Please care for our Earth and all her creatures.
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Please care for our Earth and all her creatures.
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“The word humility, like the human, comes from humus, or earth.
We are most human when we do no great things. We are not so important; we are simple dust and spirit—at best, loving midwives, participants in a process much larger than we.
If we are quiet and listen and feel how things move, perhaps we will be wise enough to put our hands on what waits to be born, and bless it with kindness and care.”
-Wayne Muller
🌎♥️
Image by Nancy Lankston
“When we see ourselves as participants in a cosmic garden of life that has been developing patiently over billions of years, our regard for the universe shifts from indifference, fear, and cynicism to curiosity, love, and awe.“
~Duane Elgin,
Humanity’s Choice
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Artist Unknown
Love your Mama.
Together, we will transform the world.
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shhh, listen
seeds are stirring
in the belly
of the mother.
the sacred wheel
turns toward spring
life is awakening
in the body of her.
~Nancy Lankston
🌱
Can you hear it?? Magic is afoot, running just beneath the surface. The seeds are stirring!
For months, Mama Earth has held the seeds of spring safe within her soil body. Then, as the wheel of the year slowly turns towards spring in early February, the seeds begin to stir and reawaken. Imbolc* has quietly arrived.
Celtic tales speak of the Cailleach — the divine hag Goddess who rules over winter and death. The Cailleach is the anncient Earth Mother Goddess in her bare winter crone form. She is is also known as the Bone Mother who is said to collect the bones of the animals that die in the winter. Bone Mother sings and prays over the bones of the animals all winter long. She does this out of love, so that the animals will cross over and return as new life in the spring.
On Imbolc, the Cailleach gathers firewood for the rest of the winter. If the Cailleach wishes to make winter last a lot longer, she will make sure that the weather on Imbolc is bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood. But, if Imbolc is a day of foul weather, it means that the Cailleach is asleep and winter is almost over.
Spring is on its way.
Offer up a prayer of gratitude
in honor of
the dance of Earth and Sun.
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*Imbolc is an old Irish word that means “in the belly”. It honors the pregnant ewes carrying new life in their wombs at this time of year. Imbolc is traditionally celebrated at the halfway point between winter solstice and spring equinox.
Image by Nancy Lankston
“It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it.”
~John Burroughs
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Photos by Nancy Lankston
Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy
and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles
for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,
or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air
as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine
and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,
do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.
It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.
~Mary Oliver
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Image: European goldfinches
by Anton Mir-Mar