal
2. Spiritual growth intention

October Garden

The season is moving along, and I'm trying to catch up. We were out of town for a week, and temperatures dropped and rain increased while we were gone. 

The garden looks pretty raggedy and needs some tender loving care!

I'm still harvesting tomatoes, beets, peppers, rhubarb, and a few beans.

Agenda this week:

1. Finish preparing beds

2. Planting

3. Save seeds

Days of Passion

On Fridays I make a plan for Nature-Culture flow and writing through the next week. My Nature-Culture theme this month is water, drought, plastic and pollution, and rain gardens, and I'm also working on the idea of the intersection of Nature and Culture: Is there a balance point, like a Yin yang, between the two? How can I better incorporate a sense of my wild animal instinctual being into my days, and thinking like an earth dweller rather than a person from mars?

• S: Write about awareness and eco-spiritual practices with bodies of water; how to understand local fishes.
• Listen and advise the EC group; discuss the theme "Our Garden, Our Earth" and bring ideas for ways to stretch ourselves with minimal effort.
• Weed and mulch new butterfly beds, build hugelkulture, plant clover?
• Paint a moon painting in the studio.
• M: Write about rethinking cleaning supplies (because of streams); plastics, oil, what else?
• Plan for my own cleaning supplies and plastics.
• T: Write about Autumn awareness ideas 
• W: Write about celestial viewing; get Moon books.
• Th: Write about plastics advocacy and education, trout-friendly education and craftivism; 
• Th: Plan fall themes, projects, and skills for teaching Nature-Culture to kids - Outdoor preschool!
• Design a new craftivism fish tag
• F: Write about how to be an ally for the water that flows through your land; also stormwater rain gardens and water-wise planting.

Home again

Home again, thank the universe! I will spend today recovering from the trip, catching up with writing and home tasks, and reconnecting to normalcy.

Agenda Today:

1. Read "The Creativity Book"
2. Write a letter about What I Want and What I Will Do to Get it
3. Creative visualization

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1. Read "the Creativity Book":  

A few years ago I started but didn't finish this book by Eric Maisel (one of my favorite writers). The subtitle is "A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance." Who doesn't want that?
I'm on part 8, Be Ambitious, and last week I read Week 29: Want Everything. He talks about the "desire to make our mark, to do great work, and to create like a god..." and asks that my focus this month be to dream big, let my ambitions out of the bag, and to want it even in the face of long odds. He says it's in our nature to want what we want: to use our brains, discover new things, live authentically, and create something.

He challenges me to be precise - to want everything true, beautiful, and good. And then plan how to get it. He suggests that I write a letter to myself.

2. Write a letter about What I Want and What I Will Do to Get it:

Dear self, Fall is a great time to reevaluate my creative goals. I want three basic things this fall:

I want to make things with my hands to give away - useful things, things that inspire and teach, gifts and craftivism.This will be my late week focus, Thursday and Friday, and I will plan and prepare on Thursday morning. 

 

I want to make artworks with a message - things that explore and support my Nature-Culture writing. This will be my weekend focus, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, with at least two hours in the studio, and I'll envision, explore, write, and set out supplies on Saturday morning.

 

And I want to make things with my grandsons - fun things, exploring basic skills, seasonal materials, and folk crafts. This will be my mid-week focus, Tuesday and Wednesday, and I will do all the prep on Monday, gathering all the supplies and making samples.

 

3. Creative Visualization:\

Every month, at the waxing gibbous moon (my last push for action), I call on the practice of visualization to help me to see the next steps towards bringing my goals to fruition.

Today I shine a light on all my art projects, and picture what it will look like and feel like when they are finished.

Creative visualization is a technique that uses my imagination to create change. (Because of my visual and auditory sensitivity, this is the best process for knowing what I'm feeling.) It has these steps:

• First, set an intention: Say, "Today I call on the Spirit of Love to bring me clarity and open my eyes to a vision of my art projects finished and delivered." 

• Center and relax each part of my body: With each breath, allow my awareness to deepen and become softer. No stress. No rush. I walk or float in an imaginary void. Open a connection to Spirit. Feel a soft warmth begin to grow and spread through me, until I am radiating quiet energy.

• Create a clear, detailed picture in my mind, as though the objective has been reached. Paint a vivid mental image of a straw doll or my alter and one in each of my grandsons hands; a butterfly tag kit, with Friends making and taking; a clean water collage / painting with my thoughts and fortunes attached; and put as much positive energy into the images as possible. 

• Lastly, affirm that this is what I want with a short positive phrase in the present tense: "Today I will take the next steps towards manifesting the the art I want to make"

• Give thanks and return: Saying thanks out loud is how I acknowledge the reality of the gift of my vision.

The thought-image is like a signal-flare that guides the physical thing or deed to manifest in my life (and it's a good way to keep my intentions in my mind). I will carry the vision of the completed goal with me, and focus on it often during the day, in a gentle manner.

Mehregan

Mehregan (pronounced ‘meh-re-gahn’), is an ancient Persian festival, older even than Zoroastrianism, that began as a feast for the sun god/dess, Mehr.

Mehr (also known as Mithra) is responsible for knowledge, love, friendship, promises, and the light. The word "mehr" in Farsi means kindness.

When Zoroastrianism took hold in Persia, in around 1400 BCE, Mehr was reduced from a God to an angel, but the festival of Mehregan remained. Now Iranians celebrate it usually on October 1st or 2nd, as a day of thanksgiving and the start of the second half of the year (Noruz, in March, is the start of the first half). People decorate their houses, put on new clothes, and visit their relatives and friends, wishing each other a good harvest, long life, and happiness.

Agenda Today:
1. October thoughts

2. Journal queries

3. Make soup

4. Set the table
5. Fire