Prepare for Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is less than 2 weeks away, on January 29th this year. I love having this second opportunity to mark the new year; this one is my "Happy and Lucky" celebration.

In China a whole month is spent in preparations - cleaning, cooking, and decorating the house. All of the things displayed at Chinese New Year are symbols of the ideal life - tokens and reminders of the good things we hope for: Luck, wealth, long life, and happiness.

Agenda this week:
1. Shopping

2. House cleaning

3. Nian-hua and good-luck calligraphy

4. Forced Blossoms
5. Make a Tray of Togetherness

Gratitude

Today I reviewed this intention I set in the fall:

I intend to practice an abundance consciousness; becoming aware of the abundance already in my life, feeling grateful for it, and being open to accepting more of it, because when I believe there’s enough for everybody, I will take it as a challenge to figure out how to make it so; I will work harder to create a bright future for myself, my family, and my world.

Agenda:

1. Love meditation

2. Read "It's a Meaningful Life"

3. Write thank you's

Boy Days

We are caring for our grandsons for over 30 hours a week now, and that requires a great deal of energy, creativity, organization, and patience. I am building all of those carefully, with attention to health and resilience habits, and by being prepared with Grandma projects, outings, and art.

Agenda:

1. Love meditation

2. Read "One Year to an Organized Life"

3. Clean and clear the living room

4. Creativity with boys

5. Co-regulation plans

Plow Monday and Full Wolf Moon

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”.

 

And 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 & this week: 

1. Journal query

2. Vision walk

3. Celebrate stillness

4. Tool blessing ceremony

5. Garden planing

6. Daily garden visits

7. Make Homity Pie

Active Hope

My theme this year is Active Hope.

None of us know what the future holds - what movements might rise up; what a big corporation may suddenly decide to do; what planetary shifts might still occur. But as environmental journalist Arno Kopecky writes in his book “The Environmentalist’s Dilemma”: We are “living on borrowed time. The worst is yet to come.”

Agenda:

1. Review the Divine Laws
2. Prayer candle ceremony
3. Read "Active Hope"

4. Hope and resilience steps

5. Simple steps for health and order
6. Create an intentions ritual

Creativity in the New Year

Creativity is one of my leadings: I’m always hungry to get to work on a project. I feel restless, anxious, and eager to make something- a painting, or embroidery, or anything- just to have busy hands and feel productive and creative. 

And I want to express myself, though that which I want to express is often a mystery- it’s the shadowy and bright life inside me; it’s the big truths and the fleeting feelings of the moment.

I want to be more attentive and intentional about my art-making process and my product; more devoted, thoughtful, open, real, original, and honest. And so I hush and wait for ideas. I hold my heart like an empty bowl, waiting for it to be filled. I let the need to create grow and become an obsession, let myself be anxious, and feel happy for this ravenous feeling! As Eric Maisel says, "Both creating and not creating make me anxious, and I choose the anxiety of creating." I choose to have the anxiety of wanting so badly to make art that I must do it every day.

Agenda Today:
1. Review the Divine Laws
2. Prayer candle ceremony
3. Read "The Creativity Book"
4. Brainstorm and simple project list

6. Practice visualization
7. Kitchen blessing

Winter Nature Culture

Nature-culture is my way to live as part of nature; sharing my resources with those who share theirs (the bees and the birds, etc.); becoming more aware of nature's needs so I can be a better neighbor; changing my habits so I can cause less harm.

My working definition of Nature-culture is "Humans living in unity with nature: acting in ways that create shared spaces that mimic the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems."

I've taken quite a bit off time off from my garden. It doesn't need much from me right now, and I'm not eager to go into the mud. But winter is a great time for observation, planning, and preparation, and today I will find a dry window to take a notebook and a camera outside for an observation session.

Agenda:

Daffodils up, 1-10-25

1. 

Review the Divine Laws

2. Prayer Candle ceremony

3. Read "Serviceberry"

4. Hope and Resilience

5. Bird and butterfly garden planning

6.

 Start a phenology journal

7. Brush and leaves

Winter Days of Love

Christmas is over, and Soyal is winding down. We are settling into our new childcare routine, about 30 hours a week. Most of my friends think that sounds like a lot, but we know that these precious days are short: Next fall Grandson #1 will start kindergarten, and we will see him much less.

Today I want to write a bit about the love I feel for my family, and how to maximize the peace we have when we are together. 

Agenda:

1. Review the Divine Laws

2. Prayer candle ceremony

3. Read "Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance Workbook"

4. Love plans for January

5. Plan a birthday retreat

Distaff Day

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

Distaff Day (January7) is named for the stick-like tool that holds fibers while a woman uses 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. Review the Divine Laws

3. Prayer candle ceremony

4. Start a fiber project

5. Read "One Year to an Organized Life"

6. Clean and clear the kitchen

Epiphany and First Quarter Moon

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.

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 and full effort. 

I use this January quarter moon's energy to grow still and listen within.

Agenda for today:

1. Epiphany meditation

2. Review the Divine Laws

3. Prayer candle ceremony

4. Simple steps for health and order

5. Make a full effort plan

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

Twelfth 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. Review the Divine Laws

2. Prayer candle ceremony

3. Discernment queries

4. Year of Hope and Resilience

5. Resolutions postcard

6. Sweeping

7. Make Focaccia della Befana

8. Leave gifts

Eleventh Day of Christmas

This is the eleventh day of the twelve-day festal tide - we have two days of Christmas left! I celebrate these last days in Sabbath mode, doing as little work as possible, resting, reflecting, and finding peace within.

And it's also still the time of Soyal, a Hopi ceremonial period that begins at the new moon closest to the Winter Solstice and lasts for 16 days. Soyal is short for Soyalangwul, which means Establishing Life Anew for All the World. It's a sacred time of peace and preparation for the new growing season.

Agenda:

1. Review the Divine laws

2. Prayer candle ceremony

3. Read "The Creativity Book"

4. Record some nostalgia

Tenth Day of Christmas

This is the tenth day of the twelve-day festal tide - we have four days of Christmas left! By now, most people are fed up with holidays and ready to get back to "normalcy", but I'm holding on for my full 12-days-worth. I celebrate these last days in Sabbath mode, doing as little work as possible, resting, reflecting, and finding peace within.

And it's also still the time of Soyal, a Hopi ceremonial period that begins at the new moon closest to the Winter Solstice and lasts for 16 days. Soyal is short for Soyalangwul, which means Establishing Life Anew for All the World. It's a sacred time of peace and preparation for the new growing season.

Agenda:

1. Review the Divine laws

2. Prayer candle ceremony

3. Read "Serviceberry"

4. Set intentions

5. Winter nature box

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. Review the Divine laws

2. Prayer candle ceremony

3. Practice writing

5. Make an Omamori

6. Eat Hoppin' John

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. Set the tone for the New Year

2. Kwanzaa principle

3. Read "It's a Meaningful Life"

4. Gnothi Seauton

5. 

Review the Divine Laws

6. First bird