An energetic shift

I'm making an energetic shift towards being an elder; I mean, someone who is a strong, calm presence, a wise-woman teacher and mentor, for my grandson, family, and community.

I've identified the two things that hold me back (the same old two things that always hold me back):

-I don't believe I'm wise or expert enough yet.

-I'm afraid people might belittle me.

I can take care of the first by studying my heart out - I'm good at that, and quite enjoy it! I can become expert in pretty much anything I set my mind to, and wisdom arrives when I take time to contemplate and analyze everything I've learned.

The second requires an energetic shift towards self-confidence. I know I'm a fierce, strong person and can handle people being petty, but the fear of embarrassment is strong in me also. I need to somehow disrupt the link between my self-esteem and the need to appear wise: It is good also to appear human!

1. Read "How to Manifest"

2. Contemplate my humanity

3. Teaching in my community

4. Teaching my grandsons

Full Harvest Moon and Asia Moon Festivall

 

The full Harvest Moon rises this evening -- obliquely, close to the horizon -- and remains big and bright for a long time, giving extra light to harvesters. This moon is called Atchiutchutin, the After-Harvest moon, by the Kalapuya of our area, because the big harvest in our area comes earlier. We are enjoying the first weeks of the rainy season, a profound time of transition for me.

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.

Today is also the start of Chung Ch’iu, the 3-day Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. It's a happy and beautiful Asian family celebration that comes each year at the time of the full moon in September or October.

Agenda for today:
1. Take a vision walk
2. Celebrate balance

3. Make moon cakes
4. Have a moon-viewing party

Unity Art for Pollinators

Bees, butterflies, and other pollinators are in dramatic decline. I want to support them, and find ways I can forge a stronger connection between us, so I've been applying my Unity Art practice to pollinators.

Unity Art is a process that opens the doors of creative healing to anyone, any age, any ability. My intention is to use my creative fire to forge a stronger connection between me and the pollinators.

Agenda:

1. Set pollinator intentions
2. Collect photos of pollinators

3. Mindful bee watching

4. Wild garden practices

Fall Equinox and September First Quarter Moon

The autumn equinox occurs tonight at 11:50 p.m. in the Pacific Northwest. Summer is over and darkness will again catch up to the light.

The rains will begin soon (hallelujah!), 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.

Tonight is also the first quarter moon; we are one-quarter of the way through the moon cycle. The moon is waxing - growing in light and energy, creating a time for decisive action. I use this August quarter moon's energy to help me to discern my path, and then act on it; this requires clarity.

Mark the Start of Autumn:

1. Journal queries

2. Fall possibilities list

3. Make a full effort plan

4. Write a mission haiku

5. Sustainable straw collecting

6. Make a straw doll

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, and declared as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.

The 2023 theme is Actions for Peace. It's a call to action that recognizes our individual and collective responsibility to foster peace, and contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); achieving these will create a culture of peace for all.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, "Peace is needed today more than ever. War and conflict are unleashing devastation, poverty, and hunger, and driving tens of millions of people from their homes. Climate chaos is all around. And even peaceful countries are gripped by gaping inequalities and political polarization."

Peace Day Agenda:

1. Journal queries

2. Raise awareness

3. Make Peace Stones

4. Peace vigil

House of Belief

A house of belief reflects the family that lives in it. I want to fine tune my interior spaces and my garden to better express my beliefs; specifically - simplicity, love, and unity with nature.

I'm working towards clean rooms (clean floors, windows, dust-free surfaces); a comfortable amount of clutter (and a place to put each useful thing away); spaces that welcome and embrace all the ages of people who live or visit here; and visual interest - things to look at that spark the imagination, and communicate our love of nature.

Agenda:

1. Read "House of Belief"

2. Deep living room cleaning

3. Hands-on projects

4. Autumn vignettes

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is one of the most beloved of all the Hindu gods. He is the god of wisdom, beginnings, and success. His birthday festival, or chaturthi, begins on the fourth day of this waxing moon and lasts for 10 days.

Hindus believe in one God who has many symbolic forms. Ganesha is worshipped as the Lord of Beginnings and the Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order. He can remove obstacles, or he can place obstacles in the path of those who need to be slowed. 

I plan to use Ganesha as a focus for my meditation for the next 10 days, give attention to my obstacles, and find a way forward through them.

Agenda for this week:
1. Journal about my obstacles

2. ✋ Hands On ✋challenge:

3. Practice a Reverent Way of Being

4. Make a clay Ganesha
5. Make a Success Altar
4. Ceremony for beginning and success

Rosh Hashanah

Tonight is the first evening of Rosh Hashanah (Roash hah-shah-nuh), which falls at or 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 of this festival is repentance for wrongs you have done, and reaffirmation that you will take the honorable path in the future.

Agenda for today:

1. Journal queries

2. Make challah

3. Share a Seder

New Harvest Moon

Tonight is the new moon. The Chinese call this eighth new moon the Harvest Moon, for obvious reasons!

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 for today:
1. Journal queries

2. Choose a month theme

3. Set intentions

4. New moon altar and Harvest meditation 

5. Retreat Day plans

End of Ghost Month

Today is the last day of Hungry Ghost month. 

On the last day of the seventh lunar month, before the next new moon, the gates of hell close up again. Asians celebrate this day in a variety of ways - they might burn paper money and clothing again, and taoist monks might chant to drive the ghosts away or release them; and the Toucheng Ghost Grappling Competition is held in Yilan's Toucheng Township in Taiwan(!)

 

Today:

1. Release my hungry ghosts

2. Read "How to Manifest"

3. Body scanning meditation

4. Make a floating lantern

Paitishem

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.

Paitishem is the third Gahambar, celebrating the creation of the earth, the end of summer, and the harvesting of crops. It takes place each year from September 12th through the 16th.

1. Recite prayers
2. Make Iranian soup
3. Harvest and preserve

Hearth-Keeping

Keeping the hearth is a spiritual practice, and a wonderful balance to the activist work I do. The important practices related to caretaking, community building, and tending of hearth and home are often undervalued, and we hearth-keepers often work quietly behind the scenes.

"That fire that burns in the center of collective identity and lineage and culture is the mythic hearth, and those who protect, embody, and maintain that center for the community are our hearth-keepers. ... We simply wouldn’t have a sense of identity or belonging without the essential work of hearth-keepers, the essential mysteries of the hearth itself, and the love and oversight of those deities whose central mysteries are the hearth." ~Riverdevora, The Revolutionary Art of Hearth-Keeping

Agenda:

1. Root reading
2. Deep kitchen cleaning

3. Home sensations

4. Pockets

Third Quarter Moon of early September

Photo by Alan Gillespie

Today is the Third Quarter Moon: This waning moon energy is yin - quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. At this phase we can ease off a bit on actively pursuing goals, slow down, go within, and attend to inner work and self-care.

Agenda today:

1. Read "How to Manifest"

2. Renewal plan

3. Evaluation House

4. Monthly journal brainstorm

5. Surrender, rest, recuperate

Summer Sanctuary

Our home and garden is a sanctuary for body and soul; it embraces us and brings us back to center. When we take sanctuary, even for brief moments, we are re-created, recharged, healed, soothed, comforted and at peace.

One of my New Year's resolutions is: 

Sanctuary: I intend to care for my land with discipline and ritual, and create a home that is a peaceful and well-ordered sanctuary for those I love, because maintaining my land in good order is the honorable and sustainable thing to do, and is one way that I show reverence for the Earth and for God.

What I like about this resolution is that it encompasses my home, my land, my family and friends, the Earth and God. It helps me to de-compartmentalize my life and see it as a whole.

Agenda:

1. Summer cleaning plan

2. Deep bedroom cleaning

3. End of August garden

4. How to freeze tomatoes