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How Do *You* Wander Into Magic?

Come out my front door with me. The chickens are enjoying my over-wintered kitchen garden.

Plain Old Chickens - photo art by Jane Valencia
Plain Old Chickens – photo art by Jane Valencia

I can’t help but turn some of the soil. The Easter Egger hen, Turtle Island, focuses her keen eyes on earthworms revealed … and other goodies.

Gardening With Turtle Island - photo art by Jane Valencia
Gardening With Turtle Island – photo art by Jane Valencia

A wander into the forest led me into communion with an emerging patch of Stinging Nettle. A number of Nettle tops return home with me, to give themselves as a delicious soup to my family.

First Nettles - Photo by Jane Valencia
First Nettles – Photo by Jane Valencia

What magic do you discover just outside your door? And where does that magic lead you? What your eyes and heart discern, what your ears pick up, and the scents your nose inhales — that mix of things you notice is unique to you. If you were to jot down what you notice with all your senses, and what memories and thoughts and emotions spring into your mind and heart, you would have a Map of You, a sketch of the terrain of your soul.

Go outside — or stay inside if you prefer. Look and listen. Feel and discern. The world is far more layered, far more personal than we imagine.

If you wish, please share a little about what you notice right now. If you feel brave or curious to do so, I invite you to make some guesses as to what of your inner ecology is revealed.

Happy journeys!

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How Do You Reckon Time?

In times past, native folk on our island noted the start of a particular season by what was happening in nature. And that, in turn, linked the people to the appropriate activities of that season. With frogs back in song and the Indian plum almost-but-not-quite in flower, I note the emerging Dandelion flowers and Nettles, too few to harvest yet … but soon!

LemonBalm
Lemon Balm returns: soothing to the spirit – Photo by Jane Valencia

Our Gregorian calendar marks time for us in a certain regimented way, but how does your body, your nature respond to our lengthening days, the buds on the trees and shrubs, the changing wheel of the stars? What round of activity is awakening in you too and how might that activity be an expression of the season?

Ask the kids in your life what they notice in nature at this time, and what they feel would be fun to do in this emerging season? What are they looking forward to? We are all tuned into the season — it’s written in our biology. And kids may not need us to tell them that “soon it will be time for …” (making Dandelion fritters, dyeing Easter eggs, etc.).

If you celebrate the season in any way — whether through sacred festivals or by way of excitement (to see birds returning from migration, to harvest and cook with delicious nettles in your soups and lasagne, delighting in the first blossoms in the shrubs or grasses) — kids will likely mention these things.  And they too may have their own way of reckoning time, born from within, attuned to what speaks directly to their souls. Listen to what speaks to their heart and take note of what it is they uniquely celebrate.

Note too what you celebrate, that to which you are looking forward, the activities (despite your to-do lists) around which you find yourself coalescing. The way you reckon time has everything to do with the seasons of your soul and its unique ecology.

What’s “Now Showing” in your life: In the landscape around you? In your soul ecology? What’s alive for the kids in your life? Please share below!

Snow Drop Magic In Forest Halls - by Jane Valencia
Now Shoring In Forest Halls: Snow Drop Magic – Photo by Jane Valencia