Blue Moon 2012

Sunset on Lake Whatcom

We walk to shoreline, looking down the lake toward Bellingham as the sun glows a soft apricot on water.  Turning toward the spit, we walk hand in hand as the air chills.  We pause toward the end, not wanting to intrude on a couple fishing.  I stare into the deep clear water, our drinking water, too cold for a swim.

As we walk back, Michael points out a bench facing Stewart Mountain.  It is a new bench inscribed in memory of a couple.  We sit close.  I gather his warmth through my heavy jacket, hold his hand as he puts it in the pocket of the yellow fleece jacket I gave him years ago.  Still I'm cold waiting for moonrise.  I stretch my legs across his.  He is always warmer than I am.

Blue heron waits for blue moon

We watch the stillness of a blue heron practicing gigong as she waits for the blue moon.  She dives only once, flies flat just above the water line and returns for her vigil.  We wait.  I miscalculated the time of moonrise, forgetting to allow for the sight restrictions of the mountain across the lake, our favorite sky viewing spot.

We talk.  We listen.  We remember other full moons.  Seagulls squawk their impatience.  We are both cold now, cuddled up on that bench waiting.  Perhaps we are both just about to say "let's go home and have dinner."

"Look!"  I point and catch my breath with the intensity of the spotlight floating on the mountain ridge.  She rises quickly like a million wings lifting her.  A small glimmer of white water her first reflection.  Ducks circle in the growing water light.  Bats careen between us and the moon.  The silver light opens, a swath across the lake, touching us.  No one between us and the moon but her watery reflection and lake animals.

We bathe in blue moonlight for time without timing.  He is mesmerized by her sudden appearance and marvels as we walk back to the car.  No, he doesn't make gender references.  I do for surely the divine feminine is alive and well and linking me to the Universe tonight.

Photo credit:  C.J. Prince

When do The Lovers call you?

The Lovers from DruidCraft Tarot & Gaian Tarot decks

As I change the sheets, I gather up the stones under my pillow:  rose quartz, Tibetan tektite, amethyst, golden quartz, garnet, magnesite, aventurine, selenite, calcite.  And the DruidCraft Lovers card.

The tarot study group will examine The Lovers next month so everyone is invited to sleep with the card, observe dreams, and feelings upon awaking.  I've slept really well so far!  Except for the madness of the skies and the Perseid meteor showers flashing overhead.

Today The Lovers asked me what I was separated from.  (I'd stopped changing the sheets and went to the Gaian deck for another image.)  What is not integrated in my life that needs to be.  What do I want and how do I  choose to obtain it with harmony?  Is my masculine and feminine out of balance?  What are my choices today?  Keep it simple.

Even the astrological blurb in the Bellingham Herald this morning advised not taking on too much.  Making the bed may the height of today's accomplishments at this rate.

Do you look at one card at a time?  Really look at it?  Find out how it relates to your life now?  The invitation is always open.

Bright blessings as the Universe unfolds.

 You sit at your kitchen table with a circle of women.  Each one has a deck--or two--or more.  And you cannot help yourself.  You covet.  You share your decks as they share and oh, you do want that one, oh, and look, there at that Fool.  You simply must ...

That's how the Llewellyn Tarot deck got on my Must-Have List.  And now I do.  I go through the deck, peering at each card with recognition and surprise and delight.  A new deck brings new insights.  You cannot stay complacently thinking you know what each card will say.  They call out to you in new ways, give you hints you had not considered.

How do you get to know a new deck?  I usually sleep with it.  Haul it around with me at the bottom of my bag, pull it out and show it to friends.  I talk to it.  It talks to me.  We become friends.

I tried to order from Llewellyn, the publishers of this deck but the site would not allow me to order.  And I was in that must-have mode and impatient to go downtown to one of several metaphysical stores.  I ordered from Amazon and it arrived quickly.  Good luck with your next choice and getting to know a new friend.

Of course, there are women at the table who work exclusively with one deck.  They really know that old friend.  I wonder and wait to see what new friendship might lure them.  The possibilities are endless.

Sweet dreams, Deck Lovers.

Rachael Pollack

Check out Rachel's commentary:
http://globalspiritualstudies.com/shop/presentations/tarot/rachel-pollack-prophesy-oracles-fate-and-tarot/

Dannah Davidson doesn't believe in the tarot.  But her best friend Nirvana reads the cards and tells her what she sees.  Dannah overcomes the  terror of domestic abuse with the help of her friends in "Catching My Breath", available at Amazon.com

C.J.'s novel is published!!!

I am delighted to share the news of the day, the week, the month, okay, the year:
My novel is published and available at amazon.com

Dannah Davidson doesn't believe in the tarot cards or the angels she paints.  But her friends do.  Without them, she wouldn't be able to climb out of the abyss of domestic abuse.  To learn more,  order a copy today.  ;-)

Three women, three stories, one town...all in one book.  Joanne McLain and William Thomas write of two other women who learn to find happiness when it seemed beyond reach.  Three novels under the title:  "Catching My Breath."

 

The spring equinox is one of the four great solar festivals of the year. Day and night are equal, poised and balanced, but about to tip over on the side of light. The spring equinox is sacred to dawn, youth, the morning star and the east. The Saxon goddess, Eostre (from whose name we get the direction East and the holiday Easter) is a dawn goddess, like Aurora and Eos. Just as the dawn is the time of new light, so the vernal equinox is the time of new life. The New Year In many traditions, this is the start of the new year. The Roman year began on the ides of March (15th). The astrological year begins on the equinox when the moon moves into the first sign of the Zodiac, Aries, the Ram. The Greek God Ares is equivalent to the Roman Mars for whom the month of March is named. Between the 12th century and 1752, March 25th was the day the year changed in England and Ireland. March 25, 1212 was the day after March 24, 1211. I like to celebrate the festival of Nawruz, Persian New Year, which falls on the spring equinox. We fix a special dinner of seven food dishes that begin with ‘S.’ Since we don't know the Arabic names for food, we use English words and eat salad, salami, soup, squash, etc. The table is decorated with a mirror, a bowl of water with one freshly-picked green leaf floating in it, a candleabra containing a candle for every child in the house, a copy of the Koran (or other sacred text), rose water, sweets, fruit, a fish, yogurt and colored eggs. The Coming of the Spring Although we saw the first promise of spring at Candlemas in the swelling buds, there were still nights of frost and darkness ahead. Now spring is manifest. Demeter is reunited with her daughter, Kore (the essence of spring), who has been in the Underworld for six months and the earth once again teems with life. The month of March contains holidays dedicated to all the great mother goddesses: Astarte, Isis, Aprhrodite, Cybele and the Virgin Mary. The goddess shows herself in the blossoms, the leaves on the trees, the sprouting of the crops, the mating of birds, the birth of young animals. In the agricultural cycle, it is time for planting. We are assured that life will continue.