"Everywhere is the green of new growth,
The amazing sight of the renewal of the earth.
We watch the grass once again emerging from the ground.
We notice the bright green atop the dark green on the pine, the
fir, the hemlock, the spruce, the cedar.
The alder is already in leaf
The old plum trees still blossom, leaf and give forth fruit.
The locust tree is late as always.
Everywhere and always the song of birds . . . bees raiding the
orchard, raccoon prowling at nightfall, the earthworm
tunneling in the garden, chickens and rabbits pecking and
nibbling, the goats tugging to reach new delights . . .
all are the ubiquitous energies of life.
...
May we today be touched by grace, fascinated and moved by this
[Divine] creation energized by the power of new growth at work
in [our] world.
May we move beyond viewing this life only through a frame, but
touch it and be touched by it,
...
May our bodies, our minds, our spirits, learn a new rhythm paced
by the rhythmic pulse of the whole . . . .
May we forge a new friendship with the natural world and
discover a new affinity for beauty, with life, and
with the [Divine]."
Chinook Psalter
 |
| The heart shaped leaves of the native California morning glory, not to be confused with the invasive European bind weed. |
The first of May is known as Beltane which for thousands of years has been the day on which fertility and beauty of the flowering Earth have been celebrated. It is a cross quarter day marking the half way point between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice.
When I was a child in Corwith, Iowa, we knocked on neighbors' doors and left May baskets filled with Spring flowers hanging on the door handle. We then ran away laughing.
Below are my "May Day baskets" to you . . . .
Below are my "May Day baskets" to you . . . .
 | ||
| Here in Santa Fe, New Mexico there is an abundance of lilac bushes in gloriously full bloom.
As the qi of the time of Beltane supports a-wakening, may we each embrace the process and
 |
