Mother Earth (Alpamama) exhales in flowers and butterflies
Happy belated Solstice Dear Ones,
I hope this finds you well and basking in warmth and light.
Clairvoyant and polymath Rudolph Steiner perceived the seasons as the breathing process of the earth, and the summer as the earth's out-breath, with winter as the earth's in-breath.
Each season is such a treasure, and so fleeting. Over and over and over, again and again and again. Spring with it's viriditas, summer with it's flowers and fruits and already seeds, autumn with it's quiet clarity, refining wisdom, letting go, falling down, and winter with it's inwardness, fruitful darkness, and opportunity to develop inner light.
Look back at this newsletter from the archives to see a mandala of the infinity of the seasonal cycle and the 'parallel life of people as plants' (*), inspired by Steiner's teachings and lineage.
I missed sending out a newsletter on summer solstice this year, but I know there were so many that went out that day, it's good to be a little later in order to give us all time to read and digest the content constantly coming our way, lovely though it may be.
I hope you enjoyed the longest day of the year and are living into the season of light with joy and gusto. If your inner season is a season of darkness and dying away, it can be hard to be in the light, and I honor you there on your journey.
I love summer and the particular flavor of the garden and the life of plants and their attendants.
The garden is filled with flowers, butterflies, hummingbirds, hawk moths, and many other pollinators and those who seek their beauty for nourishment. I am particularly entranced by the monarchs at this time on the narrow leaf milkweed, Asclepius fascicularis, named after Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing.
Like the monarch butterfly in its chrysalis, pictured above, I too am in a midlife chrysalis (not crisis), releasing my younger form, refining my wisdom, going through a huge transition in brain/body chemistry, still in and of this world, but also moving 'away' from the earth realm and closer to the astral, spiritual, formless realms, having just celebrated my 52nd birthday on May 26th.
We have seasons of our lives that mirror the seasons of the year, spring in our youth, summer in our prime, autumn in our waning years, winter in our dying away.
I love the way Steiner, through his Waldorf curriculum placed seasonal festivals at the heart of the school and community cultural rhythms. Through the seasonal festivals we celebrate and remember our connection with the earth and celebrate those rhythms reflected in our own being.
I am about to undertake one of my favorite seasonal festivals, the summer pilgrimage to the Oregon Country Fair.
If you know you know.
Scroll down for some pictures below of my visits to the fair through the years. This will be my 8th year of attendance since 2003. I went from 2002-2008, then took a long break after my son was born and we moved further south, then went back three years ago with my daughter at her request.
She was 19 when she asked to go back. I jumped at the opportunity for time with her and a return to this summer mele (song, chant, poem in Hawaiian) that was so near and dear to my heart.
The OCF was started in the late 60's as a community fundraiser and Renaissance Fair to keep a local school running.
OCF continued and grew over the years, with a focus on handmade artisan crafts, music, earth skills, and healthy foods along with community building and sustainability. Through a $10,000 donation from the Grateful Dead, OCF bought the marshland on which it becomes a city of 30,000 + people each July for three days.
It is an epic example of creativity and vision; music, poetry, education, revelry, and so much more. OCF is built on a vision of community and sustainability that has deeply inspired me over the years.
If you know anything about me, you might know that I LOVE marshlands. OCF happens each year on 500 acres of land along the Long Tom river on the Mauldin Marsh. The land is flooded in the winter and spring and transformed each summer with as little disturbance as possible into a bustling city of beauty and wonder that is medicine for the soul.
I hope you are celebrating the abundance and creative magic of being alive and in the light.
I look forward to hearing your summer stories through my practice when I see you for private yoga, Ayurvedic bodywork, Craniosacral, or Integrative Holistic Health Counseling, or, in the foothills, at the beaches, or in the gardens!
May all that you seed with love bloom and grow, informed by the wisdom of the darkness and the light in Yanantin, sacred balance.
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all!"
~Helen Keller
~Liz
(*)See Martin Prechtel's beautiful book The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic; The Parallel life of People as Plants
Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed. Strawflower harvest and echinacea in the garden.
Chamomile and calendula harvest, and stinging nettle, preparing to make nettle ferment to feed the plants, learned from my dear garden friend Juliette and her work with Oscar Carmona at SBCC.
The above two images are of a time capsule that I've created with memories from each fair we have attended over the years, all with our dear friends Steph and Dan and famlia. Below are some of the pictures, from most recent, to the first year I went with my daughter in my belly.
We're going together again this year and she's 22 and about to move to Hawaii!
(I always like to include pictures of books I'm reading on trips. I love reading and traveling. I'm getting my stack of books ready for this trip, along with our regalia!)
What are your seasonal rituals throughout the year?
I'd love to hear from you.
