seasons

Summer Solstice Imprint Necklaces

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Molly

Summer’s bounty
both sweet and spiky
sun-kissed and thorny
able to draw blood
and to cause you to smile
as you taste the juices of life.

I find it interesting to observe how the wheel of the year is reflected within my own mind and thought processes. In the late fall, I turn inward and feel like retreating and pulling away from commitments. In the winter, I incubate and make plans. In the spring, I emerge again and feel enthused with new ideas. In the summer, I start to make decisions about what to keep and what to prune away. I find that summer is a perfect time to see what is growing well and what needs to be yanked out by the roots.

Summer brings the opportunity to both wrestle with what isn’t working in your life and to celebrate the fruits of your labors. Summer is when you peek under leaves only to discover bugs in your cabbages, whether literal or metaphorical. And, it is the season in which you bask in what is growing well, what has taken root firmly, what is beautiful in the sunshine, what you can trust, taste, enjoy and savor. In the summer, we see both weeding and harvesting. Planting and tending and maintaining. We see withering. We see giving up. We see what is dying and what is thriving. This is the balance of the year. The wheel turns and turns and turns and before we know it, we are holding a palm full of berries once more. Older, different, changed and yet, right there, again. That juicy bite of summer.

Heat and light. Growth and transformation. Bearing fruit. Spreading open in the sun. Digging up by the roots. Weeding out. Composting. Turning over. Turning over. Turning over.

I’m preparing for our summer ritual and the themes above are on my mind. Based on the Sacred Year class I’m taking via the Sacred Living Movement, I’d like to offer the following activity idea for your own summer solstice experience. It would be a beautiful project to undertake at sunrise or sunset on this year’s summer solstice.

You will need:

Clay of some kind (self-hardening, air dry, oven cured, kiln fired, or polymer clay)
Rolling pin
Knife or cookie cutter
A few minutes outside alone in Nature

Go outside and center and ground yourself with three deep breaths. Then, begin to walk around slowly looking for a message from Nature, from Gaia, from the Earth. Trust your intuition and choose what calls your attention and seems meant for you. It might be a seed, a berry, a leaf, a stone, or a flower. Accept this small, renewable gift from nature with appreciation and collaborative intent.

Roll out your clay on a firm surface (protected with cardboard or a placemat) to about 1/4 inch thick. You can use whatever shape or size makes sense to you, squares, circles, dewdrops, ovals and freeform oblong shapes work well that about two inches across. If you are using clay that will be fired in a kiln, remember that it will shrink as it dries.

Gently press your gift from nature into the clay. Press it down on all slides, firmly but gently. If you are using a leaf, use the back of the leaf to create the imprint, because the veins on the back will create a clearer impression. Your imprint will not look perfect, but that’s okay!

Make sure to poke a hole near the top before the clay dries so that you will be able to hang it up or string it on a cord. If you are using clay that will be fired in a kiln, you can use one of your imprints as an essential oil diffuser after the first firing. Or, you can glaze it and have it fired again. I am fortunate to have a mom who is a potter and who is firing the imprint necklaces I made.

As I referenced in my last post, wild raspberries are special to me. While I originally expected to use wild dianthus flowers for my imprint, I followed my intuition and absolutely delighted in creating my imprint necklaces using wild raspberries and raspberry leaves. Seriously. These little berry prints make me swoon.

The message of the imprint necklace you create will be unique to you and your experience. When you wear or hang up your summer imprint, you will be reminded of the messages and lessons of Gaia’s natural, wild wisdom and the ever-changing, unfolding, everyday miracle of life on Earth.

(Note: if you also use berries, choose an unripe berry because it makes a much firmer “stamp” with which to imprint!)

Upcoming courses:

Womanrunes Immersion

Red Tent Initiation Program

—-

Crossposted at SageWoman

Categories: art, holidays, nature, seasons, spirituality, woodspriestess | Leave a comment

Raspberry Revolution

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Molly

…The spirit of adventure
    runs through my veins
    with the rich color
    of crushed raspberry

    May it always run so free
    may it be blessed
    and may I be reminded
    of the courage and love
    shown in small, wild adventures.

June brings out the hunter in me. The mission: wild raspberries.* A friend once laughed to hear me describe picking raspberries as a “holy task,” but it is. A task earthy, embodied, mundane, and miraculous at once.

Two of June’s treasures each year for me are the roses and the raspberries. This week, I sweated and struggled and was scratched and stung, but I returned home once again with my bounty.

Last year I wrote about my “Inanna’s descent” as I picked wild raspberries with my children:

…I was thinking about how I was hot, tired, sweaty, sore, scratched, bloody, worn, and stained from what “should” have been a simple, fun little outing with my children and the above prayer came to my lips. I felt inspired by the idea that parenting involves uncountable numbers of small, wild adventures. I was no longer “just” a mom trying to find raspberries with her kids, I was a raspberry warrior. I braved brambles, swallowed irritations, battled bugs, sweated, swore, argued, struggled, crawled into scary spaces and over rough terrain, lost possessions and let go of the need to find them, and served as a rescuer of others. I gave my blood and body over to the task…

I consider any berry picking expedition to be the very definition of success as long as there are enough berries to make a cobbler! It is so delicious I feel like sharing my version here, in case any of you would also like to enjoy one with your family during berry season (modified from this recipe).

Ingredients:

1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 ts. salt
1 ts. baking powder
1 cup milk
2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)

Instructions:

Melt butter. Mix sugar and flour into the same baking dish in which you plan to bake the cobbler. Whisk in milk. Pour in melted butter and whisk again.

Scatter rinsed raspberries evenly over the top of the batter.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 1 hour until golden and bubbly.

Serve with whipped cream on top if desired, though plain is delightfully delicious as well!

—

While in the woods with my raspberries this year, I also finished taking pictures for my upcoming Womanrunes e-course:

“Revolution keeps a steady tempo with your heartsong and the color of your wings.”

Sometimes revolution tastes like raspberries.

—

(*This post is crossposted from my Sagewoman blog where it received many Facebook comments from people feeling compelled to inform me that these are called blackberries, not raspberries. Have no fear, however, yes, wild raspberries are black in Missouri and these are indeed raspberries, even though they are not red. We have wild blackberries also, which will ripen in July. The wild raspberries and blackberries, both black in color, grow right next to each other in my back yard. There are distinctive differences. The raspberries are less seedy, sweeter, juicier, and tastier. Their canes are green-white and waxy in color and they ripen a month earlier. We also have mulberries and dewberries here, which are both black as well.)

Categories: nature, prayers, seasons, woodspriestess, writing | 5 Comments

I brake for flowers

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Molly

I stopped on the side of our gravel road last week to take pictures of one of my all-time favorite wildflowers. I’ve tried to transplant them to my own house, but they prefer growing in their own way on their own terms (don’t we all!), so I appreciate them from the road!

I also brake for moonrise. The full, strawberry moon was so phenomenal on my drive home last night that I stopped three times to try to take a picture of it. Unfortunately, this meme is so true with regard to my moon-photography skills…

It was absolutely huge and pink and amazing. All my pictures turned out to be tiny blurs. By the time I got home, interestingly, the moon hadn’t yet risen over the trees at my own house and was not pink at all. I’m not sure why it was so dramatically different just 40 miles away!

On the way, I had to restrain my urge to brake for flowers, because I wanted to make sure I got to the first night of my new class with lots of time to spare. However, I longed to pull over for the gorgeous field of coneflowers, black eyed Susans, and something fabulously blue and spiky that I saw on my drive!

After my daily blogging with 30 Days of May, I’ve taken a break from writing posts here and have been completely absorbed by the preparation of my upcoming Womanrunes Immersion ecourse. I am so thrilled to be doing this! I haven’t finished taking all the pictures I plan to take yet, but all is going well.

I’m getting ready for our annual summer ritual. It is for families, rather than for women, which I find makes the planning more of a challenge! I have been re-reading some of my past blog posts about summer rituals and enjoyed re-reading this past “ritual recipe.” It has a variety of reflections at the end, including this one about group size:

…Small IS good—I already know from my years as a breastfeeding support group leader that I’m a sucker for bigger-is-better thinking (I tell my own students: don’t let your self-esteem depend on the size of your group!!!!!). When the group is small or RSVPs are minimal, it starts to feel like a personal “failing” or failure to me somehow. However, the reality is that there is a quality of interaction in a small group that is not really possible in a larger group. At this retreat there were seven women. While there was an eighth friend I really wished would come and who we missed a lot, the size felt pretty perfect. I reflected that while some part of me envisions some kind of mythically marvelous “large” group, ten is probably the max that would fit comfortably in our space as well as still having each woman be able participate fully. Twelve would probably be all right and maybe we could handle fifteen. I also need to remember not to devalue the presence of the women who DO come. They matter and they care and by lamenting I want more, it can make them feel like they’re not ‘enough.’

via Ritual Recipe: Women’s Summer Retreat | WoodsPriestess.

I was very interested to read this evocative description of the “Goddess Wave” as shared by the Shekhinah Mountainwater Memorial Fund:

“It’s lonely in the tip, and it takes courage to stay there. But every part of the Goddess Wave is valid in its own way, and there is no value judgement here. It just helps to know which part of the wave you are in and whether or not you want to be anchored there…”

Goddess Wave | Shekhinah Mountainwater Memorial Fund.

(I also appreciate the mention in the post of the Womanrunes course)

Check out the information about this neat online course too: The Fivefold Goddess: A Web-Based Course and Initiation Cycle into a New Vision of the Divine Feminine.

So many neat projects!

Categories: nature, resources, seasons | Leave a comment

Green Man (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Molly

Today is my birthday and the prompt was about sensory images of May. Based on this post, tonight at dusk we made a Green Man in the field by our greenhouse. It was quite lively and fun.

As we finished his beard, we looked up and the full moon was rising beautifully over the trees. It was one of those moments of natural magic that was really potent.

Whippoorwills were singing, dogs were barking, fireflies were twinkling, and frogs were calling and we drummed and danced together in the moonlight.

Now let the song begin! Let us sing together!

Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather,

Light on the budding leaf, dew on the feather,

Wind on the open hill, bells on the heather,

Reeds by the shady pool, lilies on the water.

—Tom Bombadil’s Song, Lord of the Rings (via Beltane Ritual)

Categories: #30Daysof May, family, holidays, nature, night, ritual, seasons, spirituality | 2 Comments

Waning Dogwood (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Molly

Each day
offers new gifts
new mysteries
new discoveries
new promises
kissed with rain
and garnished
with dogwood blossoms…

via Woodspriestess: Real Magic

I happily anticipate the dogwoods each year. Today, the 30 Days* photo prompt was to photograph a blooming tree. The dogwoods are already waning, the edges of the flowers browning a little, spots on the petals, the centers yellow instead of green. Looking back at previous years’ posts shows me that this happened earlier this year than the two prior years, with early May sometimes holding the full splendor of the dogwoods. We’ve had a warm spring so far and that must be why.

I spent today at an all-day spring retreat with my women’s circle. It was just what I needed. While I was feeling rushed packing everything up to bring and lamenting about my to-do list and upcoming busy week, I really enjoyed myself and felt like it ended up being really important to have given ourselves this time together.

Art journal project from today.

New mini prayer flags.

Teeny, tiny wish bottle necklace.

“The tools are unimportant; we have all we need to make magic: our bodies, our breath, our voices, each other.”

—Starhawk

“Individually, and in like-spirited groups, we and our culture can be healed; we can come fully alive, and recognize ourselves and others as deeply holy.”

–Seena B. Frost, SoulCollage

(*In case anyone is wondering, the Thirty Days of May class is about ushering in the May, which is why it began prior to May 1st!)

Categories: #30Daysof May, friends, nature, sacred pause, seasons, self-care, spirituality, women's circle | Tags: #30DaysofMay | Leave a comment

Happy Earth Day!

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Molly

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”

~ John Muir

Happy Earth Day (and happy birthday to John Muir)! This morning I enjoyed reading a lovely post by Jodi Sky Rogers (I also borrowed the Muir quote from her e-newsletter):

…mosses are a whole unknown world, in fact, a whole Universe of wisdom. They say that ‘rolling stones don’t gather moss.’ So to drink in great worlds of wisdom we must be still just like ancient rocks and boulders who rest in peaceful presence for eons and then allow the insights that rise from the Universe and from the quiet stirring within us so grow like moss on the moist edges of our consciousness.

via Dreamland and Drifting in Between | Jodi Sky Rogers.

I also enjoyed reading about this simple and powerful Earth Day Ritual from Peg Conway:

Let us bless the source of life that brings forth bread from the earth.

Let us bless the source of life that ripens fruit on the vine.

A beautiful sunset provided a perfect closing rite.

Amen!

via Ritual for Earth Day | Sense of the Faithful.

I signed the new Pagan Community Statement on the Environment:

…We are earth, with carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus making up our bodies one day, and incorporated into mountains the next. We are air, giving food to the trees and grasses when we exhale, and breathing in their gift of free oxygen with each breath. We are fire, burning the energy of the Sun, captured and given to us by plants. We are water, with the oceans flowing in our veins and the same water that nourished the dinosaurs within our cells.

We are connected to our families, through links of love, to their relatives, and so on to the entire human species. Our family tree goes back further than the rise of humans, including all mammals, all animals, and all life on Earth. The entire Earth is our immense and joyous family reunion.

We feel these connections in a spiritual way. The web of life includes strands that tug on our hearts, thread through our essential nature, and weave us into a spiritual whole. As part of the body of life on Earth, we care about the health of all parts of the body.

via A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment.

My kids and I spent hours this morning outside building houses for trolls the way I used to do when I was a kid. We laid on our backs on the earth and admired the way the tree branches make patterns against the sky. We delighted in tiny flowers, found a magical patch of moss, ate a few pinches of oxalis, and had a picnic.

Yesterday we planted a buckeye tree and this afternoon we planted lavender, motherwort, white sage, calendula, and evening primrose. Life feels sweet and full of growth.

Categories: family, nature, parenting, resources, seasons | Tags: earth day | 1 Comment

Spring Flowers

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Molly

Tiny flowers
Spring’s resurrection
No bloodshed required.

Categories: feminist thealogy, nature, poems, seasons, spirituality, theapoetics | Leave a comment

Spring Meditation

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Molly

   Shedding
    releasing
    changing
    renewing
    growing
    healing
    springing

    Letting go
    leaving behind
    casting off
    sloughing
    opening.

    What are we leaping towards
    what wants to push up from cold ground
    what wants to open to the sun
    what is it that we need to know?

    What quiet, steady pulse beats
    below the surface
    what hope watches from the wings
    what light grows broad
    upon a patch of ground…

What expectations need we shed? What old thoughts need to leave our minds? What habitual patterns of behavior, relationship, and communication need to change?

It is easy to be centered when you sit in the woods alone. The challenge is to carry that core into the unrelenting murmur of everyday life. The challenge is to reach for that place of inner stillness, even when it feels as if chaos reigns. The challenge is to return to a place that heals your soul every single day even when the to-do list gets longer, the have-tos, the should-dos, the want-tos. Lay those things aside for a minute and step forward onto solid earth, steady stone, grassy ground. Rest for a moment in the calm stillness that sings through the air in harmony with the call of your own heart and the center of your own being. Find it here, find it now. Knowing that the potential is always within you and the place remains for you to return and return and return…

Categories: nature, poems, prayers, seasons, spirituality, theapoetics, woodspriestess | 2 Comments

Misty Morning

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Molly

This is your wildness
don’t sell it.
Raindrop on plum branch
Leaning oak
Mist rising through branches
Birdsong
Squirrel conversation
Forest song.
Life’s pulse
Weaving you into the world
Patient
Watchful
Wise.

Since welcoming a new baby into my life as well as continuing to develop several other projects (hello, dissertation!!!), I’ve found the hours in the day increasingly short and tight. This morning, I looked out the window of our workroom into the woods and saw the foggy woods and the sun shining through the misty air and I knew I had to drop everything and get to the woods. It was beautiful and even though it “slows me down” to head out there when I was so many other things I want to do and a limited time frame in which to do them (nap times are precious!), it is actually exactly what I need.

When we cut trees in the woods several months ago, one of my favorite rocks on the path disappeared. I knew where it was supposed to be, but surmised someone either kicked it aside or it had gotten pushed underground (or even broken) when some of the wood was dragged out. (This tree cutting, while necessary, still hurts my heart to see the destruction in my sacred little grove.) Today, after watching the fog lift, I stopped on the path and “felt” for the stone that I liked. I brushed some fallen leaves away and there she was!

I am so enjoying the signs of spring and the warming temperatures. I registered for a neat sounding Spring Equinox online free event. I’m also looking forward to hosting a small drum circle at our house this weekend. And, don’t forget to check out all the lovely offerings in the upcoming Red Tent fundraiser auction to be held on the Spring Equinox as well: Auction Special…..see what’s on offer! – Moon Times Moon Blog.

Categories: nature, poems, sacred pause, seasons, spirituality, theapoetics, woodspriestess | Tags: gaian, nature, sacred pause, woodspriestess | 2 Comments

Day 25: Sanctuary (#30DaysofBrigid)

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Molly

May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world
to gather you, mind you, and embrace you in
belonging.

— John O’Donohue

(via 30 Days of Brigid ~ A Daily Sacred Pause of Creative Inspiration.)

My first thought when I think of sanctuary is sitting on the rocks in the woods. However, given the current snow and extreme cold temperatures, I’ve missed my woods visit for two days in a row. I feel the gap, like a longing almost, but as the cold day went on today, I kept feeling like I should be heading out there and yet delaying. Finally, I gave myself permission to not brave the cold in search of a sanctuary photo and as I looked outside at the icicles hanging from the porch roof I realized I had my sanctuary photo after all, because today sanctuary is indoors, not out!

Today’s reading and thinking about the woods also led me to think of one of my own past experiences with the wild beauty of the (nearly) invisible world:

…Like flower growing from rock
the world is full of tiny, perfect mysteries.
Secrets of heart and soul and landscape
guarded tenderly
taking root in hard crevices
stretching forth
in impossible silence.
via Woodspriestess: Stoneflower

Categories: #30daysofBrigid, nature, sacred pause, seasons | Leave a comment

Day 22: Lovely Desire (#30DaysofBrigid)

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Molly

“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.”

-Jack Kornfield via Sunday Sabbath: Tiny Desert Flowers

This morning as I stepped outside to gather newly fallen snow to make snow ice cream for my children, the Kornfield quote above kept repeating through my mind. I’ve lived in the woods for almost my entire life. I have seen snow plenty of times, but I cannot ever recall having seen snowflakes like this. In fact, I confess that until a few hours ago I assumed that the only way to take a picture of a real snowflake-shaped-snowflake was with an extreme close up (not an iphone). I’m used to a fine powder snow that is too fine of grain to distinguish separate flakes or a clumpy, wet snow in which no individual flakes are distinguishable either. I am so unfamiliar with the flakes I witnessed today, that when I first saw their starry patterns on my little girl’s hair, I thought, “look, the little grains of snow are clumping together and almost looking like real snowflakes.” When I saw that they were, themselves, real snowflakes, I was exhilarated. I was so excited it was like a genuine miracle to have seen them. Since, I already had my snowboots on, I went down to the woods with my drum and delighted in the snow like I’ve never seen it before. And, in I way, I never have. This is a beauty of taking a sacred pause. We see things that cause our whole lives to change.

Categories: #30daysofBrigid, nature, sacred pause, seasons, woodspriestess | 1 Comment

Day 8: Weather Divination (#30DaysofBrigid)

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Molly

Cats on the furnace.

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again…

(Traditional rhyme)

It snowed overnight. Just a dusting, but snow. So, according to the rhyme, it looks like winter is on its way out. However, it feels almost as if winter hasn’t come yet this year. We’ve had some starts, some early snow, and also a handful of several-day strings of bitter cold, but we’ve also had many that are in the 60’s. It is hard to read the mood of the season and while I enjoy sunshine and warm temperatures, I find that warm winter days bring a certain sense of unease with them—it isn’t really supposed to be warm in January! So, despite the fact that I now wish I was wearing a much warmer sweater this evening, there is something reassuring about seeing snow again this year. I also find that I feel a sense of peace inside now that the calendar has turned to February. I entered January feeling “revved up” and almost panicky. I spent a lot of the month feeling overwhelmed and like I had too much to do. I felt like I’d sped up again somewhat abruptly after my babymoon with my baby and I placed very high expectations on myself in terms of what I would accomplish in January (I actually met or exceeded all my January goals too, so I guess it wasn’t too much to expect!). After the holiday season, January felt like “catch up” month and I didn’t enjoy the feeling of a sort of desperation and franticness that accompanied it. After we set our goals for 2015, I wanted them all done NOW and it was like I couldn’t rest—too much to do and good things to work on. I feel more calm and peaceful going into February, as if I can unclench a little more and enjoy some new projects and partnerships as they unfold, without pushing and rushing them or myself too much. Finishing that last class at OSC was huge for me. I can hardly believe I did it!

A few other notes for today:

I forgot to mention earlier that the Imbolc issue of The Oracle, the online journal of Global Goddess, is available here: imbolc_2015.pdf.

Also, if you’re interested in a free handout on how to draw a Calamoondala, make sure you’re signed up for our Brigid’s Grove newsletter! The handout is included in our February newsletter. 🙂

Four years of Calamoondalas!

I also want to share that I’m excited to have won a scholarship to the Gypsy Priestess’s 13 Moons & 13 Faces of the Goddess course. I won with my Outraged Ancestral Mother poem. 🙂

And, we’ve contributed a Womanrunes set to this Red Tent fundraiser event coming up in the UK. Rachael of MoonTimes is building a Red Tent yurt for the women of her community and I’m pleased to be a tiny part of helping to make that happen.

Categories: #30daysofBrigid, nature, seasons | Tags: #30daysofBrigid | Leave a comment

Imbolc Meditation

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Molly

If you pause in darkness what does your body have to tell you? What do your dreams have to tell you? What does the frozen ground have to tell you? What do the spirits of place have to tell you?

What song can only be sung by you?

What emberheart can only be ignited by your breath?

What path have your feet found?

What messages are carved in stone and etched on leaf for your eyes and in your name?

What promise are you keeping?

Imbolc.
Time for your light to shine
from within the sheltering dark.

—

Note: Modified from a prior post, I shared this on my SageWoman blog earlier in the week and then decided to include it here also.

Categories: blessings, holidays, liturgy, meditations, ritual, sacred pause, seasons, self-care, spirituality, woodspriestess | Leave a comment

Let Go

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Molly

I keep getting a STRONG “let go” message from all kinds of places, but I persist in arguing with reality and my tendency to be controlling. Also, I think the “let gos” can be interpreted in many different ways. My husband says it can be seen as a “let go and soar” type of reminder. I see it sometimes as being told to surrender and also to “give up” (and that makes me wail and gnash my teeth). Sometimes it is a gentle reminder to sink into the moment and breathe, feeling the weight of the baby on my shoulder, sniffing his head, looking out the window at sunlight and shadow. Sometimes it is permission to literally let go of something—possessions, tasks, adding something else to the calendar. Sometimes it is a mental “unclenching” and letting go—ideas, should dos, possibilities for later. I also find a connection between the let go message and our word of the year, which is “Grow.” So, let go in order to grow.

This reminder is also helpful:

“Would a weight lift off my shoulders if I realized that it’s normal to feel pulled between choices, that it’s normal to want to do more than I have time or energy for, and that it’s normal to have to choose between two equally wonderful things, that it’s actually a sign I’m a fascinating, amazing person?”

–Jennifer Louden, The Life Organizer

I always say that I want to live well and wisely my one wild and precious life and to me that means making conscious decisions every day to pull my actions into alignment with my values. It is an ongoing process. I live in a rich and fascinating world full of endless possibility and promise. Letting go can be about wise discernment as well. (I joke that my other word of the year is “ruthless.” Ruthless discernment about how, where, and why to spend my time and energy.)

I went to the woods a few days ago feeling taut and tight and pulled between choices and right in front of me was yet another lesson from the forest, the big tree I so enjoy had let go of one of its large branches. I walked down to look at it more closely and noticed the bark on the trunk is starting to decay and I anticipate that in the next two years or so, I will need to let go of this tree’s companionship in the woodspace, because it is letting go of its life here on the hillside.

I come to the woods to let go and to be cleansed. To sit with myself. To uncover truths. To salve wounds. For clarity, focus, for the feeling of the sweet wind blowing it away, the solid earth absorbing it. The grand sweep of the sky from horizon to horizon like a bowl. To look at the leaves on the ground. To notice the fallen branch of the tree. To feel the coldness of rock under my bones. To make contact with the wild sweeping majesty of it all and the size so vast that my own little feelings and concerns become dust and the well-worn, unhelpful thought processes that wind their way through my brain and twist me up can become unkinked, unknotted, and released to drift away on the breeze, dissolving, unclenching, letting go.

Postscript: I originally started this post ten days ago and have had to repeatedly let go of publishing it! 😉

Categories: nature, seasons, self-care, woodspriestess | Leave a comment

A Solstice Blessing

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Molly

May you have a warm heart,
open hands,
a creative mind.

May you experience inspiration and brilliance,
clarity and focus.
May you laugh richly and deeply.

May you circle and celebrate,
may you change and grow

May that which is waiting to be unlocked
be freed.

And may you soar with the knowing
that you are carried by a great wind across the sky.

Just a quick post to share some pictures from our family solstice celebration last night (mouse over or click for captions). We didn’t do everything I had planned and trying to have a ceremony that includes children can be a chaotic, frustrating, and wild experience (separate blog post about this on another day!), but I enjoy our traditions and I’m pretty sure it is worth it…