2021 Lenten Calendar, Week Three

My theme for Lent this year is the Land I Live On. Most of my activism focus is on climate change, and I want to fuel that work with a strong and intimate connection to this land. I want to better understand my relationship to the natural world and the cycles of the seasons, the history, culture, and ecosystem of my valley, the indigenous peoples and how I connect to them, and the responsibility I feel for the land.

Also, because I am caring for my grandson this year, I have a unique opportunity to see the natural world through a baby's eyes, with Wonder and Discovery. I want to re-connect to the awe for Creation that I felt as a child.

 

February 28, Second Sunday of Lent-

1. Journal queries: What have I learned so far from my Lenten fast and study? What are the next steps to take? Ground myself in optimistic hope for the future, and open to the best actions to take.

From my journal: I've really been enjoying my study of the Kalapuyans, and my reading from Braiding Sweetgrass. One point I keep hearing is that Nature is not an it, but a living being. Something that Leah Penniman said in the talk last week on Ecological Civilization struck me. She said we need to find ways to talk to the natural world, to ask before taking from or changing the land, and we need to look to our own ethnic culture for the ways to do that, rather than appropriating another's.

What does MY culture have to say about talking to nature?  

March 1 -

2. Order some bee-friendly plants: Oregon's Native Bees Are In Steep Decline! Native bees, such as bumblebees and solitary bees that provide essential pollination for agricultural crops and native plants, are in trouble. Many species are at risk of extinction. As pollinator populations decline, the lower production of healthy fruits and vegetables is placing the entire natural system in peril. What can I do?
1. Do not apply neonics to my yard.

2. Grow bee-friendly flowers: I've already got lots of mint, yarrow, salmonberry, California poppy, asters, clover, milkweed, and fireweed, and I'm going to start some lupine seeds I have this week. And I'm going to order a native snowberry plant to grow under my apple tree!

March 2 -

3. Wonder Practices - talk to my raspberries: In an attempt to outline a process for talking to nature that connects to my own racial roots (White) I've been looking at Nature Paganism and at the Findhorn community. Findhorn calls it partnering with the consciousness of nature, or co-creation.

Today I'm going to try this out with my raspberries:

1. See them as a beings rather than objects. Greet them as the old friends they are, and apologize for ignoring them lately. Tell them how grateful I am for their dependability and generosity every year.

2. Catch up with them: Ask them what's new in their lives, how the winter has treated them. Soak up their presence and listen for the poetry of the raspberry.

3. Offer them the gift of looser soil, fresh compost and a sprinkle of organic food. And time; just spend some quiet time with them.

March 3, Hina Matsuri-

4. Hina-okuri ceremony: This is a Japanese Shinto purification custom. I will decide what ills of mine I would like to not carry any further - issues and habits I wish I didn’t have - then I will choose a few that I’m ready to be free of now. I'll write each on a paper Hina doll.

5. Wonder Practices: I'll finish the Hina-okuri ceremony on my morning walk with my Grandson. We will visit the Amazon creek and watch the dolls float downstream (and say hi to the ducks!)

March 4-

6. Study Braiding Sweetgrass, section 3: The reciprocity theme continues in this section with an emphasis upon the gifts the land provides, finding our unique gifts to give in return, how our gifts can be used to foster the sense of community, and how “plants teach in a universal language: food.”  

In The Three Sisters story I learned that “... the lessons of reciprocity are written clearly in a Three Sisters garden. Together their stems inscribe what looks to me like a blueprint for the world, a map of balance and harmony.” When corn, beans, and squash are planted together, their “organic symmetry of forms belongs together... Respect one another, support one another, bring your gift to the world and receive the gifts of others, and there will be enough for all.” What does each of The Three Sisters bring to their reciprocal relationship? How can this partnership create a stronger community? Can I think of other examples of such win-win situations?

March 5, World Day of Prayer-

7. Prayer for Courage:

Give us grace, O God, to dare to do the deed which we well know cries to be done.

Let us not hesitate because of ease, or the words of men’s mouths, or our own lives.  

Mighty causes are calling us—the freeing of women, the training of children, the putting down of hate and murder and poverty—all these and more.

But they call with voices that mean work and sacrifice and death.

Mercifully grant us, O God, the spirit of Esther, that we say: I will go unto the King and if I perish, I perish.

Amen.

~W. E. B. Du Bois

 

8. Wonder Practices - Play in the rain: Aldo has new rain shoes and we are going puddle hopping!

March 6-

9. Draw a Lino block: I'm working on a series of block-printed prayer flags to hang in public spaces, and today I'm starting one for Wonder. One of the things I like most about the Craftivism movement is that, as I work, I'm not only expressing my hope for change, but also creating a quiet space for myself to regain a sense of power and purpose.

Full Snow Moon

Photo by Alan Gillespie

Tonight is the full moon called the Snow Moon. We've not really had low enough temperatures for snow this winter.

Tonight is also Yuan Xiao, the 15th and last day of the Chinese New Year Festival. Yuan xiao means "first night", meaning the first time that the full moon is seen in the New Year. This festival's other name is the Lantern Festival, because on this night folks make or buy lanterns of all kinds: shaped like flowers, or boats, or birds; made of bamboo, silk or paper; decorated with paintings, embroidery, paper cuts, tassels, and fringe.

Everyone takes to the streets to display their lanterns. It’s like a carnival: Children dress in costumes and watch parades with lighted floats, fireworks displays, puppet shows, and dances.

We are now at the peak of the high-energy yang phase of the waxing moon, and will soon begin the low-energy yin time of the waning moon.

But today it's time to CELEBRATE! The full moon is a time of fruitfulness, creative energy, and completion, and also strong (sometimes overwhelming) emotion. This month I feel hope and sadness in equal quantities, and I want to acknowledge and embrace the whole spectrum of my emotions. 

Today I will celebrate how far I've come and give thanks for the lessons learned and the blessings received.

Agenda for today:
1. Journal queries
2. Celebrate receptivity

3. Extend Love Mantra
4. Make tang yuan, sweet dumplings
5. Hang a lantern
6. Riddle guessing

7. Full moon ceremony

Waxing Gibbous Moon

The waxing gibbous moon 

Photo by Alan Gillespie

is the not-quite-full moon: Waxing means getting larger, and gibbous means humped or protuberant.

This phase of the moon has the high-energy that provides a push towards completion. In three days, at the full moon, we will turn again towards the yin time of inner activity, so I make an effort in these next few days to finish my tasks that require greater physical effort.

• Waxing Gibbous - Reevaluation, refinements, creativity

Agenda:
1. Journal queries
2. Creative visualization

3. Strong creativity

Pea Planting Day

Pea Planting Day is a special anniversary for us. 

February 22 is listed on my planting calendar as the first day to plant peas in the Willamette Valley; it also happens that this is the day W and I got engaged to each other, 45 years ago!

Peas are traditionally the first vegetable sown outside in the spring because they will germinate and grow in very cool soil. We plant peas today to ceremonially kick off the start of the planting season, and also to remind ourselves of the beginnings of our relationship; the day we decided to be together forever.

Agenda Today:
1. Prepare to plant
2. Pea planting ceremony
3. Permaculture pea tips

2021 Lenten Calendar, Week Two

My theme for Lent this year is the Land I Live On. Most of my activism focus is on climate change, and I want to fuel that work with a strong and intimate connection to this land. 

I want to better understand my relationship to the natural world and the cycles of the seasons, the history, culture, and ecosystem of my valley, the indigenous peoples and how I connect to them, and the responsibility I feel for the land.

Also, because I am caring for my grandson this year, I have a unique opportunity to see the natural world through a baby's eyes, with Wonder and Discovery. I want to re-connect to the awe for Creation that I felt as a child. 

February 21 - First Sunday of Lent

1. Journal queries: What have I learned so far from my Lenten fast and study? What are the next steps to take? Ground myself in optimistic hope for the future, and open to the best actions to take.

From my journal: I'm excited by my study so far. I'm waking up to the land in a new way, and beginning to isolate the shame of being white (which I've carried most of my life) in a way that I can lean into, and work with. 

I acknowledge my white privilege as illegitimate - stollen from brown people - and I accept the uncomfortable burden I carry as the price I must pay. Being uncomfortable is part of the human condition, and I want to transform that shame and guilt into love and compassion and action.

2. Research, plan, and shop for local foods: Last week I started "16/8 intermittent fasting", eating only between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. My purpose is to strengthen my discipline, and focus attention on my relationship with the foods of the land. As part of my fast this year, I want to include fewer out-of-state foods in my diet. Today I will plan a menu for the next week that includes more local foods, and then go out to buy them.

February 22 - Pea planting day

3. Wonder Practices - Pea Planting Ceremony: Peas are the first seeds we plant outdoors each spring. Planting is such a basic act of life, and we will plant maybe a hundred seeds this year. 

Today we plant peas with attention, and we plant together. We plant peas as an offering to the earth, and an offering to our relationship. We also drink a little wine, and spill some on the ground, to bless the soil.

February 23 - Gibbous Moon

4. Study Braiding Sweetgrass, section 2: In the story "Maple Sugar Moon", Nanabozho finds that people have grown lazy due to the bounty of the first Maple trees. Nanabozho removes this culture of plenty by diluting the sap and teaching the people to honor and respect the gift of the Maple tree. What parallels can I draw from this story and our consumer-driven economy? In what ways are we wasting earth’s gifts – its non-renewable, natural resources?

"Groundless" - unfinished

5. Paint a "Groundless Landscape": I've been cogitating the idea of groundlessness, or embracing ambiguity, as a way to transcend the suffering of being human, and I began to wonder what a groundless landscape would look like... presumably all water and air?

February 24 - 

Sioux and Permelia

6. Study The Kalapuyans: I started this short book on the indigenous people of my valley. People have lived in the Willamette Valley, between Portland and the Calapuya Mountains south of Eugene, for probably 10 thousand years. At the time when white people arrived, the People here spoke a similar language, and became known as the Kapapuyans, but consisted of many, many small bands. The band that lived near to my home was the Chafin. 

The Kalapuyan name for this season is tuu pyan, "pretty near spring time", and the work for duck is anáq-naq.

7. Wonder Practices: Go on a wonder walk with Aldo, just walking around our yard with baby steps, stopping to taste the leaves, smell herbs, and feel the dirt.

February 25 -

8. YES! Presents 'An Ecological Civilization: The Path We're On': I'm so glad I registered for this virtual discussion on moving the world to a community-oriented way of life, with some pretty outstanding speakers - Leah Penniman, Winona LaDuke, and Jeremy Lent.

The path toward an ecological civilization moves us from an uncivilized society based on selfish wealth accumulation to one that is community-oriented and life-affirming. You’re invited to join us for a virtual conversation on the ways communities are already working toward that goal—and how you can be a part of it.

February 26 - February full moon

9. Extend Love Mantra: My real purpose on earth is to grow in love; our world needs more love. With more love, we could do away with war - we would have no prejudice, oppression, or violence of any kind. Everyone would have enough food because we would feed each other. We would care for the environment because we love our planet, and the animals, and our children too much to harm it.

How, then, do I create more love in the world? I simply need to open my heart wide as often as I can, wider and wider - throw open my door to love. Love is energy. I can produce the energy of love and extend it to the world so that it grows out from me in ripples. We can never have too much love in the world, and I trust in love to save us all.

 I long to touch that place of bliss and peace, where I have a sense of unity with all people and all creation; where I have a sense of being pure Love.

I wrote this circular mantra a few years ago to help me remember to extend love all day long:

SPIRIT - in sky, earth, trees - I EXPAND

THOU - infinite, ultimate Love - I OPEN

ME - awake, grounded, present in this moment - I AM

10. Draw a Lino block: I'm working on a series of block-printed prayer flags to hang in public spaces, and today I'm starting one for Wonder. One of the things I like most about the Craftivism movement is that, as I work, I'm not only expressing my hope for change, but also creating a quiet space for myself to regain a sense of power and purpose.

February 27 - 

11. Study Braiding Sweetgrass, section 2: In "Allegiance to Gratitude" Kimmerer introduces the Thanksgiving Address used by the indigenous people to give thanks to the land. She states, “...it is the credo for a culture of gratitude.” How does the Thanksgiving Address support the concept of “our mutual allegiance as human delegates to the democracy of the species”? What does that mean to me?

12. Shop at the Farmer's Market: Last week I started "16/8 intermittent fasting", eating only between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. My purpose is to strengthen my discipline, and focus attention on my relationship with the foods of the land. Today I will pick up food for next week at our local Farmer's Market!

13. Order some bee-friendly plants: Oregon's Native Bees Are In Steep Decline! Native bees, such as bumblebees and solitary bees that provide essential pollination for agricultural crops and native plants, are in trouble. Many species are at risk of extinction. As pollinator populations decline, the lower production of healthy fruits and vegetables is placing the entire natural system in peril. What can you do?

1. Do not apply neonics to your yard.
2. Grow bee-friendly flowers
3. Take a pledge to protect pollinators
4. Urge local food growers, nurseries and garden centers to support OPPA (Oregon Pollinator
Protection Alliance) Read all the details and reference material at www.beyondtoxics.org/work/save-oregons-bees

First Quarter Moon of February

Photo by Alan Gillespie

At the First Quarter Moon we are one-quarter of the way through the moon cycle. The moon is waxing - getting larger - until it's full again. Now is the time to show full effort for priorities.

• First quarter (half moon) - Full effort, obstacles, flexibility

Agenda today:

1. Journal queries

2. Make a full effort plan

3. Explore the Spark

4. Find balance

2021 Lenten Calendar, Week One

My theme for Lent this year is the Land I Live On. Most of my activism focus is on climate change, and I want to fuel that work with a strong and intimate connection to this land.

I want to better understand my relationship to the natural world and the cycles of the seasons, the history, culture, and ecosystem of my valley, the indigenous peoples and how I connect to them, and the responsibility I feel for the land.

Also, because I am caring for my grandson this year, I have a unique opportunity to see the natural world through a baby's eyes, with Wonder and Discovery. I want to re-connect to the awe for Creation that I felt as a child.

At Lent I allow myself to be slow, simple, and thoughtful. I spend time each day in focused study and prayer. And I choose something to temporarily reduce or cut out of my life, as a reminder that what I truly need is the nurturing of Spirit (I try to choose something to fast from that is a good symbol of how I am trying to grow). And I also observe Lent as a time of creative action, acting on what I learn. My goals this year are to:

• Explore some Wonder practices: 

  Wonder begins in the senses, the imagination, and the natural curiosity about the grand adventure of life. I want to be an explorer of both my inner and physical world, and add in some useful daily habits to awaken my awe: Slow down, be curious, and explore new things.
• Educate myself: I'm reading the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I'm also reading books on the Willamette Valley.
• Meditate and Journal: Ground myself in optimistic hope for the future of our planet, and become more open to the best actions to take. 
• Fast: This year I decided to start 16/8 intermittent fasting: I'm going to eat only between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. every day. My purpose is to strengthen my discipline, and focus attention on my relationship with the foods of the land.  
• Take creative action: It's going to be a challenge this year, but I plan to join zoom events, speak up at city council meetings, write and make artwork, and take some other small actions each week to make the world better.

February 17, Ash Wednesday- 

1. Begin fasting: Today I start "16/8 intermittent fasting": I'm going to eat only between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. My purpose is to strengthen my discipline, and focus attention on my relationship with the foods of the land.

 

2. Study Braiding Sweetgrass, section 1: I'm well into this first section, and today I read "An Offering", about the meaning of ceremony that is “fed from the same bond with the land, founded on respect and gratitude.” How can I express my gratitude and responsibility for the gifts of the land? What can I offer earth in return?

3. Wonder Practices: Go on a wonder walk with Aldo, just walking around our yard with baby steps, stopping to taste the leaves, smell herbs, and feel the dirt.

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in." Rachel Carson

February 18 -

4. Wonder Practices - Personal ceremony: I want to devise a personal morning ceremony to show my gratitude for the gifts of the land. Robin Kimmerer says that ceremony marries the mundane to the sacred. I want a "homemade ceremony, a ceremony that makes a home." Because I go outside every morning just after dawn to let my ducks out of their coop, that is when I will stop for a moment and say this short prayer: 

Thanks for this sky, this land, my home. Amen. 

5. Send a postcard to my city councilor: 350Eugene is having a Gaslight Postcard Blitz to encourage our city councilors to "ban new gas infrastructure, incentivize transition to electric, and fund a just transition to renewables for our underrepresented neighbors." The city is negotiating the franchise agreement with Northwest Natural Gas right now and they can use this opportunity to reduce community emissions immediately.

I've collected postcards and today I will send the first to my local city council member and to the mayor.

February 19 -  First Quarter Moon

6. Study Braiding Sweetgrass, section 1: "Asters and Goldenrod" is about the relationship between these two flowers. “It was an architecture of relationships, of connections that I yearned to understand.” Kimmerer discovered a “lived reciprocity” between asters and goldenrod—“the pairing of purple and gold”. What is the interdependency between humans and plants? And, what happens if I don’t live up to my end of the relationship?

7. Wonder Practices - Explore the Spark: Today I'm going to explore the spark that ignites my excitement for life each day and each moment. What can I do to add even more excitement, passion, and enjoyment to my life, and make life fresh and fascinating? 

My spark comes from awareness in the moment. When I slow down enough to see the beauty around me - a texture of paint or moss, or a color combination that takes my breath away - I am enlivened.

Today I will take time to photograph my garden.

February 20 -

8. Study Braiding Sweetgrass, section 1: "Learning the Grammar of Animacy" introduces the concept of communing with nature by getting to know more about plants and recognizing that they are not inanimate objects. What can I do to start learning about the plants in my immediate environment? If I addressed the plants as something other than ‘it’, would that change my attitude? How?

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, a 46-day period of preparation for the joyful Easter celebration. The word lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "lengthen"; it refers to the longer days of spring. 

Lent is about mortality and transformation; death and rebirth. Marcus Borg says "It means dying to an old way of being, and being born into a new way of being, a way of being centered once again in God."

Agenda for Lent:

1. Set intentions for Lent

2. Write a daily Lenten calendar

3. Hang up the Lady Lent

4. Make pretzels

Mardi Gras

Today is Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday - also called Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday. We've come to the end of the season of Carnival, which starts on Epiphany (January 6) and ends at Lent. Fat Tuesday is always 47 days before Easter Sunday.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal queries

2. Make pancakes

3. Make a screen mask

Nirvana Day

Today is Nirvana Day, the celebration of Buddha's death at the age of 80, at around 487 BCE. It's celebrated in East Asia on February 15th, or on February 8th by some.

Buddhists celebrate the date of the death of the Buddha, because death is when the soul is released from the body to experience Nirvana. The word Nirvana means "to extinguish", but it's really more of a transformation to a new kind of existence.

Nirvana is usually described as a state of bliss or peace, and a release from all physical suffering. The Buddha taught that Nirvana was beyond human imagination, and so speculation about what Nirvana is like is considered by some to be foolish.

Agenda for today:

1. Journal queries
2. Remember my intentions 

3. Read the Buddha's teachings
4. Open to uncertainty
5. Bodhisattva practices
6. Eat a Buddha bowl

St. Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine was a third-century Roman Christian who died on February 14. The poet Geoffrey Chaucer and his circle probably invented many of the romantic legends about Saint Valentine, in the fourteenth century. 

Valentine made by a student of mine.

After that, it became a custom for a man to write a romantic poem to send to his beloved on St. Valentine's Day. Very fancy paper cards, with lace and ribbons, became popular in the 1840's, and that custom expanded into sending cards to Mom and Dad, and friends of all kinds.

Agenda today:
1. Journal
2. Make Valentines
3. Honor my friendships

Chinese New Year and New Holiday Moon

The Chinese New Year starts when the new moon appears in China, so it's one day off from the new moon here, which rose yesterday. This is the month of the Holiday Moon.

The first day of the Chinese New Year is called Yüan-tan, the "Day of Origin". This one day determines the luck for the entire year, so Chinese people are careful to use their best manners and to remain honest and peaceful.

2021 is the year of the Metal Ox. People born this year are hardworking, active, always busy, and popular among friends.

Agenda for today:

1. Practice Receptivity

2. New altar

3. List my goals and set intentions for action

4. New moon meditation and prayer

5. Eat jai for breakfast
6. Give gifts
7. Make and give hóngbāo (money packets)