Taking Stock

Heart ornament
hanging from Pinon bough on our front door
welcoming all who enters into our home.

2018 Winter Solstice is just around the corner. There is still time for each and every human to take stock. For those of us practicing an Earth based spirituality, this longest night of the year is the beginning of a new year. This time offers an opportunity to take stock both within and without: what to let go of and what to commit to as we meet the coming light.

BEing one who is often referred to as "the canary in the coal mine" with my hypersensitivity, over the very recent past I am aware of Mother Earth's struggle to maintain her equilibrium so that all BEings inhabiting her can not only survive but thrive. My heart hurts which to me is my mere physical reflection of Mother Earth's pain. 

"Winter Solstice, Yule: 

we have entered into the darkness, 

but just as it grows to its greatest extent, 

the light is reborn. 

This is a time to celebrate 

all that warms us and gives us hope. 

The spiritual work of Solstice is first to cleanse and let go, 

to accept the setbacks, mourn the losses, 

and give thanks for the blessing of the passing year. 

And then to labor as midwives to bring forth

 what we want and need in the year to come, 

personally and collectively."

from Starhawk's "Winter Solstice: A Seed of Light in the Darkness"

Shasta has made enormous strides with her adjustment
to living in an urban environment.
She is a stellar exemplar of a BEing's capabilities
for letting go of the learned and familiar ways.

This time of darkness allows each of us to delve into our beliefs, attitudes, practices both inward and outward, to meditatively question the effects of these and to shift our BEingness towards a more loving, caring, unselfish and passionate stance both inward and outward. 

We humans are at a crossroads: "Twelve years. That’s all we’ve got to fix runaway global warming. If we don’t? Hundreds of millions of people are destined to become victims of severe droughts and flooding, extreme poverty and hunger. Climate scientists couldn’t be more clear, or more in agreement, on just how dire this crisis is." From Regeneration International who promotes globally "regenerative food, farming and land-use as a solution to not one, but many unfolding global crises . . . We can’t solve the climate crisis just by cutting back on fossil fuel emissions. We have to rebuild the global agriculture system so we can build healthy soils capable of drawing down and sequestering tons of carbon."

Will we humans, individually and collectively, not only take stock but step up to the returning light with a commitment to alter how we live our daily lives and put to rest our human centric way we walk upon Mother Earth? My  dear friend, Rob, in Northern California writes in his annual holiday poem: "This chaotic world can be healed." 

Rose quartz heart laying on the heart quilt
created years ago by my mother.
Rose quartz is known for its heart opening qualities.

This healing cannot occur without a major overhaul of what it means to BE human at 2018 Winter Solstice. Rob believes opening one's heart is essential for healing ourselves and our home planet.

As each of us is taking stock, may we

.

Yule Tree

View of the Sangre de Cristo
("Blood of Christ") mountains
from the East side.
In the shallow valley at the foot of the mountains
where Santa Fe is located and we live, we view this
southernmost subrange of the Rockies from the West.
This range contains "New Mexico's loftiest peaks."

After Thanksgiving and before the rain and snow that was predicted and came, we drove East past Pecos and into the National Forest to cut our Yule tree.

The dirt road was bumpy but our trusted Stella, our Prius, trudged along as we carefully negotiated the ruts. It was windy! Shasta jumped out of Stella but her foray was short-lived and she returned to nestle into the safety of her bed.

We tied our chosen Pinon pine to Stella's roof.

And began our slow drive home.

Before we cut our Pinon pine we considered where we might place it in our Casa Alegre home which is a considerable downsize from our West Sonoma County, California home. So upon returning home, Dwight secured on our front portal our chosen, lovely Pinon pine in the tree stand filled with plenty of water. Many lower branches were cut off and hydrated in a large bucket of water. 

Several days later we decorated our Yule tree with big snowflakes falling.

Our Yule decorations are modest compared to others in the neighborhood, but they suit us and our sense of simplicity.

Front door sway created
from some of the lower branches cut from our Yule tree.

In this midst of all the holiday hoopla, may we each rest, enjoy one another and

Astonishing

For our 31st Anniversary and Thanksgiving celebration we visited Taos, New Mexico. Driving to Taos we took the "High Road" and returning the "Low Road" which is along the Rio Grande. Our intended week long stay was cut short since the heat failed in the casita we rented and it was way too cold to remain in Taos. 

We did spend an incredible day at the Taos Pueblo which is an absolutely astonishing experience.

New Mexico is the only state that has three World Heritage Sites:

     Chaco Culture National Historical Park

     Carlsbad Caverns National Park

     and

     Taos Pueblo

The state is petitioning for a fourth site at White Sands National Monument.

The Taos Pueblo gives one an insight into what life was like before "the white man" took over what is now the State of New Mexico. 

The Red Willow Creek is fed by a glacier lake located 25 miles into the Taos Pueblo wilderness. This waterway provides water to the 100 or so inhabitants of the Pueblo. These live on either of the creek in the South House, or Hlaukkwima pictured above, or in the North House (Hlaauma).

A multistoried adobe building on the North side of Red Willow Creek below.

"The adobe is a brick made of an earth, straw and water mixture formed and sun-dried. Each adobe layer is stacked with a mortar (adobe mixture) and sun-dried. Upon completion a coating of the same material is applied. The coating is continuously maintained to sustain the impacts of weather and deterioration." Below is a close up of the adobe:

The adobe structures are heated with incredibly efficient and very small fireplaces. 

Baking is done in out of doors adobe structures called hornos, introduced by the Spanish and perfected by Pueblo people to suit their needs. 

Some tribal members offer for sale food including fruit pies and preserves. The fruit is gathered from the orchards that are well established and productive. There is art for sale often with the artist available to discuss her or his work. 

As one enters one can experience the feel of the inside of these adobe structures.

Signs warn tourists of the private residences unavailable for entry as show in the above photograph.

The Taos Pueblo peoples who live on either side of the waterway have their own kiva for sacred ceremonies. The one pictured below is of the North House.

"Res" dogs abound. These four leggeds amble every where, in what it seems like to this One, a state of serenity.

Or we visitors notice them lying in the sun connected to their Mother Earth.

Guided tours are offered from 9:00 a.m. running every 20 minutes and lasting 30 minutes. Our guide was incredibly animated and passionate about his culture. He provided history and a window into how his present day Pueblo deals with the United States government: Taos Pueblo, like all Native Americans inhabiting "reservations", is a sovereign nation.  Our guide is pictured below:

The majority of the tribal members do not live in the old adobe structures but in newer homes with electricity and running water, some on tribal land and others off. The visitors' bathrooms are warm with flush toilets and very clean.

At the miserable last night we spent in the unheated rented casita, we had an emotional discharging