New Peony Moon

Beautiful peonies growing in my neighborhood.

The new moon rises today; the Chinese call the fourth new moon the Peony Moon. Peonies are the flower of riches, romance, and honor, called sho yu in Chinese, which means "most beautiful." Their lush blooms are an omen of good fortune, and also foretell a happy marriage.

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.

Agenda:

1. Retreat Day plan

2. Read "12 Tiny Things"

3. Choose a month theme

4. Balance Journal queries

5. Set intentions

Thursday

Thursday is my day to open the door to creative thinking and doing; I've reverted to an earlier phase of my life, before painting and art school, when I was internally driven to Make Things, and they were varied and creative. But I'm also a different person now - as Grandma Earth Teacher I am led to make things that are a gift to the Earth in some way, sustainable, and with a message. 

Also, I want to engage in creative practices that aid my resilience, such as mindful doodling & sketching, crochet, playing with clay, photography, and daily "creative rituals" (cooking, rearranging spaces). 

And thirdly, I've got lots of projects that help us function better: Fixing broken things and maintaining the house.

Agenda: 

1. Read "The Book of Doing and Being"

2. Projects for the week

3. Functional creativity

Hump Day

Wednesday is my day to re-group and re-define my week. First I make a plan for getting over the bump of the mid-week, then I re-envision my emotional tone and perspective.

 

Agenda today:

1. My bump plan

2. Read "Perspective"

3. New narrative for ease and order

4. Ease plan

5. Writing themes and passion flow plan

Tuesday

Tuesday is my day to look at my social and emotional self and make an effort to shift my perspectives around how I view and treat the people in my life.

Agenda:

1. Read "The Sweet Spot"

2. Expressing Needs in the World

3. Family and community brainstorm

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 get ready for a week of fun activities with my grandsons. 

Last week at the full moon I discerned a new intention: 

I intend to list clear actionable steps towards paring down, resilience habits, delegation, care-taking, and community-building because the next 2-weeks are our boot camp for the long haul of recovery.

The truth is that I need to control the bits I can control: MY habits, my preparations and negotiations, my integrity and compassion. So, for the next two weeks I'm putting myself through Resilience Boot Camp!

Agenda this week:

1. Create order

2. Health and renewal plans

Mother's Day Rogation Sunday

Today is Mother's Day, and a low-key time for me, now that my daughter is a mother and I am a grandmother!

And it's also Rogation-tide, beginning on the Sunday five weeks after Easter and continuing for four more days, through Ascension Day on Thursday. 

Rogation is an early Christian tradition of singing psalms and chanting prayers of petition for God's protection on crops, beasts and people. Since medieval days, parishioners in Britain would walk around the parish boundaries, bearing a cross and banners, and asking for God to bless the crops, livestock, and fishing holes. The procession was called 'beating the bounds'; it helped everyone to remember the parish boundaries, in the time before maps were commonplace.

These boundary walks were also known as ‘gang days’ from the Anglo Saxon word ‘gangen’- to go. The parish would bond together as a community, offer charity to poor people they met along the way, and the priest would stop to preach at each prominent tree or landmark.

Now Rogation-tide is celebrated more as a time to honor the gift of creation of the land and waters, to offer thanksgiving for the labors on land and water that feed us, and to pray for stewardship of the earth.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal query

2. Mother Meditation

3. Monthly journal brainstorm

4. Brainstorm my summer

5. Cleansing 

6. Beat the bounds

7. Bless my garden

8. Make Rammalation Bisquits