Maidyoshahem

The Zoroastrian community honors the six seasons of the year by celebrating 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.

Maidyoshahem (may-eed-YO-sha-hem) is the second Gahambar, the Midsummer Rain feast, and it takes place each year from June 29 to July 3. This Gahambar celebrates the creation of water on our earth, and the last day is called Tirgan (pronounced Teer-gone), in honor of Tir, the angel of rain. Iranians celebrate Tirgan with dancing, singing, and by swimming and splashing water on each other.

Agenda this week:
1. Recite a Prayer
2. Make a Persian Salad
3. Get wet!

Waning Gibbous Moon

Now the moon is waning - getting smaller - until it is new again. During the waning moon, the moon's energy changes, and we move gradually into the yin phase - slow down, go within, and focus on inner work. I back off a bit on actively pursuing my goals, and allow the ease of being a loving, thoughtful person to carry me towards my dreams.

The waning gibbous moon is a time to practice opening to receive blessings, feeling and expressing gratitude, and generosity with giving (towards others AND with myself).

Agenda today:

1. Journal queries:

2. Generosity Practices:

2. Gratitude Journal

Full Strawberry Moon

Tonight is the full moon called the Strawberry Moon. Sweet, ripe strawberries are a gift from Mother Earth that remind me of the creative power I have to make my dreams real and visible. 

This is a highly yang time of movement and strength, the season of completion, abundance, and fulfillment. I have hope that I will reach my full flowering, begin to enjoy the fruits of my visions, and relax in the richness of success.

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. But today it's time to CELEBRATE! The full moon is a time of fruitfulness, creativity, and completion, and also strong (sometimes overwhelming) emotion. This month I feel hopeful and energetic, and also sometimes exasperated, 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:

1. Journal queries

2. Celebrate abundance

3. Full moon ceremony

Summer Solstice and Waxing Gibbous Moon

The season is turning. Today the sun exerts its maximum energy on our part of the earth; the powers of outward expression are at their greatest, and the powers of inner contemplation are at their lowest.

And of course, just as we reach the point of maximum yang energy, yin energy is reborn and begins to gain strength: The next days will each be a little shorter again, until the winter solstice in December.

This transition from spring to summer is a big deal: If I celebrate the start of summer with enthusiasm, the rest of the summer will become richer and more wonderful, and I will reconnect myself to the great cycle of the seasons and the rhythms of nature.

And this is the time of the waxing gibbous moon - 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 four 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. The waxing gibbous moon is a time for reevaluation, refinements, and creativity.

Agenda:

1. Journal queries

2. Creative visualization

3. Plan a fun first week of summer
4. Make a New Solar Disk

5. Make Kanelbuller (Swedish Cinnamon buns)

6. Make flower crowns

7. Build a Solstice Fire

Juneteenth

Juneteenth is an African-American holiday that occurs each year on June 19th. It began as a celebration of the end of slavery: On June 19, 1865, the last slaves in America were finally freed. The name Juneteenth is a combination of June + nineteenth.

Today African Americans celebrate their freedom and their heritage, with music, dances, speeches, stories, games, and fun. They have picnics with traditional foods and make traditional crafts.

But more than 150 years after emancipation, the nation is still struggling with the issues of systemic racism and injustice. A year ago, we had widespread protests across the U.S. after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, and we began another national debate. Many white people got jolted out of their comfortable apathy and took an oath to be anti-racists.

Juneteenth is a reminder to enjoy the freedoms we have, and work for justice and freedom for all people everywhere. Today I celebrate Juneteenth as an apology, and a prayer. 

Agenda:

1. Talk about the violence that black people are enduring

2. Watch a Defunding Police video

2. Make fried catfish, biscuits, and greens

First Quarter Moon

Goslings on Delta Pond

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 remain flexible, use my obstacles as fuel for growth, and show full effort for my priorities.

Agenda:

1. Journal queries

2. Make a full effort plan

3. Abundance practices

1. Journal queries:

Today I prepare to give full effort to my priorities. 

Which of my priorities am I having the most trouble acting on this month?

What potential challenges and obstacles do I face this week and month (things I don’t enjoy, don’t know how to do, or feel blocked on)? How can I best meet these challenges?

How will I find the inspiration that will spark full effort for my priorities, every day, over and over?

I will certainly face obstacles but I will remain flexible and use my obstacles as fuel for growth. This month I'm taking on a new leadership role, with fuzzy parameters. I feel unclear and nervous still about my role and my abilities. The challenge to confidence is fear, and the practice that will help most is equanimity.

2. Make a full effort plan: 

Full effort (sometimes called exertion) is one of the steps of mental discipline on Buddha’s eightfold path. Buddha was urging full effort for awakening the mind; a first step is to practice full effort for whatever is most important in your life right now - for your priorities.

Full effort requires attention (remembering what it is you want to do and your deepest reasons why), a spark of energy and determination (connecting to your excitement for life each day and each moment, and sustaining it long enough to accomplish your priorities), and balance (holding your intentions lightly in the complexity of life).

3. Abundance practices:

My theme this month is abundance and blessings - an abundance of money, good health, happiness, creativity, love, purpose, virtue, and more! I want to expand my awareness and re-awaken my excitement for possibility.

 

“Expansion is the great friend of abundance. It brings in the light, opening up new possibilities. In a relaxed, open state, your awareness sees farther, and life isn’t so confined.” Deepak Chopra

1. Morning Abundance Walk - acknowledge my blessings, visualize the blessings I want today, set intentions for service, and pray.

2. Midday Creative Gift - Creativity and generosity go along with abundance. Each day pick one thing to make with my hands with care - a pot of soup, a painting, a letter, a stitched heart- and give it as a gift to someone.

3. Evening Abundance Journal - Write down something I’m grateful for each day, or something that filled me with light, or just something fun that happened, that I enjoyed.

Dragon Boat Festival and Waxing Crescent Moon

The Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient Chinese celebration that always falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of the Chinese calendar - that's five days after the new Dragon moon of May or June. It’s the third largest festival in the Chinese calendar, and it’s considered to be the start of summer.

On this day everyone watches the spectacular dragon boat races, with the paddlers moving their oars in one fluid motion while the drummer thumps out a rhythm. The races might have begun as a symbolic way to encourage the dragons to fight in heaven and bring rain, so farmers would have good crops. Today, the races are held everywhere from Rome to Seattle, and if you are near enough to see them - how wonderful!

The Chinese call this the Duan Wu Jie (pronounced Dwan woo-oo Jee-eh) or Highest Meridian Festival. A meridian is a high point, as in the sun at the solstice. The Chinese celebrate the solstice today, according to a lunar calendar, so it varies every year. Traditionally this day is dangerous and unhealthy because it’s so strongly yang, putting the forces of ying and yang out of balance.

Now the moon is waxing - getting gradually larger - until it's full again. During the waxing moon, energy remains high. In these first days of the waxing crescent moon, I will give attention to my growing energy, take first steps towards my intentions, and find my motivation to follow through with persistent action.

2018 xiangbao sachets

Agenda:

1. A Chinese chant

2. Plan first steps

3. Set more intentions

4. Mindfulness

5. Make a xiangbao sachet
6. Make zongzi (dumplings)

7. Throw zongzi in the water

New Dragon Moon

Tonight is the new moon; the Chinese call the fifth new moon the Dragon Moon. Chinese dragons are a symbol of cosmic Chi, good fortune, and new beginnings, but the time around the Dragon Moon is strongly yang, with bright sunlight and moist heat. The Chinese consider this to be a dangerous and unhealthy season.  

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

2. Pick a theme

3. Goals and intentions

4. New moon altar and meditation

5. Begin something new

6. Blessings Walk

Waning Crescent

The waning crescent moon is the final phase of the Peony Moon cycle. The next new moon, in four days, will be the Dragon Moon cycle. At the new moon I'll set my intentions for the month ahead.

But right now, at the waning crescent, it's time to evaluate and brainstorm, find purpose, and surrender. I'll open to curiosity and attention, contemplate what I might want in the 30 days ahead, and rest up for the move back into yang-action mode. These next few days are a chance to look back and look forward, and think about the big picture of my life.

Agenda:

1. Evaluation Wheel:

Today I get to reflect back on the whole lunar cycle that I've just passed through. I review the intentions I set at the start of the cycle and list what I've accomplished, what I want to still act on, what has become irrelevant or didn't go as planned.

I drew an evaluation wheel with my 6 priority areas. Inside the wheel I listed the things I completed in each area, and underneath the wheel I listed the things I moved forward to the next month, and the things I dropped or changed my goal for.

2. Review my purpose:

My purpose right now is to love and serve my family and my community (learning greater equanimity and compassion); lead a simple life of integrity (caring for the earth and working to become anti-racist); and be a creative force in the world (expressing myself with my writing, art, and actions).

3. Review my priorities:

I have lots of things in lots of categories that I do every day, but which of those are priorities now in my life? I only have so much time each day, so I hope to give priority to the activities and people that matter most to me right now. 

My priorities are fluid; they change with the seasons and with my responsibilities. I like to review them monthly, before the new moon. Today I ask myself:

-Which of my priorities have gotten the least attention this last month and why? 

-What seasonal focus and upcoming events are priorities now?

-What are my important responsibilities this month?

-What upcoming activities give me the biggest rewards?

-What would I do this month if I knew I only had 6 months to live?

-What activities best support my beliefs and values?

-Where do my strengths lie?

    

After some thought, this is my slate of priorities: 

• Career is my teaching and work tasks: I need to get clear on how much work I need and want as I move into retirement.
• Creativity is my writing, arts, and crafts: Keep it up!
• Health is exercise, eating right, etc: I'm losing weight.
• Heart is friends and family: How many social gatherings can I tolerate?
• Service is my committees and activism: Wow. I'm going to need to slow this down just a little...
• Learning is all the topics I'm studying: I'm going to finish my Joy book and find a new one on the topic of Abundance, for morning reading.
• Home is all the tasks I do to create sanctuary in my home: My big focus now is gardening and outdoor painting.

4. Monthly journal brainstorm:

At the new moon this week I will transition from a focus on joy to a focus on abundance, gratitude, and service.

Today I will write down my goals, dreams, and exciting ideas for the next 30-days; just write lists of ideas without judgement - put down everything I think I should do, everything I really want to do, and everything I only dream of doing. Include these broad categories:

            -Self-care and life-style

            -Love, social skills, friends and family

            -Career/work and life path

            -Creativity and self-expression

            -Activism and service

            -Stillness, knowledge, skills and growth

            -Home and garden

            -Seasons and celebration

5. Surrender, rest, recuperate: 

This next few days is a time to be empty; the time for striving is past. As the moon’s light fades into darkness I get to relax and surrender to the universe. 

Some things will always be out of my control. As the moon's appearance dwindles, I let go of useless beliefs, unreasonable expectations, grudges, defensiveness, projects that don't fit into my life, and anything else that isn't working for me. I turn these all over to the Divine and give thanks, my way of opening to receive new intentions in the new month.

Then I give myself permission to rest! 

Third Quarter Moon

Today's waning third quarter moon energy is yin - quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. The focus for the next few days is on renewal, cleansing, and self-care.

June is a transitional month, the end of spring and the beginning of summer. June’s color is the yellow of the sun and calendulas, and its element is fire, which purifies and gives life. It’s the season of completion, abundance and fulfillment - in the summer, I have hope that I will reach the full flowering of my self and my dreams.

June has a different pace, less scheduled though more active. It’s a time for fine-tuning, and for decisive action. It’s a time to energetically climb to the top of a hill, survey the landscape and climb down again; a time to put myself in context, evaluate my progress, see what I’ve accomplished since January, and make careful adjustments in my goals. My aim this month is to stand still and calm in the center while I am hiking, cleaning, writing, socializing, teaching, digging, swimming, traveling and painting like crazy.

Agenda:

1. Renewal plan

2. Self-care routine

3. Cleansing