Advent Earthcare

My theme for this first week of Advent is  

Exploring the Amazon, looking for birds.

"Cherish and care for the earth". I express my unity with nature at Advent in two main ways:

• by offering small gifts of love and attention in recognition of all I receive from the earth
• and by finding joy and fulfillment in simply being alive, instead of in an excess of buying, eating, using, and wasting.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal queries
2. Work against climate change
3. Feed the birds
4. Make bird feeder pine cones

Advent Nativity Fast and Waning Crescent Moon

Advent is important to me, and I have many ideas to share. This first week of advent my theme is to "Cherish and care for the earth". A vegetarian diet is better over all for the planet, so this week I've started a Nativity Fast.

The Nativity Fast is the Orthodox Christian way to experience the waiting which is Advent. Instead of “pre-celebrating” Christmas, they have a 40-day period of fasting, beginning on November 15th (but I wait until AFTER Thanksgiving!)

Besides fasting, the practice includes also prayer, alms-giving, and love. 

And today's waning crescent moon is the final phase of the Kindly Moon cycle. The next new moon, in four days, will be the White Moon cycle. At the new moon I'll set my intentions for the month ahead. But right now, it's time to evaluate, brainstorm, 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 Today:
1. Advent Prayer
2. Evaluation and Inspiration House

3. Mini-Nativity Fast
4. Make Revithia Soupa (Chickpea Soup)
5. Love

6. Alms-giving

7. Surrender, rest, recuperate

First Sunday of Advent and Hanukkah

Today is the first Sunday of Advent!

ad•vent (ad’ vent) n. The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important.

The advent season is a time of expectant waiting. We look forward with excitement to the celebration of Christmas; we wait for the return of longer days after the solstice; and we anticipate the arrival of grace in our hearts.

Grace is a state of being - at peace, free, filled with love & light.

I'll fill the next weeks with decorating, baking, buying gifts, and singing songs... but enfolding the busyness is the simple, deep peace and love of advent. I wait, anticipate, and learn again that transformation is a slow process.

Tonight is also the first night of the eight day Jewish holiday known as the Festival of Lights. Hanukkah is observed beginning 3 days before the new moon closest to the winter solstice, at the darkest part of the moon phase and the darkest part of the sun phase.

Agenda today:
1. Journal queries
2. Plan activities to express my unity with nature

3. Prepare for Hanukkah
4. Make potato latkes
5. Hanukia Ceremony

6. Advent wreath ceremony

Day Before Advent and Third Quarter Moon

Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is a time of expectant waiting, and today I will actively prepare to wait. I will get my house and my heart ready for this (even more than usual) complicated winter season of holidays.

And 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, self-care, and cleansing.

Agenda:

1. Open-Heart Meditation

2. Journal queries

3. Renewal and self-care plan

4. Cleansing and space clearing

5. Simplify & slow down
6. Make an Advent Wreath

Simple Gifts for Black Friday

Black Friday sales are an abomination! All I want to do on the day after Thanksgiving is eat pie and whip cream, and think about Advent. I make about half of my holiday gifts, and usually spend this free day at home, working on projects.

Agenda:

1. Compile a family wish list

2. Collaged Votives

Thanksgiving Day

Today is Thanksgiving. It's not hard to find things to be grateful for this year. I'm so blessed with grown-up children who live in town, with an energetic 1-year-old grandson who brings light to my every day, with a warm home, and a loving community.

Agenda:
1. Thanksgiving Meditation for Peace & Abundance
2. Community zoom worship
3. Finish the food
5. Give thanks

Thanksgiving Preparations and Waning Gibbous Moon

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I'm trying to be positive. Our plans shift each day. We are trying to err on the side of caution, because of our unvaccinated one-year-old. 

I realized that what I missed most last year with our isolated quarantine Thanksgiving, was the collaboration - sharing the work of making the meal - so we are each making extra of something to share! I'm making extra pie and extra sweet potatoes, and we will meet up to exchange food tomorrow.

We are also going to meet on zoom sometime tomorrow to drink champagne and make a toast to everything we are thankful for.

And 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. 

With perfect timing, the waning gibbous moon is when 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. Gratitude garland

3. Generosity practices

4. Make pies

Stir Up Sunday (Prepare for Advent)

Today is Stir Up Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent. This is the traditional day in Britain to make the Christmas pudding, and set it aside for Christmas Day so the flavors have a month to develop.

At least, it used to be the traditional day; apparently most families buy a pudding in a tin now. What a shame! Being partly of British descent (and also being fond of brandy) I think it's worth the effort. And the flaming pudding is an exciting end to Christmas dinner!

This is a day of preparation: I prepare for advent and also for Thanksgiving. Because we have an unvaccinated one-year-old in our family, we will not be physically together again this year for Thanksgiving, but we are going to share food and then eat together on zoom!

I plan to use this day to center myself for a holiday that will be untraditional: I want to stir up my feelings about tradition, expectation, love, and family, and come to terms with a low key quarantine holiday season, which will still be deep and satisfying. Advent is a time of expectant waiting - for grace, and the joy of the returning Light - and this week I will actively prepare to wait.

Agenda for today:
1- Journal queries

2- Prayer
3- Start the Christmas Pudding

4- Collect greens

Full Frost Moon and Xia Yuan Jie

 

Today is Xia Yuan Jie (pronounced "Shaw you-an Jee-a") -- Lower Primordial Festival -- a Chinese festival that falls on the 15th day of the 10th lunar month, usually the full moon of November. It’s the third of a trio of Taoist holidays that honor three Taoist gods, called the Three Great Emperor Officials:

• Tian-Guan, the Heaven Official, gives happiness, and rules over the first 6 months of the year (the yang part), beginning on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, at the Lantern Festival.
• Di-Guan, the Earth Official, forgives sins and guilt, and rules over the next 3 months (the yin part), beginning on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, at the Ghost Festival.
• Shui-Guan, the Water Official, rules over the last 3 months of the year (also yin), starting today.

And tonight we see the Full Frost Moon, called that because now is when the first hoarfrost might appear - that white frost that makes walking crunchy, and that requires scraping of windshields. Frost is a reminder that winter is coming, and we all need to finish our outdoor chores and close up the storm windows.

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 energetic and motivated, and also disappointed and sad, 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. Make a Thanksgiving card

4. Cook the pumpkins
5. Hold the world in the light

November Waxing Gibbous Moon

Photo by Alan Gillespie

The waxing gibbous moon 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 four days, at the full Frost 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

Martinstag and First Quarter Moon

Martinstag, November 11, is the day of St. Martin of Tours, patron saint of beggars, soldiers, and conscientious objectors.

Martin was born in Hungary in 316 A.D. As a teenager, he joined the Roman army, becoming a soldier like his father, and traveled to what is now Italy and France.

The most famous legend of St. Martin is of his time as a soldier: One snowy winter evening, Martin and the other soldiers were returning on horseback to Amiens. A freezing beggar was sitting at the city gate. Martin didn't have any money or food to give him, so he used his sword to cut his heavy red soldier’s cloak in half, and gave half to the beggar. That night Martin dreamt that Jesus thanked him for giving Him his cloak. This dream convinced Martin to become a Christian and be baptized. 

Martin remained in the army for two more years, but then he decided that his faith prohibited him from fighting, and he was jailed as a coward. He was eventually released from prison and from military service, and went on to become the bishop of Tours in France. He died peacefully on November 8, 397 A.D., and was buried on November 11, among the first non-martyrs to be venerated as a saint.

Originally Martinstag was celebrated only in the Catholic areas of Germany, Austria, Flanders, Netherlands, and Portugal, but it has now spread to Protestant areas as well.

Tonight is also 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 priorities.

Agenda:

1. Journal queries
2. Gift list brainstorm
3. Make a lantern
4. Bake Weckmänner (Bun Men)

Waxing Crescent Moon of Early November

Photo by Alan Gillespie

Now the young moon is waxing, getting larger every day. As the sun increases its illumination on the Moon, our energy is growing as well. In these next 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.

Agenda:

1. Create inner synergy

2. Mindfulness practice

1. Create inner synergy:

Today, at the waxing crescent, I prepare to act on my priorities. I often choose one task or project to focus on and build energy as the moon waxes. "Inner synergy" is when your body, mind, spirit, and heart are all cooperating to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. 

Today I decided to give attention to my kitchen pantry shelves, and I:

1. Engaged my mind by visualizing the shelves tidy and clean, with fresh foods in new glass jars, and I made a list of shelf organizers and storage jars I might like.
2. Engaged my heart by writing about the lovely way my husband and I share the cooking tasks now, and reminded myself that I would need to engage his help in the planning. When that "teamwork" insight caused me a slight panic, I had a quick Love Meditation and sent the "pink light of love" to both of us.
3. Engaged my spirit by writing out the mantra "Feed Our Eyes", which I posted on the pantry; I will pause to center myself and read it several times a day for the next few days.
4. Engaged my body by measuring the shelves, and scheduling a trip to buy jars and a sliding shelf.

2. Mindfulness practice:
The first step towards giving full effort to my priorities is attention; I want to remember my deepest, most essential, most passionate reasons for acting on my intentions, every day, and hold my intentions with gentle awareness all day long.

This morning I reviewed my intentions, and turned them into shorthand mantras. My top three intentions today are to: 

• Express myself.
• Feed our eyes (pantry plans).
• Rain walk / Toddler adventure.

Diwali and New Kindly Moon

Today is the start of the Hindu Festival of Diwali, which falls on the new moon of late October or early November, and lasts for five days. 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.

And tonight is the night of the new moon. The Chinese call this tenth new moon the Kindly Moon. In China, this is the season for winter crop planting, and this month brings the first “little snow” which gently (and kindly) moistens the winter wheat seedlings. We don't have snow yet, but we've had some heavy rains. 

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.

1. Pick a theme

2. Start an Abundance Journal

3. Goals and intentions

4. New moon altar and meditation

5. Blessings Walk

6. Creativity practice

7. Make diya lamps

8. Puja for prosperity

9. Make almond katli

The Day of the Dead

The Day of the Dead- Dia de los Muertos - is a holiday observed in Mexico on November 2. It’s a family time for remembering and honoring dead friends and relatives - a period when the souls of the dead can return for a visit. It’s celebrated with humor, not sadness.

Agenda:
1. Set up an ofrenda
2. Make paper banners
3. Make Pan de Muertos (Bread of the Dead)
4. Make skeletons
5. Make sugar skulls