When the clouds descend to meet the Earth, when the rains that fall, splash back up into humid air, when the rare sandhill cranes land, barely visible, to rest on their way from someplace to some where else, when the hilltops lose their edges in the encompassing clouds, When no photo can capture the ephemeral wild beauty, when the budding trees decorate the hillside like flowers in a garden, celebrating the wild unknown~ That is when the rains arrive.

This type of rain, that arrives before the trees have fully unfurled their leaves, comes with an insistence that all matter must release its hard edges and melt like butter into puddles. It is not personal, it simply Is.

This rain runs deep into my roots like the rain that streams down the tree's bark to feed the roots. In this rain, all hardness melts and the inner, deep rivers of life renew into mossy softness. There, in the heart of hearts, all resistance dissolves.

This rain, coming soft or hard, lands on earth that already seems impossibly drenched today. The Earth receives still more, and brings the pooling rains down deep into the the roots of all. The trees and rain remind me that there is always deeper I can go, as well. I listen to my heart and melt deeper still. Resistance to the pooling is indeed futile. Today, there is no escaping the presence of the melting forces. When I finally relinquished resistance, and my busyness dissolves and I give in to weight of the Presence, I feel Great Relief. Ahh... then, the pressure becomes boneless deliciousness. I welcome the melting

Then, I, like the trees who welcome the presence and drink deeply of the life that is running in rivelets to their root system, and who drink deeply from this Goddess of form and formlessness, I, like them, also can drink deeply, letting the the rains nourish deep into my sinews. Today, I feel nourished where I had become clogged. I breathe in this new life. Like roots that tentatively grow into new areas, I feel my sinews tentatively relaxing, unfurling like moss fronds drinking and expanding into new places.

All life unfurls first within. The transition before the outward growth of a tree occurs every year, deep in the heart wood, the roots, the underground and in the unseen. The deep nourishment, the deep dive in the heart and sinews happens first. Soon enough will be the time for flowering. For now, there is the puddling, the diving, the unwinding and unfurling, the making of new inner connections. These connections may be long lost friends, or new revelations. Connections not seen since last Spring, when the rains came then, and woke up the inner Spring once more, from the long winter sleep. These connections will fuel us for times of outward growth.

No need to rush this,
Soon enough it will end, and busyness regain attention.
For now, I relish this time of deep stillness, breathing, and presence. A time to drink deeply of the waters and puddle in bed with a book, a cat and softness.

Happy puddling dear friends, and happy feeding your soul.

PS: After writing the above, large thunder came, and heavier downpours. It came as if to help us remember our comparative size in the map of the universe. To help us remember to surrender to the Presence much larger than ourselves. A presence that also lives within ourselves.

"We can't afford not to open our hearts... There comes a time when we realize we'd rather be vulnerable and hurt, then dead, in a dead-to-life sense of dead... Then we fall in love again, and the cycle renews, until finally we fall in love with love itself..... We fall In-To Love, In-To ourselves, where there is only Love, and we merge with the Beloved."
*Ram Dass*

Mud season~ A truly amazing moment of alchemy.

Mud appears in a season when the earth melts and runs with the water, as fluid. Mud appears in the sap rising season in Vermont. When the mud begins to rise and heave on the roads, I know the roots are doing the same preparing to send their precious sap up to the treetops for a new year of growth and co-mingling with the sun and air.

Until the moment of mud, there is a ritual that takes place~ a water and earth dancing ritual. The water rises, the frost stills it in statuesque forms. The water rises again and the earth heaves, the water rises again and this time, maybe This time ... the waters will meld with the earth and becomes glorious Squishy, sticky impossibility of mud. Whole cars have been lost in the earth this way. Oh, I have even heard that Mammoths are buried in this mud, but... maybe that is a long tale...

This is slippery soothing healing balm also supports safe passage for amphibians, for root systems to grow into the fallen leaves, for old scars to mend, for the earth to heal from the hardness of winter. I love for the season of mud to last as long as it can, to allow for slow leisurely growth of root systems to settle deep down into the Earth and to allow time for the root systems of trees to explore the wild unknown beyond their parameters.

My own root systems will do the same. I spread slowly and deeply into this Earth first, to feel well supported before spreading out to new terrains. Before seeking the wild unknown before me

Mud also gives the Earth herself the opportunity to spread. She rises to meet the delicate feet of her creatures. The above picture is one imprint of a very large bear that met the waters of the mud one night outside the yurt. This very large bear allowed the earth to spread in between ki's very large toes. (You can just make out the toes next to my fingers.) I like to imagine the bear dances every year on this wet earth celebrating the end of hibernation and beginning of Spring. I heard the bear this night, and the sound, despite the size, was quieter than a hush. Quiet as reverence. Quiet as star light.

In the mud we fine tune the dreams we dreamt in the winter, and it is from the mud they will bloom like lotuses

I embrace the mud, the dreams and wild unknown beyond my parameters, where earth, water and all combine in an ancient ritual of slipping and sliding into the miraculous ineffable Spring.

Wishing you all a wonderful adventure of slipping into your dreams of new life

I live in a cozy small yurt who sits on a platform above the ground. The frost has been so deep this year that the floors are shifting with the cyclic freeze and thaw to create creaking and booms in the night. My cat jumped last night with a particularly loud boom. Now, the shifting and heaving is enough that I discovered that my door can't quite fully close. : ) Happy discovery!

So, I let it stay ajar, to allow what wants to flow in and out, have free reign, letting the gentle ethers, the spring sprites and the wisps come and go as they please. Oh, and the birds too- oh yes, another flew in this morning, and left much more decidedly than the last one.... Must have had better places to go.

I know this new norm is so ephemeral that I delight in it, knowing this precious time will shift again. Soon, the earth will level to a new calibration. For now, I ride the ups and downs with pleasure. Finding balance within and without.

Here are some photos showing what that the shifting of balance looks like in my woods this Equinox day.

And for your pleasure, I also wrote musings on Equinox, a time of finding inner balance to the new outer balance, on my Venus Muse and seasonal pages.

Blessings, Happy Equinox and so much love to all of you.

As the dance between Winter and Spring continues in these lands, tossing back and forth, with Winter cold rising and then turning over once more to Spring warmth, I find that I can not resist the feel of the Sun. I want all that snow covered winter shininess to come inside. The rays beckon to me to welcome them in, to enjoy their warmth.

So, I turn the woodstove fire onto a hot roar and open the door wide, letting in that sun to stream, in and through the door of my home. I welcome its beckoning streams to wends their way in and through the cracks and windows of my heart and home. As I sit in the door way, I feel those rays returning me to the songs and melodies of life, joy and love. Those rays and waves, oh they shine on and on, deeper and deeper until they, at last, they stream into my very soul.

Ahhh, there, I can breathe. There, I arrive. At last.

In harmony, a chickadee accompanies these waves of light today, and flies in, and then out of the door of my home, and heart, all in a space of a breath. I smile in my heart and belly. And feel the warmth of it all.

The Mist rises from the Snow during late February Evenings in the hills of Vermont.

The first time I saw this gift was when I was a passenger in my brother's new vehicle, which happened to a be a refurbished UPS truck. I was standing in the front, the side door open next to me. The mist crawled out of the woods, crossed our path and then traveled on into fields, hills, and parts unknown. The night mist became magical creatures in equally magical landscapes. I felt unreal, looking out into other worlds; it felt as though I was peeking into other dimensions. The path before us varied from completely invisible to suddenly and inexplicably clear. Reality, or what I thought outlined reality, felt very thin that night. With the door open to it all, the coolness chilling our skin, I watched with occasional oohs and gasps. We didn't mind neither the chill nor the slowing down it required.

My brother, always well-versed in the sublime, summed up the moment well, with one word ~ "Yup"
That was all that could be said. We simply watched and marveled that night, when the mists rose and fell, on its own volition, and to its own destination.

Tonight, as I write this post, the Full moon night, the mists unfurl across the valleys once more. The mists come in on their own quiet time.

It also happens to be sap rising season. This type of mist, seems to come when the the sap is rising. And like the sap rising in the tree, the mist rises tonight to greet the moon. Perhaps the moist vapors help the sap to return to the surface of the earth once more to begin their dance of mingling with the mystery that alchemizes Winter into Spring. Perhaps fairies hide in this mist, fairies who dance with the valley, full of trees, dance with the hills dark beyond the mist, and with creatures known and unknown; they may be singing, singing Spring to the surface, like the birds who call in the dawn. Trees hills, moon, mist all dancing together in the early Spring night.

I can not say for sure ~ who knows? I welcome it all. I feel that dance stirring in me as well.

That night, many years ago, the tendrils of mist lingered across the road like a tail of a shroud from an unknown beast who had only recently passed. Or like the vapor of Kuan Yin's Dragon who has just breathed her compassion onto all the world, leaving wonder to wrap around me like a glorious cloak forever.

Tonight, the vapors differ from that other night in that tonight, they gather in the valleys and then rise, reaching their dancing fingers upward, toward the sky, toward the deeply healing Full Moon. The mist fills the valley, moving to music I can feel and not hear, dancing with the moonlight, to make sparkly crystalized rainbows of coral and mauve.

And all this is happening while the moon floats above, like a ship or a swimmer, sometimes mingling with the moisture, sometimes moving upward to the night sky. The temperatures or wind shift and then the sea of mist changes like music shifting to a new vibration.

These are the changing days, these early Spring days, the fifth season days. When the Winter and Spring co-mingle as equal partners. When all co-exist without edges. When transformation occurs overnight, with some veils lifting, others dropping. With ebbs and flows with enchantment and earthiness. The changing magic days.

It is a Deep magic that comes and allows for this mutable changing times.

Let the mist of the valleys and the winds of Spring blow through you and around you. Let them transform your world as the mists melt winter to Spring. Let gentle wonder refashion you to see with new eyes into new worlds, let veils drop and hint of what may be possible, of what may be sung. As these mists change your world, let it also change your hearts and your vision, to allow for the dance of magic to enter your life and your heart as a gift from the Glorious unseen.

Blessings

As a post script. I have been silent here for a few days, brewing many new notions and delighting in these changing days. I suspect, though, that the flood gates of writing have opened and you may be hearing from me a little more often... It is Spring : )

~Love and Namaste to all~

For you~

I would love to invite you to join me today, for a tea party; a gathering where we might drink deeply together from the cup of Amarita, Spirit. When we may savor the cup, breathing it in deeply ~ spreading its flavor throughout the cells of our bodies, Pause, breath again and then go for a walk, musing on our own souls.

This is my wish for you, that we may share this cup of life, health and wishes in the dreams, the ethers, the heart. We may not drink together in physical proximity yet; No matter, Still, I wish to drink deeply from this cup of life with you, today. And then I shall offer it to the heavens in gratitude for you and all else that we also call Divine. Giving gratitude for life, taste, and togetherness, knowing that we are connected in so many ways.

When I Breathe out, I breathe out wishes for the health of all you, the Earth and all her participants.

So ~ To you I drink today, and share with you the cup-full of ananda.

Here are some photos of the snow from these woods. The light meeting the crystalline beauty bounces off to mingle with my eyes. Where does the light begin and end? Where does my perception begin and end?

If these snow pictures offers messages, they are ones for which I have no words~ only admiration. Perhaps better not to limit or define a gift so ephemeral and transient, so transparent yet visible, light, yet weighted, colorless, yet all colors, formidable, yet fragile.

I offer them to you for your pleasure

More photos can be found in the seasonal photo section.
And more musings on the Venus page ~

inlightofthetrees.com/venus-muse/

Winter settles in for now. The Winds blew long and strong in the forest last night. ~ Gleefully, Raucously, Bountifully Bouncing along, Rolling over the forest stories. The wind seemed relieved to have a full and unfettered expression

Ahh. Full Expression ~ Now, THAT would be something to experience; and with an undivided audience, no less!

This morning, I wondered how the trees managed these winds, when the freezing temperatures must them less supple. Certainly, I notice moments of brittleness these days in my movement and days.

The trees.
They, they remain rooted, present, and unattached to the stories or drama. They remain Still. It is a January stillness.

Only a week ago, when the January thaw beguiled me into listening for Spring sounds~ I listened closely to the earth to see if she too felt it. To see if there would be that deep inner rumbles of life awakening. Not yet. And the trees, they knew. They knew not to jump start their cycle.
They may dream and imagine their coming growing days, but they do not anticipate or jump ahead. They stay in the deep pause of winter stillness. I imagine they like these dreaming days. When the snows insulate their sugary sweetness below the soil.

I have seen once, one early, early Spring day, when the winds and sun teased their limbs, the Spirits of the trees rose up into the air to dance, play, mingle and roam. They rose and played and danced in the Spring wind, free to visit neighbors, elders and other lands. Maybe they even visited you whereever your land roots you. Maybe they visit you now, in your winter dreams! Together you could share exchanges and tea and the like. I do love to imagine that! Oh what a joy to witness the reunion and sharing.

Perhaps they even travel to the warmth of the Southern Hemisphere to gather news of those lands, and the nature of treeness.
Ahh, that vision that reverie brings, making my smile and cry. What beauty.

Still, back to the intended thread of this blog post (All diversions welcome..) ~ The stillness is visible here, outside my window, where the cold subzero temperatures hover.

So, I ask, dear trees, What do you teach me now? I seek wisdom to assist me to live in these days with presence.
I share their response, should it offer you the grounding it provides me~

This is what I heard~

Know your roots ~ stay rooted in the glowing of your heart, in love, where all things are possible. Where illusion evaporates and only Spirit remains.
Listen. Listen with one ear to the Earth, and one to the heavens, to hear the Moment of movement, and rebirth. Then you will know how to emerge and laugh in the Light. Until then, know your heart. Know your wholeness. Know your light. Shine that light.

I shall try for that rootedness.

A snow storm arrives today with news. The storm covered the trees with sticky white balls of snow~ice. This kind of snow weighs the trees earthward. Some even bend over nearly double. Some, less flexible ones, shed their outer twigs or limbs to manage the extra weight.

As beautiful as this snow is, I feel concerned that it is too much excess weight for the trees. I notice my concern and realize that my perceptual awareness asks for my response-ability. In other words, the reality I perceive is connected to me and colored by me. So in Response, I ask what is my excess, what is unneeded baggage. Here is the conversation that occurred between me, the Spirits of the trees, the wind and the snow that morning~

"Oh, Trees trees, beautiful trees, what may we, rather, what must we release together? What can I shed too? Or what needs shedding from me? That it may free you from burdensome weight as well? What is burdening us? What is this baggage that weighs us, keeping us from freedom, from peace, from the Love that resides in us All? What indeed must be released so that the heartwood within me and heartwood within you remains clear, connected, strong, supple, responsive? Not broken or crushed under some excess weight?

In response, the precipitation falling turned suddenly and magically to rain; and quickly, the rain began to melt the ice. And even more miraculous of all, the rain brought with her a playful, gentle wind, moving the heavy sodden branches, carefully at first, then more dramatically. What had been heavy became uplifted.

Maybe the trees called this ally in, who knows? The arrival sure felt instantaneous and spontaneous, arriving from unknown parts and traveling along unseen trails. One moment the trees were still, the air heavy, the next moment, limbs were dancing and swaying with graceful waves of wind.

The curling and swirling of the trees reminded me of the dance between the palm trees and the ocean breeze, like the dance between the infinite and the divine. It was a Wonder to see. To see how the limbs great and small could swirl and dip, twirl and bend to the rhythms of this wind. They knew each other well, and danced as happily as longtime partners. And, as you may have guessed, once dancing, the beautiful, wet snow dropped easily and harmlessly to the Earth.

The ones who could shake and shimmy (size not withstanding,) lost the excess baggage quickly. The birches who had bent nearly double, who are able to be more flexible, took a little longer to unweight themselves, and then reach for the heavens once more.

I cried at the beauty. Like the shedding of stars of light, leaving the cradling arms of the trees beings, the snow remained so full of light and beauty, Light moving into life together. One blessing the other. The "burden" remained a gift.

Here is the song I heard in that glorious dance~

Dear ones, Trust, trust, trust these winds of change.
Welcome them, embrace them, dance with them ~ to renew your life. Let it ignite your flames as the breath ignites the embers, as the Sun calls to the seed to grow, as the waters reach to the thirsty.

Don't be afraid, release your memories, and stories of who you thought you were. Be you now, change, and then change again. Nothing is wrong; find the magnificent potential in your new you. The universe is holding her hand out to you. Will you let go of fear, and all that restricts to reach your hand out in return? Will you Receive her, and welcome her? Reach for this gift, it is true.

Blow, blow, blow winds,
We will Shake and shed, Bend and Turn
Release and Dance to the new.

Let Freedom reign,
Let Freedom sing
Let freedom Shine.