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The teacup, round and comforting
holds deep warmth,
Like a Tibetan bowl, singing in waves,
Sounding out incantations of love

I center this day, with tea in hand, held by fingers around the whole
feeling the edges of the cup and the edges around me.

This tea is a physic, a singing receipt for health. I listen ~
I see my hands holding this cup, a cup reminding me of my own inner fire.
I feel the breath of wind blowing across my face gently, moving wisps of hair, as they pass.
I smell the mowed grass.
I hear the crickets and lawnmowers singing their choruses languidly; I hear a pair of geese announcing preparations for migration.
I welcome the warm red fleece scarf that wraps me in a soft embrace.

I notice that my fingers though, hold tightly to these edges, to this cup.
I am Here, I am here, it is Now.

A moment of pause. A moment of resilience in shifting sands. I feel the spareness of Autumn’s approach. My gaze holds steady on the cup I hold still. I sit listening ~

Listening to my breath, my heart, my inner waves until I can again slide into trust and flow. I listen to the inner and the outer calls, seeking balance.

Today's fog has lifted; the skies have cleared, the light lingers here, at the day’s end, as the day turns to night.

Still, for now, I gaze within, into my cup of warmth, and listen to the circulating songs.

These songs remind me to exhale. To release this breath, to allow for and welcome this small death in a cycle of time, to balance both stillness and motion. To Be. Still. Allow. Motion. In the spareness I experiment ~ Breathe in this Equinox light , breathe out the tension, breathe in the unknown, breathe out the fear. Breathe in Life into this balance point of time, of change, breathe out stagnancy. Breathe in possibilities, breathe out history. Breathe in. And out.

I wonder, at times, like before the dark of moon, or before a seasonal shift like this one, what does it mean to Still be here? What does it mean to shift our attention to the rise and fall of our breath? What does it mean if, at times, that is All we can do, in this strange experience called life? Life shiftings and whorled changings can feel unnerving, disorienting.
Yet, Soon, we do become re-oriented to the new incantations, and to the rising and descending circles and singing rhythms.

The wheel shifts and We are here, and now. And breathing soon becomes more fluid. Once more we feel re-oriented to flow. One moment does flow into the next... and we learn to sing with that.

After this stretched moment of pause, after sitting to listen to these musical spheres, I discover I can answer my questions now. I find I say yes to the unknown path before me, yes to change, yes, to going deep deep into this creative, vulnerable changing ecstasy called life.

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Here, where I live, the valleys welcome the Autumn mist, reverentially.
The valley softly envelops the clouds as they linger here, on earth. Creating mosaics of grey and green. Above the valleys, tendrils of misty fingers rise expressing their delight and pleasure. During these misty times, the moisture creeps onto and into every surface, nook and cranny. The vapors spread long sleepy tendrils over the fields, ponds, gardens and rivers, silently arriving, then moving on slowly. They transform and disappear into the ethers on their own timing. During these days, the horizon, remains indistinct and hazy. Elusive and indefinite. Mysterious and possible.

The mist may last through the day, or may slowly disappear, revealing a bright sun; or yet again, the mist may lift on a gentle breeze, a breeze who comes like a guest, laughing all greyness away.

During the day, crickets hum and "brrzzz" in a steady beat, one that moves strangely in, and out of hearing. The flight of the bluejay crosses the sky lazily, drifting over the treetops in a new, yet distinct Autumn pattern. The Raven babies practice their new language skills, entertaining us with their inventiveness. Burnished corn silk towers over my head, glimmering in the lowering sun; goldenrod emerges to feed the bees before hibernation; st john's wort, and beebalm flowers fade.

All this alerts us, that the seasons are changing, that the precious migrants will move on so soon, and that our inner patterns are shifting too.

Cirrus clouds tumble now through the high atmosphere, as I look up. I know and feel the air is twirling up there, in a different rhythm and with different voices. Lifting the perceptions of my days, opening me to shift and change as well. The evening shadows grow longer and longer, lingering, as if to taste just one more moment of daylight, before they too will fade into the quieter days of winter.

At day's end, the early twilight calls me home sooner, from the gardens or river, to tend to the inner fires. Before stepping inside, looking up once more for the day, I see the clouds drift, the trees wave, the lowering sun creating golden shafts of light and soft shadows. I welcome them all, just as the valley welcomes the mist. I feel their graceful presence helping me prepare and change into a new season. Smoothing the edges of this transition in life, as effectively as the mist shifts the perception of my horizon.

Soon I will be stepping up and into my yurt, not with misty moisture on my face, but the sense of the crispy cold. Not with short sleeves, but with layers of warm wool on my body. I feel the yearning and comforting devotion in the hills, and trees, breeze, birds and flowers surrounding me now, helping me, like they, accept the changes with grace and pleasure. I welcome the season of changes.

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Late Summer days buzz with activity; they ride waves burgeoning with abundance and growth. Options emerge with the sunlight and warmth, urging participation in play and productivity, in rest and fun.

These waves of busyness arrive soon after the sun lifts above the tree tops. The rising swell collects me and then sweeps me along onto a trajectory of motion. I dream up plans and possibilities, projects and play. I resemble an insect who darts from here to there, moving so quickly, from one point of interest to the next, that I feel barely visible. It feels rare when I do find myself sitting still, to just be. Or to just listen.

I wonder about this ambition for activity.
My desire to fill the warm and inviting days results in more time engaging, and less time relaxing.

Meanwhile, summer shines on, flourishing and inviting. Twirling invisible tendrils of magic in the air. The sun smiles through it all with beneficence, magnanimously offering radiance, regardless of what we do or don’t do.

And in all the movement, I find myself beginning to crave quieter,
inner balance, to simply

reach stillness.
So, yes, while my gardens would dearly appreciate a weeding, and the paths would love a clearing of debris, or my floor a washing…. I want to find the precious gift of lying on the earth with empty space, to feel the luxurious summer breezes waft by, and watch them tussle the hair of the trees, brushing their limbs back and forth, like waves on the sea. I want to allow my imagination to fill in the spaces of the unknown without agenda; I want to sit and breathe in deeply the sounds of late summer, breathe in scents from exotic realms, and listen attentively to the birds’ announcing the coming Autumn.

This stillness is hard to create, that is, until the arrival of twilight. Then at the hush of night's edge, I find myself dropping whatever trajectory I was on (perhaps filling the hummingbird feeder, picking up firewood, or...) and I allow myself the gift of pause. I give myself the moment to inhale and feel stillness filling in the cracks of now.

I sit and lean back to listen, watch and feel. I feel the coolness of the night seeping in. I hear the last calls of the cardinals’ chirp, and the buzz of crickets. I smell the transition from late summer to autumn. Hurry melts from me just as quickly as it arrived. Night song begins.


Come, Linger with me now,
watch, with me the pink emerge
as sunset glides in.

Watch the changes of twilight slowly cover the sky
and then drip onto us, igniting our skin like a shimmering of light here on Earth.

I wrap you in this magic ~
And here, in this moment, we will drink tea, watch dragonflies, and sing and toast the night.

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Apparently, Slugs have palate preferences. I happen to have the opportunity to observe this detail, since my garden has become a spontaneous summer festival for rain-loving slugs, delighted to celebrate the arrival of monsoon season in Vermont.

First, on the list of foods, is lettuce.
Lettuce does not have, nor really ever has, much chance of growing in my garden. Next on the list of edibles comes Kale, with a close second of Brussels sprouts and Broccoli. Neither collards, nor mustard find their names in the competition. I watch the kale leaves turn into skeletons as the gastropods feast very carefully until every plant has hardly a stem left.

Some days, every blade of green carries several slugs. And the walkways could pass as a busy market place for the mollusks. This summer, walking becomes a twirling dance of a step-dance in avoidance of potential massacre. The vendors and customers alike are sharing the road. I leave my home slowly, looking down with every step to be sure of my footing, and that the path is clear.

Co-existance can feel trying at times.

As can finding inner balance when saturation has been reached. All these slugs emerged with the arrival of hard daily downpours in early June. Since then, the days have flowed with a continuous stream, of water falling from the sky and then rising from the earth. Water, leaf and air have joined in one continuous stream of moisture, downpour, mist and mud; and our motions make sounds like splash, squish, slurp, slip, spray.

In these conditions, I admit to feeling overwhelmed. Even though I love water, the Abundance suddenly feels hard to accept, or balance.

Ponds are lakes, pathways are streams, Streams are rivers, lawns are puddles. Gardens are swamps. The seeps are full, the paths are waterways, the grass boggy.

When I look around at what feels like a temperate rainforest, I feel amazed to believe so much water can exist and be held in one place. Yet, the Earth seems to have done just that. She seems to know how to find balance, to thrive and find outlets, containers and aquifers for this gift and ways to bless us with more gifts.

For example, from all of this rain, the lovely green abounds. The air is cleared of heavy smoke. The water finds containers, whether it is a puddle, or the roots of the majestic trees holding the blessings. The air feels clean, welcoming, warm, as well as wet. I breathe more easily.

Searching for inner balance, I pause, notice and watch ~

Puddle dwellers rejoice. Humidity loving insects and insect eating winged-friends feast. Mud loving mammals with slapping feet dance happily and noisily. The raccoon who visits my front perch, uses the water to wash ki's hands, and food. Slap, slap, slap. Slip, sip slurp are the sounds I hear through the screen door at night.

The rhythms of the animals, of the water, the day and night all find a balance among themselves. As I slow down, to notice, watch, and listen, I discover that I too am finding an inner balance as well as gratitude with the outer rhythms. Slowly, a relaxation and inner stillness emerges. Less discontent and more gratitude.

Observing this, I find, I can breathe more easily now. After pausing and suggesting that balance may be possible, I find it becomes so. I notice that I feel the warm wet air as an embrace.

I had come outside just now. In a rare break from the downpours; I sit on a towel to write more, accepting a bit of dampness in my seat. A memory emerges ~ a memory of a summer years ago, when I was about 3 1/2 feet tall, that was so very wet too. I remember loving having more home-time and fewer swimming lessons. Less pleasantly, I remember the creepers who also found their way in and into my clothing. At least the slugs have not braved entering my home now or.. Yet.

We were saturated then too, from door to door.

One morning, during this summer, the rains brought a Luna moth to take refuge on the door screen. There, presenting kiself was my first glimpse of an angel of summer. I saw a 4-inch wide glowing green angel whose large luminous translucent wings spoke mysteries to me. Awe-filled, I watched the stillness of this angel.

Like today, the weather broke that day, so I had to go off to swimming lessons, before I could watch the moth fly off. I am sure sure though, that she planted her egg successfully, in me, during her brief visit to my world.

While writing my observations, a downpour arrived and chased me, my pen and my cat inside.

I finish the post now, inside, after the skies opened up and drenched the Earth once again; I’m listening to gentle warm rain and rumbling thunder. The slowing down, listening to the rhythm of the rain, and moist earth, has helped me find the inner balance. Has helped me remember gladness for this brief visit to planet earth.

I feel glad that rain is still visiting, glad that the gifts of abundance are not finished.

When the rain is lighter, I will walk with my feet in the warm rain and damp earth, We are indeed saturated here, in Vermont. And it is saturation of blessings falling from heaven. Rain carrying drops of love and wellness
"Slow things down, we move too quick.
This life of ours, it's not too short, nor the road too far,
The road may seem long, but check the view
We change our minds, and points of view,
I'll work it out. Keep hope alive. It's all we got."
From Earth on a good day, by Vernon Spring

The path feels slippery until we slow down.
The storm feels heavy until we remember we can breathe,
keeping hope and glowing wings alive.

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"Gaze at the beauty of the green earth .... welcoming all that is earthly.
"There is music of Heaven in all things.
The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening.
"All creativity" ~ Hildegard de Bingen

Today, my trail leads to the path of weeds.
And, Here they are!! I did not sow them. They appear. As masters of their gifts. I follow their clues to here, to a clearing of my thoughts and activities. And Here, to marvel. I have followed this path today, with weeds as my guide.

I do indeed enjoy the presence of weeds in my garden. I enjoy the discovery, the wonder, the exploring. And I enjoy the embracing of what can sometimes be an uncomfortable challenge, of allowing for the presence of these green visitors, who dwell right here, alongside of me!

Once discovered, I ponder, but never assume, why have you rooted here? What gifts do you bring? What mystery does your presence reveal? How do I create enough space for you?

For example, in the middle of my onion bed, a healthy crop of nettles arrived at the end of the season last year ~
Mmm. My dear friend nettle.
How did you find me so quickly?
Nonetheless, when I started to make room in the garden bed this Spring, they responded emphatically and with sharp stingings of my shins, exclaiming with extra fire, "I Belong Here!"

Ahh... OK.
I donned some gloves, then gently planted onions around the settled nettles. Once done, I watered the bed thoroughly as a gift. Now, Everyone is happy. Onion, Nettle and Catherine alike. That was a successful journey. Sometimes, though, like with the poke weed plant, I still have yet to negotiate the engagement. I am still learning.

I do not go to books and ask, "what does this mean?" Or "what should I do?" I sit and ponder.
I sense that with the visitors, by simply sitting, wandering around them, and watching, that they will teach me how to listen. In the face of mystery and the unknown, perhaps simply allowing for the messages of beauty to unfold helps us find the ways to embrace change. I see this practice, the one of allowing magic to reveal itself to me as a form of entrainment. I do find that the process changes me. The experience provides me a peek into the profound mystery of diversity, into the mystery of the wild.

We all feel uncomfortable in the face of the unknown, the different, the challenge, yet difference is where good medicine arrives. Change allows for creativity and growth. Brushing up against the stranger, inoculates and deepens the life of the observer.  

In that light, one might see the garden before you as a gift waiting to unfold, blossom and bloom; one might ask, what might be on the menu this day? Nettle soup? Lavender love? Mugwort mending?
The Making, Creating, and Alchemizing of wellness then becomes a co-creation with Spirit, plant and human.

I hope that I will learn from this medicine. I hope I do learn to appreciate the gifts of the wild magic before me. Ansel Adams believed that Life thrives in the wild, and that we all need a touch of it in our lives. I do too. All this written here, is what I like to contemplate. The weeds, the discomfort, the diversity, the contradictions, and the wild all within The Weeds.

And that contemplation reminds me of me. Like me, some things flourish better in some environments than others. Like me, weeds possess the living Word of spirit, like me Weeds reflect magic, wonder ~ we flourish and congregate, we sing and dance, laugh and make medicine. We share comfort and receive comfort. We offer medicine for cupboards and dreams for the soul. In the waxing of summer's growth, we and the weeds flourish, ebb and flow.

We all reflect the mysterious and contradictory perseverance of life.

I will continue to wander into my garden to watch how the plants unfold. How they initiate and respond to the environment in their many-layered conversations. I will notice how the dialogue between me and this garden persists. This dialogue reflects the mystery and effervescence of life.

The greening comes as a mysterious emissary of the possible,
Revealing memories beyond any linear understanding of reality.
Offering hints of our collective history and our possible future.
Bringing the scent of the strange, and unknown fruit.
All these gifts meld together in a cauldron of potential.

The wild unknown is a Welcome Weed in the garden
What wild potential will you plant today?

For more writings about local happenings, see Venus Muse~. The Solstice occurs on June 21, 11:30 East coast time. I will post something about Solstice on the Seasonal Happenings page soon too.

Happy New Moon, and Happy Summer and lots of love, ♥️

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I love collecting-days; I greet them with anticipation. I love the days when I can sniff the energy of green combined with welcoming weather. At these moments, I sense something like a call. I feel like a Knight of The Round Table, sensing the call in the wind, and immediately arise to greet the harvest day ahead.

I enjoy the discovering, the greeting, the sorting, the choosing. I enjoy the meeting of new friends on the journey. I enjoy seeing and feeling who the wind and earth will bring. Who, on the journey of life, will I meet today? What adventure might the quest offer today?

Not every day is a seeking day. There are quiet days too.

Like the Knights of The Round Table, a devotee of the quest, I sometimes must learn to listen and wait. Not jump too fast, nor gather too much.

The notion of comparing my excitement to a Knight of The Round Table popped into my mind this morning, when I realized that I felt excitement about finding today's elixir; when I felt charged with a sense of adventure and romance, imbued with a mandate to seek and to drink from the elixir of today. When this charge arrives, it feels like magic, like a romance awaiting in the rows of nettles and violets.

I have always loved the contrast between the words Round and Quest. The first conjures softness, and the latter, well, the opposite. The Round Table might have challenged the knights to temper these polarities, asking them to approach the journey with softness. Circling like a round of music, in spirals and harmonies. Suggesting that the true elixir is found in spiraling, in allowing, in gentleness and softness. One goes into the quest with a question, not an answer. One seeks and approaches beauty slowly, not with a plan, with humility, confidence and self-forgiveness, not expectation of result or direction.

Following the trail left by these sages, and learning to not expect what I might receive, is part of my journey. Perceiving the guiding light pointing me forward without assumption of a prize. Sometimes, I come home from the quest with treasure that isn’t necessarily visible in the basket.

Today, though, is a seeking day.
The leaves awoke me. Luring me up and out early to harvest before the sun's light reached it's zenith.

The plants seem to collaborate on seeking days, helping me to find the medicine who wants to go into the teas I make, helping me find the herbs even if and when I am out doing other errands. During these times, I have learned to stop and acknowledge the medicine right then and there.

Sometimes, these surprise appearances are for collecting; Other times, they are for admiring and honoring. I've noticed the most potent areas of medicine, the ones that draw my eyes to them over and over, year after year, are ones to revere and then tiptoe past. One feels and benefits simply by observing, smiling and nodding to these fonts of life, as one travels onward.

I start this day with leaves waving in my mind's eye, asking me to drink from their elixir of life, and I will end this day mixing the ingredients found into a tea that will fill me like the visions of green.
On these days, I seek a full circle of life. From an image of leaves that will lead me to the unknown at my doorstep and then circle me back to the end of the day with new gifts. At day's end, I will feel I drank deeply from the chalice of this elixir, from the chalice of the tide of life.

Namaste 🙏🏼

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I walk on Spring rainy days, when the colors vibrate clearest

days, like the ones we have today,

presenting in celebration and honor of life

offer more than words can describe.

in light of the gift of the ephermeral, I offer to you, my photos of the last few days here, on planet earth in rainy season,

inviting you to celebrate with me, the fairies, the rain and the trees of the wild hiding in plain view.

I celebrate the return of green, of buds, of moist, of dank, of fecundity, of possibility,

all present in exquisite beauty in Spring

who dances in her own rhythm, and tune ~

<3

(See seasonal Photo page for more images)

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Robins sing under a pink sky

Singing Praises for their days.
Singing of Robin thoughts and feelings. Singing of their Robin lives.
Leaving traces of melodic lace lingering in the air as the day changes.
Singing as poets of possibility, with light language streaming from their beaks with gentleness and peace.
Singing, as the Sun sings, about the solar tides, and vibrations,
singing as the trees sing about the tree creations and considerations.

In all this Here, in all this song, rides a swirling tide of thoughts and feelings from sentient beings about sentient experience, lapping on the shores of now, and through the atmosphere itself.
This swirl offers experiential installations of many-splendoured things.

Encouraging us to feel too.

All of creative force pouring beneath the pink sky.
To crack open and Feel.

What if,

What if Anything we call God or Goddess is actually the song that I hear at this moment? The song singing, now?
The pink, the praise, the trees,
the sun, the tides, the breeze,
the field, and mountain, all together?
The ebbing and flowing of life and song, the rising and the falling to compost? The light, the dark, and the moments in between, the cracking open?
Like now?
What if the creative force of life is that cracking open to life, from life when all of life allows God/goddess to feel and think themselves about themselves?
The many-hued song that plays all together - that that is the divine thinking the divine

A little of everything and everywhere right now, and right here.
a little of all that is, right now, right here.

the divine spark experiencing themselves in you, and showing you, you.

And you are

Right here, right now.
now.

"Share these teaching when you meet someone
whose heart is vibrating
with the flow of love,
let your words and energies be as free
as your breath"

Insight Verse 157-9 from Radiant sutras

Thank you Jonas Emmanuel Fricke for many of these thoughts, impressions, expressions and more. A "poet of possibility" yourself
We shall remember your song

So much love

by Jonas Emanuel Fricke

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I awoke before dawn, and felt a palpable difference in the air.
A difference that had nothing to do with the day of the Month.
I felt Spring. I can not say exactly how it felt, I do not what words to use to describe the sense.
I Can say the day felt Softer. I thought, "maybe this is the arrival of Spring."

For those who live in other parts of this earth, you might not know that snow still covers my gardens, several feet thick in some areas, ice graces the tops of puddles in the morning, and no frogs have emerged to sing through the evening. Even the trees are slow to bud, as seen in the fallen red maple twig in the photo above.

Yet, in this pre-dawn moment, the atmosphere, the scent, the sense all changed. A new sense presented itself through my yurt walls, as though the sentient trees could feel the earth's rising energies, and sang a new song, as though the summer birds fluttered in a new warmth giving the forest and me extra company, as though a wave of new elementals had arrived last night, ready to cozy up for the Spring revelries and musical entertainment, as if their presence warmed the the very air's vibrations.

And the change seemed to occur overnight

Usually, Spring arrives slowly here. I cherish that pace; the pace allows me to notice and savor each shift. Mud season bringing sweetest sap, Goldfinches singing their ways into our hearts. All while winter continues to blow occasional gusts and storms. And Usually, we hold court with winter beyond any imaginings of time ~ this allows me me sink into the gifts that the north winds brings ~ gifts of contemplation, deep healing, deep mysteries, perseverance, humor and patience.

It was only 4 days ago, after all, that a gentle snow fell overnight
covering the land tenderly and lightly.
Arriving like an easy breath
In and out, a gentle reminder of life continuing,
reminding me ~ we are here, still, breathing, even after great change.

And now, Spring. Overnight. The waters run stronger, the birds fly in mystical geometries ~ duets, lines, figure eights, and more. Hawks circle, geese in V's by the 1000s. And the singing has returned: songbirds fluttering and warbling, woodpeckers pecking and announcing their territories.

It is said that a forest is healthy with the presence of birds. The same must be true for me. With their presence and song I feel a weight lifted ~ from the air, the forest and from my heart.

Today, the wide spectrum of Spring arrives, dancing in many hues of lightness and on a wider and wider path. Spring arrives today bringing warmth and music.

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Branches of tea from my home to yours. Roots reaching out and through the ethers, from my heart, to yours, connecting us where ever you are.

I offer another edition of the etheric tea party, hoping you can join me in celebration of our lives, of the our connections and of tea! Today, I offer a humble cup of ambrosia, knowing that with this post, the lines of connection spread like mycelium through the ethers, through the clouds of unknowing, and through the earth, connecting each and every one of us together via a ceremony of tea.

February, the month, I have offered the whimsical party in the past, is nearly over. This year, to create the gifts for this party, I gathered with friends to drink tea and share snacks, for laughter, creation, and art. To celebrate all that we have danced through, both together and apart. These brave travelers helped to make the cards in the photos below; they represent the vessels of our whimsy.

I dedicate this post to you, happy to drink deeply from this cup of life with you, and happy to have the chance to share this voyage of life on this Earth. Grateful that we have danced, laughed, cried and drunk tea together. And, if this post inspires more drawings of vessels of whimsy from you, please do share in the comments.

To life, to solace for all beings in this cosmos, and to togetherness, knowing that we are connected to all beings that we love, no matter how or what is the distance.

To you ~ to your health, to your laughter, your joy, and your heart magic.

Namaste, so much love ~