spring poetry

MAIDENS. I

Others must by a long dark way
Stray to the mystic bards,
Or ask some one who has heard them sing
Or touch the magic chords.
Only the maidens question not
The bridges that lead to Dream;
Their luminous smiles are like strands of pearls
On a silver vase agleam.

The maidens' doors of Life lead out
Where the song of the poet soars,
And out beyond to the great world—
To the world beyond the doors.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

Blessed Ostara

May this Spring fill your heart with the growing love of the goddess and the horned one. May the seeds of your intentions and your gardens be blessed with strength and fertility. May you frolic in the sunshine that is now overtaking the darkness. Let us celebrate and be joyful! Blessed be. Naho. Namaste. OM Shanti!

Seed Moon Eclipse Dance

My place is in the wild wood
next to the pond
united with the elements

the sweet spring wind moves across the waters
and I taste Her breath
the fiery sun beats down upon me
and I feel His love
curious turtles surface to watch me
I see life returning from Her watery womb
I stand strong upon the awakening Earth
and I know my power

I AM

I am one with the elements
I know the place where I belong
all this beautiful Earth is my home

so if you seek me, look you to the sky
for you may find me there,
circling lazily with the sacred vulture
look you to the wood
for you may find me there,
running with His deer
look you to the waters
for you may find me there,
swimming among the fishes
look you to the land,
for there you will find my heart
beating with love for this Earth

I AM

I am alive
I am strong
I am Goddess
I am grateful

Blessed be!

Soundtrack


Copyright April 4, 2015 Tanaria Lightbearer. All rights reserved. Do not copy, excerpt or print. Re-posting with attribution and link to original post welcome.

Spring is almost here!

Spring is bursting out all over here in central North Carolina. Daffodils dot the sides of our country roads, the river is high, the Bradford pears are blooming and the grass is growing lush. My tribe of farm kitties has already been through the mating season and they now are rolling around contentedly in the Spring sun. Ostara is in just two days and I couldn't be more excited for the official launch of this most auspicious season!

The fresh air of spring

And the strong tug of the earth
I walk with the trees

-yours truly, 4/9/12

This is the time to plant the seeds, both literal and figurative, that we wish to nurture this year. We’ve dreamed about them in the sacred dark of Winter. At Imbolc, we cleansed away the unnecessary to create space for the new. We dedicated ourselves to the work of this year to bring these intentions to light. Now it is Ostara, the dawn of Spring. Our attention energizes our dreams, and our intention transforms them to reality. So mote it be!

Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge: Weekly Update 2

My second week of the Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge was just as busy as the first, but a lot more stressful and difficult on an emotional level. Like most people, high stress means less healthy methods of coping. I'm working to improve that fact, but I still have my days. More late nights, too.

How did I do this week?

Fitness - I did not get any hiking in this week. I attended a two hour Master Class in Yoga, which was challenging. I'm starting to think that I may need to schedule additional exercise on my calendar. Yoga is every morning, but the other stuff seems to take a back burner to work 100% of the time. Part of the problem is that my favorite form of exercise is hiking, which takes a long time. Now that it's warming up, I'll start my own martial arts practice again. Winter made that impossible as I didn't have enough space inside. I don't do the gym anymore, so it's a good thing that spring is almost here!

Diet - I got breakfast muffins made about halfway through the week, which was a help. But not the best week with food - there was some pizza and pasta happening.

Air - Still no pranayama, but I did pretty well with communication in general. Got some new books this week, including one on mudras. I used it already, w00t!

Fire - More daily Yoga practice this week. Sleep was still an issue. I added music practice to my daily tracking app, but I only practiced on Thursday. Will do some today!

Water - Tough week emotionally.

Earth - I got massage cupping this week for the first time. I had a strong emotional reaction to it, which is a good thing. It unblocked something or another. I also got my very first doctor's appointment scheduled since I got my new health insurance plan (thanks, Obama!). Again, it was a tough week, so I didn't do as well with self-care as I would like.

Spirit - Much better week for morning devotionals and gratitude journal, but meditation was down. I worked a lot late at night.

I Dream of Gardening

It's almost March, and plans are in motion to make our home garden better than ever.  Last year, we had a lovely garden planted. Our improvement for that season was to add a thick layer of hardwood mulch. It was doing a great job of keeping out weeds, and we were all set to have a bountiful vegetable harvest.

Then the deer came. We live in the country, so this is not an unusual occurrence. But for some reason, perhaps our large tribe of outdoor cats, the deer had left our vegetables alone before last season. This time, they came through like a mower and ate nearly the whole garden right to the ground. I wonder if it had to do with the fact that very few soybeans were planted in the fields near us. It was mostly cotton and tobacco.

So this year, we're going to have the entire garden fenced off and maybe even electrified. Discussion about this made me get a little quiet. I love the deer, and even though I'm a hunter...hmm. My partner chortled about this, of course. Last weekend, my partner drove fenceposts and laid out a raised bed. He's thinking of installing a permanent trellis for climbing plants along one side, too.

I am so excited! While he's working on that, I'm going to clean out the raised bed along the back side of our house. Traditionally, we have planted lettuce, tomatoes and herbs there. I have recently learned that crop rotation is important even in small areas, so I plan to switch up everything except the perennials. I'm even going to move the tomatoes to the main garden. That will give me more space for basil! Last year, I had 4-6 plants. This year, I hope to have 8 plants. I want enough to use fresh, to make large batches of pesto AND to dry.

Pictured above is Sweet Woodruff, aka Gallium Odoratum aka the secret ingredient in May Wine. Last year, I grew some in a large planter. It's a perennial, and I'm hoping that the cold winter hasn't completely killed it. *crossing fingers* Because as my coven mates know, I am that kind of witch. The kind that shows up to Beltane with dew gathered at dawn and homemade May Wine. Oh yeah, baby!

It's almost garden time, garden time, whee!