seasons

Spring Renewal

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According to the calendar, the stars and the angle of the sun, the waking and greening life all over the northern hemisphere, spring is here. The Earth wakes finally from her long winter’s nap.

Nature supports your movement toward renewal and restoration during this season of growth and expansion.

Spring is the time to remove those impediments that have kept you from living fully and from enjoying life fully. Now’s the time to let the energy of your life flow freely.

Early spring robin

Remove or change what is bothersome, old, ugly, broken, cluttered, or unused in your surroundings and in your life if you can. Find new colors to live with, new arrangements of objects, give away those things you no longer find joy in.

This is the time to refresh dirty paint, replace threadbare clothes with dull and faded colors, fix and mend broken or scratched surfaces.

It is time to renew and restore the weed choked garden, to haul away last year’s dead leaves, to create compost from the old matter that will feed and nourish new growth. It is time to plant seeds and watch the miracle of their development throughout the growing season.

Now’s the time to explore new interests you’ve been putting off, allowing yourself the luxury of new creative ideas, new projects that will excite and enthuse you.

It’s time to refresh, renew, and clear the decks for the life that is waiting to be born through you.

Life’s end

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As my physical remains crumble into dust and become food for the Earth, for the insects and worms, I enrich and feed the soil that once fed me. The decay of my physical being nourishes the soil that sustained my long and prosperous life. The rains, snows, ice, the freezes and thaws have begun to break down what is left of me.

Grandmother Cottonwood’s stump

My spirit, the energy that supported my physical being continues, as bright, as strong as ever. Now the “I” that was focused and centered in the once living tree experiences an immense freedom, an expansion, a lightness, a joy in knowing my oneness with all that is.

Gone are the days of knowing the baking heat and withering drought, chill winter winds, eroding washes of driving rain, the threat of lightening and high winds.

I loved my life in the form of a magnificent cottonwood tree in spite of harsh weather, boring insects, men with bucket trucks and chainsaws. I lived a beautiful life, connected intimately with the web of all-that- is.

My spirit endures!

And now from my new perspective, my spirit observes the manifestations, the ebb and flow, the dance of life on earth with deep gratitude and great love for all beings.

I have a new viewpoint on the web of life, or the web of spirit, if you like. For in my new reality I know without doubt that all things are one.

Life’s beginning

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I am filled with gratitude for the long and beautiful life I lived under the sky, rooted to the Earth in this place.

I remember the first burst of life within me. I felt the swelling of my tiny fluff encased seed, resting in the mud, taking on moisture and warmth many decades ago.

Cottonwood seeds

My embryonic roots slowly unrolling as has been the pattern for all those who came before me for the entire history of this Earth. My roots obeying the ancient call to life, pushing my seed open, surprisingly strong, beginning to grasp the soil to reach downward as if pulled by a magnetic force, to draw in nourishment, and sustain my life, to hold me here.

Now my tightly folded seed leaves, pale from their time in the dark enclosed seed space soak in the first particle of sunlight through the crack in the seed casing. They reach out as though starved for light and unfold and harden and reach upward and multiply under the sun’s life giving love, with nourishment and moisture from my roots.

This is how my life began, dear ones. The ancient will to live and survive and thrive on this planet was encoded in my seed as it is in all living beings – those that move freely about and those rooted to the Earth.

Grandmother Cottonwood, winter

What love, what gratitude I feel for the magnificent web that connect us all in the never ending dance of life on this planet.

More About the Season of Winter in Your Life

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When winter knocks on the door and you are snowed in, you can’t leave the house, can’t escape yourself. All human movement in the white world ceases for a time as the wind roars, snow swirls and drifts pile up against all obstacles.

Here you are in the house, cozy and warm, yet there remain many long weeks until the spring thaw comes. You will endure the cold, the wind. You will survive this harsh and bleak time of year when life seems to have abandoned the world.

Winter strips bare the bones of Mother Earth, lays the reality of the frozen world before you – the tree wraiths with their black branches dancing in the gusting wind that cuts like a knife.

Winter trees

Many compare winter to death. But, dear ones, life waits deep in the roots of the sleeping trees and grasses, Deep in the soil below the frost zone, beneath the blinding drifts of snow. Life bides her time, resting and waiting for the warm mild days to return, the bright spring sun that draws all life upward to his life giving light.

Spring tree

When winter overtakes your being, find time to rest and go inward. Connect with the spark of existence that is deep within your being and know that life will return once again when the season turns.

Ice and Water

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Dear beloved, do you exist in the manner of frozen ice, living in a perpetual winter, or do you live and breathe and move like flowing water? Have you known both ways of being?

All who walk this earth find themselves in the season of life called winter from time to time, a winter in the mind, in the emotions, a frozen heart, perhaps a time of grief.

GCW in snow

If you are stuck in the cold, you will find a way to cycle through the season of winter in your life and move on to the time of thaw and warming. This feels like spring with new life unfolding everywhere, giving way to the bank full flow in streams and rivers and the green leaves of summer.

When you are living in the seasons of spring and summer within your heart, your life flows effortlessly downstream finding the path of least resistance, moving forward with grace, moving toward the ocean with ease.

In summer, your life is like a river, refreshing all who drink of it, sustaining life along its course. The river of your life moves through the landscape, flowing easily around obstacles, even cutting through layers of stone over the course of centuries, to reach the goal.

Sunlit ripples, shallow creek

Then once again you may experience the biting winds and chilly air of autumn and into the frozen time of winter. All forward movement, all flow ceases when winter arrives, life goes underground and water freezes. Everything is stuck in place, frozen in time and space. As you have been here before, you know it is a temporary state. Do not lose heart, dear ones.

With time, patience, self awareness and self love, you can thaw the frozen and stuck places in your heart. Reach out for help if you need it. Your life can once again flow like water in midsummer.

Where there is forward movement and flow, there is life.

Winter Storm

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Bare branches shiver in the roaring winter wind; air heavy with blowing snow, the sun dimmed, sky heavy with impenetrable clouds. All the world softened, hazy and indistinct.

Pitiless wind ripping and tearing across the land, scouring everything in its path. Wind forming snow into drifts of sculptural beauty near buildings, fences, trees, shrubs. Like smoke from a furious fire, snow pours from roof peaks and slopes.

All perennial rooted beings sleep under the cold blanket. Their life retreats inward to the roots, waiting for spring to rise again, oblivious to the wind and cold and the shifting drifts covering all the land.

Grandmother Cottonwood, snowy day

All fur bearers are safe within their burrows or weather tight nests, snuggled together for warmth. Winter birds fluff their feathers under cover, cold blooded creatures hibernate in their earthy dens, sleeping deeply beneath the frozen mud.

Dear ones, remember the wonder you felt as a child your face pressed to the icy window, watching the snowstorm rage, joyful at the school cancellation?

You were safe and warm in your lighted house, watching the fury unfold outside, feeling the fierce beauty, the raw power of wind and snow.

Walking on Ice

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There are times in life when humans who live through freezing winters must walk on ice. It cannot be avoided.

To walk safely on the ice, total awareness is required in the present moment. Each movement and each step forward much be considered, balance maintained.

Those who have no choice but to walk on ice must have an eye for the safest places to place their feet. These are the spots that will provide the most traction. This knowledge and body wisdom is based on a lifetime of walking on ice.

GCW and Icy Path

Sometimes the path ahead is clear for easy walking without the walker having to consider each step. Then once again there may be packed snow or glassy ice patches on the path. It is beautiful, yet potentially dangerous.

You who walk on ice must know when to walk flat footed, when to shuffle, when to stride forward without planning your every step. Thoughts of fear or anger will deflect your attention and bring you down.

Such is life in a human body, dear ones. Sometimes you will have to carefully pick and choose your steps, slowly making progress through the dangerous places, finding traction, trusting the Earth will support you.

You must do your part as well and listen to the wisdom of your body, earned through many years of experience walking on ice.

Survival

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Dear readers this post is from the archives of AskGCW.

Rumors of the demise of Mother Earth have been greatly exaggerated. This planet will endure, she will continue spinning on her axis, orbiting the sun. Day will follow night. The sun will rise in the East. The ancient cycle of seasons will endure, the moon will wax, become full, wane, then begin again in darkness.

Full Moon

The ancient cycles will endure even if humans are no longer here to witness the beauty, to name the seasons, and study the stars

Humans are slowly committing suicide as they ignore the warning signs of the stressed and overtaxed environment and atmosphere. I ask you to slow down and listen to your Great Grandmother the Earth. Learn her language. Pay attention to her signs, symbols, her distress call.

When you learn her language, the language of the web of life, you will learn the ancient ways of survival on this planet. You will learn to respect the amazing intelligence built up over eons of time within every living thing and every living system.

Tuning in to the messages and intricate interconnections of the web of life and hearing the voices of all living things here on this planet still means survival.

Technology in your pocket, shiny objects, expensive homes will not save or buffer you from the reality that you are a part of this web of life, a part of nature. We survive together!

Take action to divest yourselves and your human cultures of greed and corruption. Stop over-consuming our precious resources and hoarding wealth for only a few. These things damage the web of life.

Learn to use only what you need. Learn to be humble. Learn to love each step you take on Mother Earth, each breath you take into your miraculous body, each beat of your heart.

Wake up and embrace your precious life on this precious Earth!

Choose life! Slow down, live simply.

Daylilies

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Each of our exquisite flowers lasts only one day.

As the sun comes up, our buds unfold like bright stars and open to the light. We expand and blaze brightly, opening our hearts, living in the grace of this moment and the next, and the next until darkness falls.

We shine and glow. We open our hearts to pollinators and beauty seekers. We stand alone or in masses spreading slowly over the years. We live our lives under the sun moon and stars.

We sun colored beauties bloom during the long summer days. Each bloom shines for one day from our unfolding at dawn to our decline and wilting when darkness falls.

We daylily blooms must make the most of our precious short lives in the sun.

The foundation of our growth- our tough roots connecting us to mother earth. They gain strength, multiply and spread year by year. Our arching leaves soak in life-giving light throughout the growing season, feeding our roots.

We live to bloom. It is the culmination, the high point of our year. Our tough and resilient roots draw up what is needed for our elegant leaves of deep green and our exquisite budding stalks in June and July, months of long days and bright sun.

Time stands still on these days as we shine in the light of grace, fully alive in this present moment.

We open our short lived buds and bloom without reserve, each for one precious golden day.

The tree spirit speaks

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In my new state of expansion, I feel a freedom like I imagined flying would be, soaring like the turkey vultures that inhabit the wooded valley I once called home. Lighter than air. Free from gravity.

Soaring Turkey Vultures

My new perspective and existence as spirit gives me exquisite sensitivity to the frequencies and vibrations, the interconnected web of energy in all things. I feel the vibrations of the humble earthworm, the microscopic bacteria in the soil that endow fertility, the shy and gliding snakes winding their way through the prairie grasses, belly to belly with our Earth, tasting and smelling the rich soil, the dancing stream, rippling in the sunlight, flowing steadily without resistance to the river.

Prairie grasses

I see the empty place in the canopy where I once stood. I grew tall and spread my limbs wide. I felt joyful to live in my beloved home. Once upon a time…

Now I see that other trees and rooted beings will soon shoot up and claim the sunny space I left behind. taking their place in the canopy. They will soak in the sunshine, draw up moisture from the soil, spread their limbs wide. They will endure lightning, high winds, rain storms, freezing cold, wilting heat. They will thrive and survive through adversity, through lean years and fat years.

They will grow as I did, reaching to the light, sending down roots without resistance. Expanding year by year. Loving life!

Because life is worth it! Life is precious.