Prepare for Imbalc

Imbalc is coming in a few days and I have a few practical and contemplative preparations to make. Mostly I need to watch as the wheel of the year shifts. We still have a month of winter left, but these warm days (in the 60's) are pretty great! My thoughts are turning outward, to the garden, our neighborhood, and my community.

Agenda:

1. Read Writing and Being

2. Practice a Reverent Way of Being

3. Gratitude practice

3. Write about my seeds of inspiration

5. House clearing

January garden

My winter garden is alive and well. It's feeding my ducks, and wild birds, as well as other animals I can't see. I wish we had veggies for ourselves, but, except for the beets, they all failed to thrive this year.

My main focus in January is to plan the next season's garden, and take care of the nature that continues to live here. As always, I'd rather not go into the garden in the rain and the mud, but if I can be strong, get on my rain gear, and take a short daily tour of my garden, I find many simple things to do, without getting too muddy.

The best tip I've read in any permaculture blog is: Be consistent with 15-minutes a day, year round. I try to take a 15-minute walk through my garden each day, and I alternate the front and back gardens so I don't feel rushed.

The consistency of the 15-minute daily visit keeps me connected to my garden even when I don't accomplish much. As Amy from 10-Acre Farm says, "It helps me to enjoy 'being' in the garden, rather than always focusing on the 'doing'."

Agenda:

1. Read "A Comfort of Crows"

2. Garden plans

3. January tasks

4. Prune the Grape

Full Wolf Moon

Photo by Alan Gillespie

Tonight is the full moon of January, called atalka - the "Stay Inside Moon" - by the Kalapuya of my area, and the Wolf Moon by others, because of the hungry packs of wolves that used to roam for prey at this time of deep winter. The full Wolf Moon is a good time to ponder what I am hungry for, and how to be resilient.

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. The full moon shines her light on everything; use the full moon energy for creatively completing things, and for seeing your next moves, and also to CELEBRATE how far you've come and give thanks for the lessons learned and the blessings received.

Agenda for today:

1. Read "Root and Ritual"

2. Vision walk

3. Celebrate discernment

4. Inspiration Walk

Tu B'Shevat

Tu B’Shevat (too b’sch VAHT), the Jewish New Year for Trees, begins tonight at sunset, the evening before the full moon. This is the season in Israel when the earliest-blooming trees start a new fruit-bearing cycle. In contemporary Israel it’s celebrated with tree planting ceremonies and a focus on ecological awareness, and a seder (ceremonial meal) of tree fruits.

Agenda: 
1. Tree of Life visualization
2. Plant a tree

3. Intentions for Earth-Care
4. Share a seder meal

Babinden

The Slavic holiday Babinden (bah-bean-den) happens each year on January 21. Baba is "grandmother", and the in is possessive; den is "day", so the meaning is "Grandmother’s Day". It’s also called Midwives Day.

Babinden is an ancient festival, still celebrated in Bulgaria, to give thanks and show respect to the women (or men) who have helped in the child-birthing process, and for all the other skills and knowledge the grandmothers have: Growing food, cooking, herb lore, looking after their grandchildren, and teaching folklore and traditions.

The roots of this festival, however, are in fertility rites. In Bulgaria, a house full of healthy and beautiful children is a basic value, and this is the underlying focus of the rituals on Babinden. Fertility is an essential theme of nature, and today I celebrate the place my grandsons have in the great, burgeoning, hope-filled circle of abundance, and my role as one of his care-givers.

Agenda today:
1. Journal queries
2. Hand-washing ceremony

3. Prayer for grandmothers

4. Art with a toddler
5. House blessing

First Quarter Moon

Tonight is 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 Today:

1. Read Writing and Being

2. Write an epigraph

3. Journal queries

4. Choose a self-cultivation project

5. Make a full effort plan

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Today I am reminded again to honor the ongoing struggle for freedom, equality, and dignity for all people, and share in the efforts.

Agenda for today:

1. Intentions

2. Study

3. March

4. Index to MLK Day projects

Retreat for Discernment

I'm having my New Moon retreat day this weekend, a couple of days to be unsocial, and give attention to my theme for the month, which is discernment. As luck would have it, we had a serious ice storm yesterday, and the whole town is shut down. All of my responsibilities have evaporated!

I've chosen the theme of discernment for this month, because I have so much figuring out going on. Today I will sink in to the quiet of the winter and open to leadings of the spirit.

Agenda:
1. Read "A Comfort of Crows"

2. Bird watching

3. Garden plans

4. Living room blessing

New Bitter Moon

Tonight is the new moon. This last new moon of the Chinese year is called the Bitter Moon, because we are into the month of the bitterest cold.

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. Read Writing and Being 

2. Choose a month theme

3. Set intentions

4. New moon altar

5. Brainstorm self-cultivation projects

6. Retreat Day

Plow Monday

Plow Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany, is the traditional day in Europe for farmers to restart their farm work. Our garden isn't large, but, with the ducks, it's like a miniature farm. Normally, it's too wet at this time in the Pacific Northwest to do any digging, but many other tasks are possible, and it's good motivation for me to have this set date each year to start my “farm work”.

I got a lot of good permaculture information from Amy of the Ten-Acre Farm.  Amy says,

"January is one of my favorite times of year because I love the opportunity to start anew, make new agreements with myself about how I will spend time in the garden, and determine what kinds of experiments I will run to continue learning and improving."

Agenda for today & this week: 

1. Journal query

2. Tool blessing ceremony

3. January harvest

4. Garden planing

5. Daily garden visits

6. Make Plough Pudding or Homity Pie

Distaff Day Sabbath

Woman with distaff in left hand, and spindle in right hand.

Distaff Day (January7) is named for the distaff, the stick-like tool that held fibers while a woman used a drop spindle to spin thread.

Spinning and weaving were never-ending chores for pre-industrial women; most women and girls would spin thread while also cooking, caring for children, or minding the sheep. Because women were seen always with a distaff in hand, it became the symbol of “women’s work”. 

But during the Christmas season women took a break from spinning. January 7th was the traditional day for women to start back to work, and so was called Distaff Day.

Agenda:
1. Journal queries and spindle meditation

2. Start a fiber project

3. Read "The Simpler Life"

4. Clean and clear the living room

Sabbath for Epiphany

January 6th is Epiphany, the final day of the Christmas season. This was the day when the three Magi arrived in Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus, and recognized that he would grow up to be a great helper of people.

Epiphany comes from the Greek epiphania, meaning manifestation, or moment of recognition. The Magi had an epiphany - a moment of recognition, when the truth became clear through something simple and striking.

The one is the way to the many; the specific is the way to the spacious; the now is the way to the always; the here is the way to the everywhere; the material is the way to the spiritual; the visible is the way to the invisible. When we see contemplatively, we know that we live in a fully sacramental universe, where everything is an epiphany. 

—Richard Rohr 

Agenda for today:

1. Epiphany meditation

2. Year of Witness

3. Witness practices for January

4. Make a resolutions postcard

5. Bake a King's cake and make a crown

6. Kitchen blessing

Twefth Night

The evening of January 5th is called Twelfth Night, the Eve of the Epiphany, the night that the three Magi traveled to Bethlehem to see the newborn baby Jesus.

In Italy, the story goes, the Befana (short for Epiphania) was busy sweeping her floor that night, when the Magi stopped at her house. They invited her to come along with them on their trip to see Jesus but she said she was too busy.

Later she changed her mind and decided to follow, but she couldn’t find them. She continues her search each year on Twelfth Night, flying on a broom, going from house to house and leaving gifts.

Agenda:

1. Christmas retreat

2. Read "Writing and Being"

3. Discern a theme for 2024

4. Sweeping

5. Make Focaccia della Befana

6. Leave gifts

Tenth Day of Christmas and Third Quarter Moon

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. Christmas retreat

2. Read from the Creativity Book

3. Creativity goals

4. Renewal plan

5. Evaluation House

6. Monthly journal brainstorm

7. Surrender, rest, recuperate

Kakizome Day and Ninth Day of Christmas

This is Kakizome Day; kakizome means "first writing". Today people all over Japan will take time to use a brush and sumi ink to write out a favorite quote or phrase - the first calligraphy of the new year. Kakizome is a way to express your positive wishes for the New Year.

Agenda:

1. Christmas retreat

2. Read from "The Simpler Life"

3. Sanctuary goals for 2023

4. Clean and clear the kitchen

5. Practice writing

New Year's Day

Today is the first day of a new year in my part of the world. I celebrate many beginnings throughout my year, but January 1 has emotional importance because it’s the New Year of my childhood.

January gets its name from Janus, the two-faced Roman God of gates and doorways; it's a month to look back with reflection and forward with hope. I stand at the doorway of this coming year with my mind open and curious, without fear or judgment, and with hope for the gifts that the year will deliver.

As I stand here, I remember that not all gifts are rosy. I thank the Creator for the shadows and mysteries, and potent gifts of sadness. When I live in the reality of the moment more than in my hopes and expectations, I can receive the riches that are hidden within my most challenging experiences - the gifts of compassion, self-awareness, creativity, wisdom, patience, love, strength of character, and integrity.

Agenda for today:

1. Christmas retreat

2. Kwanzaa principles

3. Set the tone for the New Year

4. Read from "Writing and Being"

5. Eat Hoppin' John

6. Wassail my apple tree