springtime

A Promise – Day 852

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Bluebird – Photo: L. Weikel

A Promise

Today’s walk-about was, in a word, exquisite. Not only was the weather that perfect combination of warm sunshine and refreshingly brisk breezes, it was also a promise. Even if the wild winds that are whooshing outside right now usher in another spate of cold weather, we know the end of winter is close enough to taste.

Sitting with Karl out on our porch once again, shuffling and choosing our Medicine Cards* on the day, and enjoying a mug of coffee together is pretty close to my idea of heaven. But when we came upon this spectacular bluebird on our walk this afternoon, and it allowed me to get close enough for this amazing photo, we knew it was heralding a shift in the energies of the day, but also the season.

Looking at that photograph I feel a sense of awe. I also recognize a sense of un-self-conscious audacity in the attitude of this little bluebird.

A Snack

Recently we’ve barely had to fill the feeders. Of course, that’s due to the vigilant presence of our new Red-shouldered friends, who continue to whoop it up at all times of the day, sky-dancing and crying their sweet nothings to each other in raucous love-calls. The feeder birds must be getting hungry – it’s obvious their meals have been disrupted by raptor threats.

There’s no doubt tomorrow will be much cooler. I can hear the wind ushering in a cold front. At least there’s no rain in the forecast for the moment. If these March winds keep it up, though, I’m definitely going to have to go hunting for our porch pillows. They’ve probably ended up across a couple fields by now.

I’m sorry; I’m being lulled into the dreamtime by the whipping of the wind this evening. That, and the luscious feeling of having taken the long way today.

I hope more walks are on the horizon for this weekend. And maybe even some more bluebird encounters.

Don’t forget to plant some dream seeds! Spring is almost here. And a new cycle is starting.

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(T-259)

New Moon Reflections – Day 851

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Dragon in Repose (Patient Dragon?) – Photo: L. Weikel

New Moon Reflections

We’ll be experiencing a new moon this coming Saturday morning at 5:21 a.m. ET. This new moon will, of course, be in Pisces because when a moon is ‘new,’ it occupies the same sign and degree as the sun, just as when the moon is ‘full,’ the sun and moon are in signs opposite each other on the wheel of the zodiac. As the cycle of the last new moon (which occurred in Aquarius) comes full circle and reaches completion, it’s time to engage in new moon reflections.

The new moon in Pisces is almost always a particularly fecund one, since it’s in the sign of Pisces and has all that dreamy, creative, just-shy-of-spring energy associated with it. With the new moon occurring early Saturday morning, it’s an especially good time to seriously contemplate what aspects of your life yearn to burst through the ground like a seedling singularly focused upon reaching for the sun. What new growth yearns to be given life through you and your skills or passions?

I’m mentioning this now in order to give us all a day or so to consider the goals we wish to set or the projects we want to initiate. (Or maybe, quite literally, the seeds we wish to plant in the Earth!)

Reflection and Assessment

This is when I remind myself (and all of us) to check in on the ideas, goals, or projects we began at the last new moon. The last new moon was on February 11th at 2:06 p.m. – and it was in Aquarius. If we launched a new product or idea on or around February 11th, has it blossomed by now? Have you taken the steps required to manifest the vision you had? If it hasn’t reached its fullest expression, was it a project that will more likely take six months to realize tangible progress on?

It’s important for all of us to remember that some things take longer cycles to come to fruition than others. It can be helpful to check to see whether your longer-term projects are progressing.  You might, therefore, want to check back in your journal to see what dreams or intentions you held and you set in motion six months ago. Are they close to reaching their fullness?

Cycles and Patterns

Nature is incredibly precise in so many ways – and yet almost reliably subject to chaos. There’s a paradox, huh? When we take the time to look deeply at life, it’s hard to miss the many extremely predictable ebbs and flows. Some of the longer cycles are harder to notice than others, though. Mostly because they’re so long, we forget what it was like when they weren’t precisely as they are now.

Speaking of cycles and patterns, tonight on our walk I saw a Dragon on the horizon.

I just did a search of my posts to find out when the last time was that I saw and posted a photo of a Dragon in the sky. Lo and behold, as I sit here and write about monthly cycles and six month cycles, didn’t I see a spate of Dragons six months ago? Yes, indeed I did; when the sun was in Virgo (the opposite of Pisces).

Cycles and patterns. Everywhere we look, there are cycles and patterns.

Dragon from afar (looks like it’s casting a shadow!) Photo: L. Weikel

(T-260)

A Taste – Day 843

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Snowmelt Cataract – Photo: L. Weikel

A Taste

If you’re a person who pays even the slightest attention to weather predictions, you couldn’t escape the exhortations to get outside and enjoy today’s balmy temperatures. Spartacus was especially eager to supervise the filling of the birdfeeders if it meant he could sit on the porch and bask in the sun. Aaah, a taste of the season when we shift our ‘office’ outside.

Spart was ready to make the move today. And I can’t say I was far behind. The opportunity to lift my face to the sun and actually feel warmth was delicious.

I made a point of getting outside today because the temperatures are supposed to drop again for the next several days. Not that it’ll be ultra frigid or anything. But it’ll go back to 30s and 40s.

The yearning for spring is growing in all of us, I suspect. It’s as if we’re all a bunch of maple trees with our sap rising or daffodil bulbs defiantly poking our heads out of the still snow-covered ground.

Photo: L. Weikel

Walkabout

In celebration of this first whiff of spring, Karl and I did our first ‘walkabout’ in what feels like many – too many – months. A walkabout is what I call our four mile trek, leading us past wolfhounds and through horse farms, to name a few of the highlights.

It almost felt like a homecoming, it’s been so long since we took that route.

Snowmelt Waterfalls

The gradual way spring has been poking her toe in on us has made the melting of this winter’s copious snows less of a flooding nightmare than in other years. Nevertheless, the roadside streams and field runoffs were flowing copiously this afternoon – and the cacophony of their voices almost as much a harbinger of spring as my beloved peepers.

Next week the temperatures are supposed to reach into the low 60s. I’m ready.

Photo: L. Weikel

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