Halloween Secrets + Books, Dragons, and Harp Upcoming Event

It was a dark and drenched night!

Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie hosts its annual Halloween celebration with a long line of candlelit jack o'lanterns, free harvest soup and salad, music, and amazing community.
Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie hosts its annual Halloween celebration with a long line of candlelit jack o’lanterns, free harvest soup and salad, music, and amazing community.

Rain has returned to our corner of the Pacific Northwest, as well as mischievous flurries of wind. Leaves spin from the trees, and my chickens look like soggy dust mops.

Still, the island was lively with kids of all ages delighting in the annual “uptown” (to use correct island lingo) Trick or Treating — some, like myself, in modified costume to more appropriately weather the Spirit World above emptying their bathtubs.

With which magical creature “skin” did you, your loved ones, and neighbors cloak upon yourselves? Whether fanciful or fearsome, the costume we choose reveals something about a “power” or gift we yearn to express or grow in ourselves, a fear with which we may be dancing, or some other very special flame of your soul.

I encourage you to step into your Magical Naturalist self, and explore the clues before you, visible in that Halloween costume choice. What “animal force” (true nature) power is revealed? Or … is the Trickster present here — and that costume is a bit like Coyote, Raven, or Fox — dancing a bit of mayhem, a joke, or mystery into the moment?

Read on for some Magical Naturalist tips for discovering the truly wondrous in this Threshold time of the year.

Upcoming Event

Books and Dragons for the Holidays! Harp too!

My daughter Amri and I will have a table at the Holly Daze Bazaar.
When: Saturday, November 21, 2015 – 10am to 4PM.
Where: McMurray Middle School cafeteria,
9329 Cemetery Rd SW, Vashon Island, WA
There, you’ll find:

  • a fair of Amri’s Dragons eager to fly home with you to perch on your shoulder or serve as the perfect gift for a dragon lover
  • a stack of contemporary fantasy novels ready to carry you or a loved one into the magic that is all around us.
  • I will offer live harp music and free micro harp lessons. We’ll also have news about my newest harp learning opportunities, which could provide a beautiful start for your New Year.

If you live on or near Vashon, do drop by!

Catching Songs from the Land: It’s easier to start than you think!

In my last blog post, I shared a video in which I “caught” a melody from the land. You can view/listen to that “song of the land” here.

This video gives you some the beginning steps to catching nature songs of your own. The steps here are easy and fun — do them with a kid in your life!

 

This video is first in a series on Song Catching. Let me know how it goes for you to try these ideas out — and what you chose to imitate!

A Song of the Land

When I’m out with a tree or in a field or elsewhere in nature, I sometimes find that a melody comes to me. The song contains qualities that I’m experiencing about the place, plant, etc. Sometimes I refer to these songs as medicine songs, because they hold the medicine of the land or being for me. Sometimes I call them deer songs, because they arise when I am in a state of deep listening.

Or I call them just ‘songs’, because that’s what they are!

Here’s one that came to me when I was out in a field one day. What music or magic arises in you when you’re feeling deeply peaceful in and with the natural world? Remember, ‘music’ comes in forms (as does magic!), not just as a song you can hear. Please share in the comments below!