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!

June 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. Read "It's a Meaningful Life"

2. Civilization brainstorm

3. Renewal plan

4. Evaluation House

5. Monthly journal brainstorm

6. Surrender, rest, recuperate

Balanced prana

Prana is the Sanskrit word for life-force, the vital energy that exists in all things. This life-giving energy connects us to the entire universe, and is the underlying force behind our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. 

In China it's called chi. Chi moves around the body freely when we are well, and when it is blocked or unbalanced we get ill. 

It is my goal this month to analyze my prana, and practice ways to adjust.

Agenda:

1. Read "Total Chakra Energy Plan"

2. Starting with the root

3. Root chakra practice

Creative Anxiety

Creative anxiety is sneaky: It dresses itself up and hides out. You would think at my age I'd be able to recognize it quickly, but here I am, dealing with it again.

When I get sloppy with the art-work I'm doing, and begin to turn out messy, meaningless pieces, I forget that it's anxiety at the root and not that I've lost my touch. When I begin to feel lethargic and put off doing the work of art-making, sometimes for weeks, I forget that it's anxiety at the root and not laziness, or busy-ness, or disinterest.

When I face up to my anxiety, then I can make a plan.

Creative anxiety agenda:

1. Read the Creativity Book

2. Set an intention for summer creativity

3. Do the smallest thing

4. Lifeboat drill

First Week of Summer

This is the first full week of summer, when the days are long and time slows just a little. Even though we've been having summer-like days, it's full on us now! This transition is a big deal: I've found that if I celebrate the start of summer with enthusiasm, the rest of the summer becomes richer and more wonderful.

Agenda:

1. Read "Discover Inner Peace"

2. Plan a fun first week of summer

3. Harvest raspberries

Full Strawberry Moon

Photo by Alan Gillespie

Tonight is the full moon called anishnalya, the "camas ripe" moon by the Kalapuya of our area, and the Strawberry Moon by others.

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.

Agenda:

1. Take a vision walk

2. Celebrate balance

Summer Solstice

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.

Agenda:

1. Make a New Solar Disk

2. Harvest herbs

3. Make Kanelbuller (Swedish Cinnamon buns)

4. Make flower crowns

5. Build a Solstice Fire

Summer Vacation

We are on a real vacation for the next couple of days - no family, no pets, no responsibilities except to each other. This is a rare occurrence anymore, and I want to savor it the best I can.

Agenda:

1. Renewal on the road

2. Read "Writing and Being"
3. Creative visualization:

Letting Go

Summer is a good time to practice letting go - of structure, judgements, caution, and perfection. This season, more than any other, requires space for spontaneity and time for just being.

My theme this month is balance - the stability of a grounded body and a clear mind, along with equanimity of heart. When I practice balance I am better able to let go of the bank, and dive into the flow of life.

Agenda:

1. Read "Discover Inner Peace"

2. Balance practices

3. Balance journal queries

4. Standing practice

First Quarter Moon of June

Tonight is 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 June quarter moon's energy to help me find a balance of doing and being; I am embracing the paradox of the expansive, free, effortless ease, and rich, complex, and vital profusion that is summer.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal queries
2. Make a full effort plan
3. Read the Creativity Book

4. Gather some objects

Dragon Boat Festival

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.

2018 xiangbao sachets

Agenda:

1. A Chinese chant

2. Make a xiangbao sachet

3. Make zongzi (dumplings)

4. Throw zongzi in the water

Prepare for the Summer Solstice

It's time to prepare for summer! It's still almost two weeks away, officially, but summer is in the air. My personal start to summer this year is a vacation trip in one week, and I won't be back home again until the solstice is upon us, so I want to get a jump on preparations.

Agenda: 

1. Trip preparations
2. Clean house

3. Make Sima
4. Make a new solar disk

Early June Garden

The June garden is pure abundance. It's too late to start most summer veggies now in my valley, and too early to start fall crops, so my focus is on garden care - watering, weeding, mulching - and on HARVEST.

Agenda:
1. June harvest
2. June planting

3. June tasks

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 and they have customs to protect against the excessive yang energy.

I feel strong and effective when I am able to harness my yang energy to get stuff done, but I like to remember that yang's best aim is to protect yin, and yin's best function is to nurture yang; life is good when I have each in a kind of dynamic balance.

This week I will make an effort to bring a balance of restorative yin energy to my life: Slow down, rest well, drink more water, and practice ‘discipline of purpose’.

Agenda:

1. Retreat Day plan

2. Read "It's a Meaningful Life"

3. Choose a month theme

4. Set intentions

5. New moon altar and meditation

6. Blessings Walk

Summer Zen Art Practice

My summer zen art practice is beginning this week. Yesterday I packed the needed supplies, and today I will head out to the garden for 15 minutes of art meditation! I'm going to make a mandala each day; a mandala represents wholeness; it's a cosmic diagram of the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.

Agenda:

1. Pack supplies

2. Prepare myself

3. Make a mandala

4. Read the Creativity Book

June Transition

June is a transition month - the end of spring and the beginning of summer. June’s element is fire, which purifies and gives life. It’s a highly yang time of movement and power, the season of completion, abundance and fulfillment. I have a hope that in summer 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. June is when I like to energetically climb to the top of a hill, survey the landscape and climb down again, to put myself in context, evaluate my progress, see what I’ve accomplished since January, and make careful adjustments in my goals and priorities. 

My aim this month is to stand still and calm in the center while I am playing, cleaning, writing, socializing, teaching, digging in the garden, swimming, traveling, and painting. 

"Only when there is stillness in movement can the spiritual rhythm appear which pervades heaven and earth." -- Taoist text

Agenda:

1. Journal query

2. Read "It's a Meaningful Life"

3. Vow practice

4. Ray of Sun Meditation