Full Harvest Moon and Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

Tonight is the full moon, my monthly time for action and release: I look again at the “seeds of intention” I planted 2 weeks ago at the new moon and decide on my next steps to take, I take those steps, then I release my expectations in order to clear space for new ideas and new intentions.

This full moon is called the Harvest Moon, because it rises obliquely and remains big and bright for a long time, giving extra light to harvesters. This is a good time to see things that are normally hidden, and to act on the work I need to do as this year winds down.

This particular full moon is a super moon, because it reaches it's closest point to earth within an hour of when it rises tonight, and will appear bigger than normal. It won't be that close again until November 2016. In addition, we will see an eclipse of the moon tonight, soon after it rises- so, a pretty special moon!

Today is also the start of the Chung Ch’iu, the 3-day Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. It's a happy and beautiful family celebration that comes each year at the time of the Harvest full moon, celebrated as a harvest festival and also the moon’s birthday. Ancient Chinese emperors worshipped the full harvest moon in order to help assure a good harvest. Later it became popular to appreciate the moon instead- admiring her beauty, and writing poetry in her honor.

Agenda for today:

1. Altar:

Engagement photo- 1978

It's time to discern what to put on my altar for the next month. (For my thoughts on altars see About Altars). I generally keep it simple and choose only things that speak to me and feed me, and reveal what I believe in. I ask, what quality of the Spirit do I want to invoke?
Today I added-

• my straw doll, for luck and protection.
• a blue candle, for unity.
• an early photo of me and W, as a symbol of synergy.

I was struggling today to think of a meaningful symbol for synergy for my altar, and it came to me that the place I consistently experience synergy is in my marriage. I chose a photo from our youth to remind me that the hard work of being part of a team is ultimately worth the effort.

2. Journal:

Review the intentions I set 2 weeks ago, at the new moon. Review also the goals I set at the beginning of the year.

Do these aims all still seem vital?
What are my next steps?
What changes are most difficult for me to face now? (Can I see them as creative fuel?)

From my journal: I feel disappointed that I'm not able to teach this year at school. No matter how I rationalize it, I still have an empty place in my heart. I need to have faith that the perfect new gift of opportunity will flow into that space if I leave it open. AND keep offering out new classes from my home studio.

3. Practice at my theme:

The full moon is a time to celebrate life-- be more creative, stay up late, exercise harder, and see friends. The crazy full moon energy builds and builds; it’s best to acknowledge it so it doesn’t throw you off balance.

This surge of full moon energy allows me to take action on intentions I set two weeks ago, and which have been incubating in my mind.

My theme this month is synergy, the ability to seek unity, embrace teamwork, and work tirelessly towards a better end. It’s the eternally active primal force of creation: No matter what the conditions are-- they will change. You create synergy in your life when you make the effort to see clearly, stay open-minded, and take persistent right action. Synergy will allow you to experience the people in your life as angels, and the places you live, work and play as paradise.

I'm organizing a big workshop right now, with the help of many other people. Teamwork is not my forte- I am self-employed for a reason! I need to give attention to the usefulness of synergy, and the skills I need to develop for successful group-work:

• Take it slow: No need to feel rushed or anxious.
• Remember how to interact successfully with different personalities.
• Seek to understand different opinions.
• Study up on how to facilitate group creativity.
• Remember to wait for the unity that comes with divine insight.

“True unity may be found under great apparent differences. This unity is spiritual, it expresses itself in many ways, and we need divine insight that we may recognize its working. We need forbearance, sympathy, and love, in order that, while remaining loyal to the truth as it comes to us, we may move forward with others to a larger and richer experience and expression of the will of God.”

~ London Yearly Meeting, 1916

4. Make mooncakes:

Normally on this blog I would give you an authentic Chinese recipe, but this simplified recipe has sentimental tradition in our family.

When my children were young, the city library hosted a Moon Festival event every fall, with telescopes, Asian writing and crafts, hot tea, and all the moon cakes you could eat. We wemt every year.

The bakery that made the mooncakes gave us this recipe, an Americanized version, and that's the recipe my family has made and loved for 25 years.

For a similar but more complex and traditional recipe see Food52.


Ingredients:

• sweet red bean paste
• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/4 c. sour cream
• red food color (optional)

Makes 8 cakes-

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Make 8 large marbles of bean paste, and put them in the freezer to chill. (You might need flour on your hands.)

2. Mix together the flour and butter until crumbly. Mix in the sour cream; stir until dough forms into a ball.

3. Knead the dough a few times then divide into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball then pat to flatten into thick 5-inch circles.

4. Put a marble of sweet red bean paste in the center of each circle, fold the edges up over the filling, and seal. Shape each into a fat round moon. If you have a mold, you can press it in now, but it's not necessary.

5. Place mooncakes on an un-greased pan, and dot the center with a chopstick dipped in red food coloring (for good luck). Bake for 15 minutes at 350ºF. Meanwhile, whisk an egg yolk with a little water until smooth.

6. Remove the mooncakes from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes, then brush on the egg wash, and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown on top.

5. Have a Moon Festival Party:

We had a party tonight with a few friends. After dinner we wrote poetry -- well, we wrote words in chinese -- to show our appreciation of the moon. And what a moon tonight! The eclipse was fantastic!













After moon viewing, we ate our moon cakes and some fruit (round fruits are a symbol of family unity.)

In China, the Moon Festival continues for three days with games and fun. During this time it is believed that flowers fall from the moon and anyone sharp-eyed enough to see them will have very good fortune.

Sukkot

Sukkot 2014

Tonight is the start of Sukkot, a 7-day Jewish harvest festival that begins at the full moon in late September or early October. 

The word Sukkot means “Booths”; Jews all over the world build outdoor booths for Sukkot, like the simple huts that farmers in ancient Israel lived in during harvest time. The roof is always made of leafy branches, open to the sky so that you see the stars through the leaves. Each family decorates their hut, makes it comfortable, and eats at least two meals there; they invite guests, light candles, and say prayers of thanksgiving for the harvest.

I'm not celebrating Sukkot this year, but I have a lovely post from last year, which I've re-posted here.







Agenda:
1. Build a sukkah:
We had fun piecing this hut together from wood scraps, branches, and African fabric.

2. Make luminaries:
We made paper lanterns with Hebrew words- very pretty.

Supplies: Brown paper lunch bags, crayons, oil, cotton swabs, sand, votive candles

1- Choose a short Hebrew word, like peace, love, beauty, harvest, or autumn.

2- Open a bag, and flatten it so you can spread the word out around the sides and front. Make sure you use the side with no seam.

3- Outline the Hebrew letters near the bottom of the bag, then color around the letters with crayons. Color pretty thickly, to prevent the oil from spreading. Dark crayons give the best effect.

4- Paint inside the letters with oil, using a cotton swab; don't use too much- the oil will spread. Blot up the excess with a paper towel. 



5- Fill the bag with about 2 cups of sand. Add a tea light, and light it very carefully!

3. Cook a stuffed pumpkin and eat in the sukkah:
It's traditional at Sukkot to eat fall harvest foods, especially anything stuffed, because these are a symbol of all the plenty we have been blessed with. 

Ingredients:

• 1 c. brown rice 
• 4 lb. pumpkin 
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 
• 2 apples
• 1/4 c. raisins or dried cranberries

Yield: 4 servings-

1- Put brown rice in a pot and add boiling water to cover by 2 inches. Cook, covered, for 20 minutes.

2- Cut the top off the pumpkin and clean out the seeds and fibrous strings. Rinse, and sprinkle with salt and cinnamon.

3- Core and chop 2 apples. Preheat oven to 350°F. 

4- Drain the half-cooked rice and stir in the raisins or cranberries, and the apple. Stuff the rice and fruit mixture into the pumpkin, replace the top, and place in a greased baking pan. Bake for 1-1/2 hours or until very tender. 

5- Serve each guest a portion of the filling. Then cut the pumpkin into wedges to serve.

Autumn Equinox

 The equinox occurred at 1:22 a.m. this morning in the Pacific Northwest. Summer is over and darkness has again overcome the light. School has begun, Canadian geese are on the move south, the leaves are turning and beginning to drop, and night temperatures are cooler. Everything in nature is paring down, and moving energy to the roots and into the earth.

This is the second balancing point in the year, when we might gently shift our attention from the physical side of life to the spiritual and mental- to indoor projects and thoughtful pursuits. As the nights lengthen, we have more dark time to be alone and to think; to be structured, meticulous, and clear; to nurture inner seeds that may not sprout until spring.

I give myself permission now to try something absolutely new- start a new study of an unfamiliar subject, practice a new way to paint, focus on a new inner challenge, or experiment with new ways of organizing my days.

Mark the Start of Autumn:
1. Journal:
Center, and consider the balance in my life.

How can I balance my personal needs with my commitments to the outside world? 
How well do I balance my physical, mental, and spiritual needs?
What new studies or practices do I want to undertake this season?

Think also of the balance in the world; meditate upon what this half of the year will bring, dark and light, and how best I can take right action in the world.

2. Fall cleaning:
Fall cleaning has an entirely different feel and focus than spring cleaning. In the fall we finish up, pack away, and "batten the hatches"-- we put away all the outdoor stuff, air out the sweaters, and prepare for winter. 

This week I'm starting in the kitchen and the courtyard just outside. I plan to:

• Remove the summer sun screen from the window.
• Clean the windows, inside and out.
• Repaint and re-glaze the windows outside.
• Put away the wheelbarrow, and tidy the view through the kitchen windows (and maybe hang something on that blank fence).
• Clean and refill feeders for the wild birds who will soon be finding it harder to find food.

Here's my Inspirational Fall Cleaning Scheme: Every morning I will choose one task from my list, and then close my eyes and visualize it completed. Everyday at 11:30 my phone alarm will remind me to stop writing and tackle that one task before I eat lunch.... I'll let you know how it works!

3. Fall clearing:
Nature is beginning the process of paring down and simplifying to the bare essentials, and so are we. My hubby and I have been clearing out excess belongings-- we've sorted and discarded bags and bags of clothing, and chosen books to sell or donate. 

This week I'm focusing on my sewing supplies, including fabrics, and W is working on music: These might take each of us the rest of the winter! 

I dump out an entire drawer, bag or box of fabric, then shake out and refold each piece, discerning whether I love it or am ready to toss or pass it on. Then I have to sort it into colors, sizes, uses, etc., and put it away again... I can't manage more than about an hour of that at a time. The good news is that touching all these fabrics is making me feel inspired to sew something!

4. Decorate the house:
After the equinox I begin to deck the house with the oranges and golds of fall, and with the fruits of the season: Gourds, pumpkins, corn, and wheat.

Fall flower symbols:

• purple asters for love and patience
• sunflowers for truth
• zinnias for friendship
• chrysanthemums for strength and endurance

5. Make a straw doll:
Wheat and straw weaving is an ancient art form, done all over the world, as a symbol of the harvest. 

The custom in Europe was to make a straw figure out of the last sheaf of wheat that was harvested, so the spirit of the grain had a place to live through the winter. Then it was planted again in the spring.

I wanted to make a simple figure this year so I got out my box of straw- collected from fields and from the craft store- and sorted out just a few stalks. 

Supplies: Straw, carpet thread, scissors, water, cloth scraps

1. I cut a handful of straw to 6-1/2-inches, leaving some of the grain heads longer. I tied them just below the grain heads with the carpet thread.

2. I soaked 4 big, shiny pieces of straw in hot water for about 10 minutes (longer would have been better, but I am impatient), and flattened one out with my fingers. 




I used the flat piece to wrap around the head, and used more thread to tie it at the neck.









3. Then I tied the other 3 shiny pieces together at both ends, trimmed them short, and curved them a little for the arms.



I inserted them under the head, and tied them in place, wrapping thread in a X across the chest.



5. Finally, I added a few scraps of bright cloth for a vest.

International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by a resolution of the UN General Assembly. In 2001 the date was fixed on September 21. 

Made by Jasper, Austin, Becky, Tami, and me!

This message came from Secretary-General Kofi Annan on The International Day of Peace in 2005-

“Dear friends around the world- Peace is the paramount United Nations mission. It is the basis of our existence. The essence of our identity. The cause that animates everything we do. September 21, the International Day of Peace, is a day on which we reaffirm our commitment to this quest.... It is meant to be a day of global cease-fire, when all countries and all people stop all hostilities for the entire day. And it is a day on which people around the world observe a minute of silence at 12-noon local time. Twenty-four hours is not a long time. But it is time enough for combatants and political leaders to consider the destruction they are visiting on their people, and on their lands. And it is long enough to look over the barricades, or through the barbed wire, to see if there is another path.”


Peace Day Agenda:
1. Vow: 

"I vow to live in peace and cease all hostilities for this entire day."

2. Journal: 
Consider and list ways I can work for peace this fall and winter. 
How can I teach peace? How can I express peace in my art? 

3. Raise Awareness: 

Each year I choose a project to spread the word about Peace Day. One year we made peace flags; one year I invited friends to watch a video about Peace Day. Last year we made a peace poster in my art class.

This year I had a potluck, and we each brought a dish from a country we wished to send prayers of peace to. I made shulbato, or red bulgur and eggplant which I found at the Kitchen of Palestine page.

We also colored a peace picture together.


4. Train Myself for Peace: 
I’ve made an ongoing commitment to working at being peaceful myself, in thought and deed. I have taken several Alternatives to Violence workshops, and this week I am reading the book Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living by Allan Lokos. Here is a quote:

"There is probably nothing we could do that would have  more immediate positive effect on our lives and on those around us than becoming more mindful of the words we speak. We are always in relationships and we are constantly communicating. Words have the power to inspire, encourage, comfort, and uplift. Unfortunately, they can also cut, wound, and cause profound, long-lasting sorrow."

Rosh Hashanah

This is the first day of Rosh Hashanah (Roash hah-shah-nuh), which falls near the new moon of late September or early October. The observance begins at sundown tonight and lasts for two days, but it's actually the start of a ten-day period called the Days of Awe that ends with Yom Kippur. 

Rosh Hashanah means “Head of the Year”; it’s the Jewish New Year for the Spirit. The focus is on repentance for wrongs you have done, and a reaffirmation that you will (try to) take the honorable path.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal:

At Rosh Hashanah I turn my thoughts inward and look at the part of me that is God, to consider how I might be a better person in the year ahead.

I’ve just reviewed my Mission Statement to see if it still expresses what I want to do with my life. Once I’ve defined a plan and work that seems meaningful to me, the next step is to actually try to live by that plan, and do that work.

It seemed appropriate today to think about how well I’m succeeding so far. I reread my mission statement and asked myself--

Am I living my life, each day, in a way that leads me towards my mission?
Am I enjoying the journey on that path?
Do I feel honorable and contented?
What could I do better?

From my journal: The last words of my mission statement are: "I feel comfortable with uncertainty." That's an ideal that continues to challenge me! I feel anxious this month that I don't know what will happen next... Even as I continue to work to open new doors and follow new paths, how can I relax into the flow of my life, pay calm attention to the people I meet, be present for situations that arise, and fully celebrate the changeable energy of the season?

2. Prepare for the Seder:

It's traditional to eat three foods on Rosh Hashanah: Honey for a sweet year, round apples and round challah for a solid round year.

I often bake fresh challah for this Seder, but we are having another heat wave, so yesterday I went looking for round challah at several bakeries-- but got everyplace just after closing.

Today I went early, and successfully bought a round loaf of challah; also two new candles, sweet apples, honey, and a bottle of wine.

It's traditional to cut the apples in rounds.

3. Share a Seder:

I usually share a Seder with my art class students, but this year-- no classes! So I had a small Seder just with my husband. It was lovely. We lit candles, and said these prayers-

Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam borei p'ri hagafen. 

Blessed art Thou, oh God, Who creates the fruit of the vine.

We took a sip of the wine, then continued with the following:

Barukh attah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam, ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz.

Blessed art Thou, oh God, Who brings forth bread from the earth.

We took a bite of the challah (dipped in honey), then continued with the following:

Barukh attah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha-olam, Borei peri ha-eitz.

Blessed art Thou, oh God, Creator of the fruit of the trees.

We took a bite from the apple (dipped in honey), then finished with:

May the year be good and sweet! Shana towva umetuka!

4. Attention:

Late Summer: Seeds Are Falling- acrylic on board

I'm not Jewish, but it just appeals to me to reflect on the state of my spiritual life now, in the late summer- when all of nature is in transition.

I'll try to spend this evening and the next day in a higher-than-usual state of awareness.

Tonight I'll say a sincere prayer, giving attention to every word: Spirit of Love, surround me, give me courage. I cast seeds out, scattering them widely, but I can't make them grow. I open to the nurturing Light, and surrender to the Mystery.

In the morning, I'll wake with this prayer in my heart, and carry it through the day, walking with eyes open wide, talking to everyone with care and love, listening beyond words.

May this year be good and sweet for each of us.

New Harvest Moon

The Chinese call the eighth new moon the Harvest Moon. 

The new moon is my monthly time for “seeding” intentions. I write down what I hope to focus on in the next 30 days or so, and then give my ideas a period of gestation, like seeds in the soil, before I take action. Having this regular time each month to focus my goals has helped to give me clarity of purpose.

Last week I started a review of my life work, and threw the door open to new ideas and inspirations. This week I will adopt an attitude of investigation, and sort through what came to me. Where is the Spirit leading me now? As I visualize the possibilities my world will expand.

Agenda for today:

1- Journal:

What are the possibilities?

What might give my life more wholeness?

What would I most like to do in life that I'm not getting to?

List my intentions for the next four weeks in these areas-

Self, Friends and Family, Teaching, Artwork, Writing, Home and Garden, Work/Business, and Volunteer work.

2- New Moon Meditation:
Light a small white candle. Center, and feel myself fill with thankfulness for all I have now in my life.

3- Plan:

As the moon waxes, I expand-- plant seeds, make connections, and begin new projects. Today I will plan my first small steps.

4- Practice at my theme:
My theme this month has been balance, but I realize that I'm ready, mid-month, to switch my theme.

Today I added a dark blue candle to my altar, for depth, purpose, and persistence; this is the color of deep water flowing, reminding me to seek my true course. I dive into my own depths as I explore my life path. The path is always mysterious, and leads to unexpected challenges and deviations. Like water, I am persistent and sincere, and I keep flowing. My intentions for this month are to:

• Evaluate my teaching program and make improvements; open to new teaching possibilities.
• Host some “Art Nights” to celebrate and make art with my friends.
• Study and practice abstract painting; renew my passion for painting.
• Write about the time of transition I'm going through, and how I plan to make meaningful choices.