Keepers of Tradition

As mothers, we are keepers of the hearth, we set the mood and the tone for our household, so as it is within us, so without.

If we are confused and feeling turmoil within, it will spill into our day and our child's behavior, directly or indirectly.

When we are clear and feel confident, it comes across.

In doing our inner work, our striving, we can awaken to inner rhythm and bring some form and habits to our home lives.

It begins within. Within each one of us. And it is there. And it takes strengthening the will.

And that is the paradox of mothering, for we are supporting the development of our child(ren)'s will and in doing so we work on our own will forces to be able to do that. 

Celebrations and holidays give us the chance to create rituals and traditions that come around once a year. They needn’t be big or elaborate to be meaningful.

As we approach the end of the Christmas season, this feels like a ripe time to reflect on the past six weeks. 

Take some time this week to think about when it comes to the holidays and celebrations,  what is it that really matters, for you, what is it that you want the holidays to mean for your child(ren)?

What went well, what do you want to do again next year? Is there something you want to build on? Are there things you want to let go of? Jot down what comes to mind. 

In the Waldorf kindergarten teachers build up festivals over the years - many years! Within those years they have the opportunity to observe other teachers' ways. As homemakers we are finding our way one step at a time. Let's give ourselves a great big hug for all that we did accomplish this year to make the holidays merry and good, and let us carry into the future acceptance of our striving as good enough, and recognition that life is a process that is ongoing for us as well as our children. 

Warmly,

The Festival of Candlemas

Sundays are a day of rest and renewal for my family. That was how I experienced Sundays growing up. We went to church in the morning. That was followed by a big breakfast and then an early big dinner ~ Sunday dinner. There was plenty of down time in between. It's always stayed with me, and I am happy for it.

I like to keep some spaciousness in my family's Sundays. One of the things I like to do is to quietly take some time to look ahead at the week, review what is coming, and make sure I have in place what I need, to be prepared for anything outside of the ordinary.

Ideally the meal plan is sketched out, our work is planned, and I know where everyone is going each day. This moment on Sunday gives me time to have a picture of the week ahead.

This week as I look ahead, I see the week brings three things that are out of the ordinary, three, well almost four, feasts or celebrations that all fall on February 2nd, which happens to be on Friday of this week. They are:

• Groundhog Day
• Imbolc
• Candlemas
• Brigid's Day

Groundhog Day is a fun little day that doesn't require too much forethought or preparation to celebrate.

Imbolc is the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. It "crosses" the quarters (or seasons) of the year.

Brigid's Day ~ I wrote about this day here.

Candlemas is a church feast. Whenever we have the suffix ~ mas added to a word, we know it refers to a feast day. Besides Candlemas, there's Michaelmas, Martinmas, and Christmas too.

Sometimes Candlemas, Brigid's Day, Imbolc and Groundhog day are conflated.

I'll begin with Candlemas and come back with some reflections on the other celebrations over the next few days.

~ painting by Lodovico Caracci 

This feast has layers to contemplate. Candlemas is celebrated in the Catholic and Orthodox Church as the Feast of the Presentation at Church of the Blessed Mary, and is also known as the Feast of the Presentation of the Holy Child, or more popularly as Candlemas. It has its origins in what is known as the rite of the "churching of women," the return of a woman to the Church after 40 days of rest, after giving birth to a child. It signifies the return of Mary to the Church after giving birth to the Christ Child, along with the Presentation of the Child in the Church.

 In our busy modern world, the notion of convalescence is becoming obsolete. Women are encouraged to "do it all," which we can't, but that is another conversation. More traditional cultures honor the postpartum period as a time of rest and of nourishing both the mother and baby. This piece by Joyce Gallardo explores this very topic, here.

Was the churching of women a recognition of the importance of rest and slowing down after giving birth, or was it a banishment that needed "purification" of the fleshly body in order to re-enter the life of the Church?  It strikes me as rather odd that it was a question for men to expound on, rather than women. But the women were busy tending to daily life, so that the men could expound on such things. Ha!

Yet we know that the question whether a mother who had given birth recently should enter the church or not has been debated long before the eleventh century. The most prominent example is Pope Gregory the Great's letter to Augustine of Canterbury, as we find it in the Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England. Augustine had asked among a number of other questions: 'how long after she has brought forth, may she come into the church? and then adds in the end: 'All which things are requisite to be known by the rude nation of the English.' Gregory answers that even if she came the very hour after giving birth she was not committing a sin, but rather forbidding her to come would turn the punishment she was bearing for the sin of Eve into a crime. But the Christian tradition is not clear and uniform on this question. It seems that Gregory remained an exception and traditions like those of the penitentials which strongly suggested the need for purification became more influential. In the fourth century Hippolytus records that a mother who had just given birth was to be seated among the catechumens. Emperor Leo in 460 forbade women to take communion within 40 days after the delivery, but did not count it as a grave sin, if they did in case of emergency [Stephens 1854, 1751f]. 

This comes from here.

As for the feast of Candlemas - this is a feast of initiation, of possibility, of light, of the old meeting the new and the old giving way to the new, the frozen earth giving way to the stirring of new life. This is why candles are blessed in churches on this day.

This is the time of year in which the light is growing brighter, the buds on the trees are beginning to swell, the birds seem to be singing more, and on some days the feeling of the return of warmth and sunlight is in the air.

We put up our Christmas tree up later than most, close to Christmas Eve. This has wonderful benefits and challenges too. Some years we keep the tree through January, with Candlemas as the final marker - the end to Christmastide. I like the word Christmastide. It feels like so much more than a singular day that has a make or break quality to it, with reverberations that last through the year, and eventually a lifetime. Christmastide makes me think of the tide of the sea that rolls in, pulsating with energy, and then rolls out, as seasons do. Each year bringing something new.

How does this all fit in with Waldorf education and life? This is a really good question. The 2nd of February is a significant day in the rhythm of the year, as it is the mid-point, a cross quarter day, one that falls smack in between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. We are six weeks from each of those turning points in the year. On February 2nd, we are as close to spring as we were to the winter solstice. After February 2nd, we are closer to the onset of spring that the onset of winter. It is a threshold day in the year.

In looking back, and wondering how this day came into celebration among Waldorf Home Educators, I think of Mrs. M, who started the Yahoo Group that inspired (and continues to inspire) so many Waldorf home educators, as the first to make something of the day, in the context of Waldorf education. You can find the Yahoo Group Waldorf Home Educators here. It's been quiet lately, or visit her Facebook group, the Magic of Waldorf to see what she is up to. She has celebrated with a Festival of the Bees at this time of year in the past. 

What are your thoughts on the rite of the churching of women? Is it in recognition of the need for women and child to rest after birth, or in disdain of the female body? Does it matter? What can it inspire within us today? I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments.

Help! I'm Not Prepared for Michaelmas - What to Do?

My Question of the Week is: 

"HELP! I am feeling so unprepared for Michaelmas, what can I do?"

My response is this:

Keep it simple. 

Let go of the feeling that you must have Michaelmas "stuff."

You don't have to buy anything.

Really.

Resist should dos.

Embrace what's around you.

You don't need special toys or a sword and a cape or a scale, not even a picture of the Archangel Michael for the littles (the under nine crowd.)

You don't have to buy figures for the nature table.

Notice the gifts Mother Nature is offering at this time of year: beautifully colored leaves, apples, acorns, seed pods... bring them in, make it pretty - there's your nature table. You might like to sew and add a simple gnome from an old sweater that got felted in the dryer and is ready for a new purpose, for gnomes are the elemental beings of autumn.

Resist talking about the Archangel Michael or a festival with the children younger than second grade.

Really.

We want to share it all with them, we love it so much. Save a little for the years ahead.

Let second grade be the year of learning about the Archangel Michael.

Young children look to us to learn what it means to be human. They need to see us finding joy and meaning within. They don't need names for this harvest festival, they need experiences. Of seeing a task through. Of harvesting marigold seeds or fruits or vegetables or nuts. Of putting the garden to rest. Of playing in the leaves. Of taking the sweaters and hanging them to air. Of washing the lawn furniture and preparing it for winter. Of sweeping leaves off the deck. Of picking apples and bring some to a neighbor. Of baking pies and sharing one with someone who could use some sweetness in their life.

You don't have to craft anything or even to learn a whole circle this week.

Embrace simple.

Let your celebration flow out of your life.

It won't look like the Waldorf school.

You're not a Waldorf school.

You're a mom or a dad, living in a home creating a culture of your family.

Your celebration will suit your family and your life.

A few examples of what I mean by simple:

:: Tell one story of courage.

:: Go apple picking.

:: Polish apples with a flannel cloth from the ragbag, with care.

:: Cut an apple in half horizontally and discover (with a feeling of awe and wonder) the star inside.

:: Go out in the evening and wonder in amazement at the stars.

:: Roast vegetables in the fire ~ corn, potatoes, carrots, onion, something yummy.

:: Gather marigold seeds from the dry and dead flower heads.

:: Make seed packets from watercolor paintings for your marigold seeds. Put them away in a dry spot to "sleep" over the winter.

"For the young child, Michaelmas is a harvest festival, a time to savor the harvest, roast vegetables, polish apples, cut them in half to discover the stars within and celebrate through song, story and food the gifts and  wonders of nature and all her beauteous bounty. Michaelmas is also a time for purposeful work." More here

Simple. Simple.

Read up on Michaelmas for adults, and walk with that, carry it along in your being, and just notice how it feels, what comes up for you. What inspires your courage? 

Feeling Bad You Didn't Celebrate Santa Lucia?

If you didn't celebrate Santa Lucia today by rousing your family with a crown of flaming candles on your head,  singing songs and carrying a tray of warm coffee and Lucy buns to each family member still in bed, no worries.

It's okay.

You're okay.

You are good enough.

Plenty good enough.

It is a beautiful festival, and for those who celebrate it, wonderful!

For those who do not, it's okay.

In Waldorf schools, the festival of Santa Lucia is typically a celebration that is carried by the Second Grade Class, the grade when Waldorf students spend a good part of the year studying saints and sinners. (Saints and Sinners is a phrase I picked up from Eugene Schwartz of Essential Waldorf. Isn't it a perfect description of what the child is wrestling with at this age?)

The Second Grade Class, sometimes with the help of the class parents with the baking and the clothing adjustments, prepares the goods, learns the songs, appoints a student to serve as Santa Lucia and wear the crown of flaming candles, (for the intrepid, the more cautious use battery lit candles) and then, in the morning, the class sings and serves its way around the school. It's beautiful.

It's a festival that lends itself well to groups.

The kindergarten is sometimes visited, but not always.

It's a festival that meets the particular developmental age of the child.

It's a festival that is celebrated in specific parts of the world.

If you didn't celebrate it, don't worry.

You are good enough.

Plenty good enough.

The Period of Watchful Waiting

Thanksgiving came and went.

My thoughts have been with the water protectors in Standing Rock, standing strong to protect their sacred ground, their ancestors' burial sites, the water for their children, their land, their treaty rights, the water for everyone, the very well being of the earth. Watching the Native American people stand clear and strong. Standing for all of us. A time for healing and change. Urging the people and the leaders of the United States to find our identity as a nation, to clarify what this country stands for, and who it is about and act.

It's an unsettling time, and yet a time ripe with hope and potential. A little bit like transition when a woman is giving birth.

The first light of Advent is the light of stones, lights that live in seashells, in crystals and in bones.

Advent is a season in itself, a season of anticipation. The very word "Advent" has in its roots "ad" meaning towards + "venir" to come. Coming towards. Advent is a season of "coming towards." Of anticipation. Of quiet waiting.

It reminds me of my midwifery work in which the first trimester of pregnancy is known as The Period of Adjustment, the second trimester as The Period of Radiant Health and the third trimester as The Period of Watchful Waiting. These come from Helen Varney of Varney's Midwifery.

Advent is like the third trimester, we are in The Period of Watchful Waiting. A time of quiet anticipation. Waiting for what is to come. As the world is waiting, and praying, for  what will come at Oceti Sakowin. Women and healing work at Otceti Sakowin here, scroll down.

Watchful Waiting.

Halloween is Coming!

Halloween is coming, then we'll see

Faces in the windows smiling at me

Pumpkins on the door step shining bright

Oh, we'll have a good time on Halloween night!

Bobbing for red apples tis such fun.
Then we’ll come a-calling on the run
All dressed up in costumes such a sight
Oh, we'll have a good time on Halloween night!
Oh, we'll have a good time on Halloween night!

I think I told you last year that Halloween is and has always been one of my favorite holidays. My Mom tells great stories of Halloween from when she was a child during the depression, of mischief and pranks and a night that belonged to the children. I have fond memories of bundling up and going out with our wagon lined with an army blanket though the crisp fallen leaves in our neighborhood in the dark night in Maine.

We are busy preparing for Halloween, working on a spaceman costume. Over the years, the boys have been a gnome, pumpkin, a Continental Micronesia airplane, a lamb, a cowboy, Harry Potter, a wizard, a ghost, baker, prince, knight, Robin Hood, and a hippie.

Do you know about the story of the Sugar Sprite? It's one I have mixed feelings about. 

On one hand, the candy load can be enormous on Halloween. On the other, it's one day out of the year, it's fun for children to collect their candy, return home, dump out their treasure trove and sort through it and eat from it. Often there are trades to be made that require careful negotiation between the children. 

Allowing children to eat their fill on Halloween day is one way they can learn to set some limits for themselves, and learn to appreciate moderation if they over indulge. Limits can be set determined how many pieces may be eaten each day and when in the days following Halloween. 

The Sugar Sprite

Halloween is coming and parents often want to avoid the huge consumption of candy that comes with trick or treat. I heard this story many years ago, tried it out with my children and it fell flat. We'd had too many years of trick or treat without the Sugar Sprite behind us. 

I like that is has the potential to create a satisfying picture for the children and helps to manage the sugar load. The gesture of helping is one I appreciate too. For those who are seeking such a story, here it is:

As the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer and darker, the Old North Wind comes to visit and brings gusts of cold breezes. They blow, they blow.

The buzzing bees have gone to sleep, in their cozy warm hives.

Mother Earth has tucked the Flower Children into their beds, deep in the warm earth. They go to sleep in the ground and no longer make sweet pollen for the Sugar Sprite to eat.

Father Sun is snuggled up in the clouds as the days get colder and darker.

We put on our woolies, caps and warm sweaters, to keep ourselves warm and we cover the flower children and bulbs with layers of warm earth and mulch to keep them warm.

The Sugar Sprite is cold too. "Brrrr… how cold it is," she declares as she wraps her arms around herself to her her warm. She doesn't need warm caps, and woolies, and sweaters to keep her warm for she is warmed by the nectar from the blossoms and bees.

She needs sweet nectar and sugar to stay warm through the cold of winter.

The flower children who offer the pollen from their blossoms have gone to sleep, deep in the earth, and the bees who carry it from place to place have gone to sleep in their hives.

Oh dear, the Sugar Sprite has no sweet pollen to keep her warm. Hmnnm…. "whatever shall we do, I wonder."

"I've got it!, we can help the Sugar Sprite. We can share our Halloween candy with her.

At Halloween, our neighbors and friends give us lots of candy, far more candy than we need.

So when we return from trick or treating, we may sample some candy and put aside our very favorites.  The rest we can leave on the doorstep for the Sugar Sprite with this verse:

 Sugar Sprite, Queen tonight

 Need sugary treats for your heart's delight?

Come to my doorstep, candy awaits,

Linger not at the garden gate.

Sugary sweets to warm you well,

to help you weave your magic spell.

Winter days are coming soon,

Keep warm 'til next Halloween moon.

During the night, when the children are fast asleep, the friendly Sugar Sprite comes, takes the candy and leaves a simple gift of thanks. The Sugar Sprite knows what all children like, but sometimes the children write letters or make pictures for the sprite about a week before Halloween so she doesn’t get confused as you can imagine she has to visit a lot of children to collect enough sugar to keep her warm through the coming winter.

We're holding off on carving the pumpkins because the rain disintegrates them if it comes after we've carved them.

What are you doing for Halloween? Any fun costume ideas you'd like to share? Say hello and leave a link below to your Halloween activities. I love to hear from you.

Michaelmas

September 29th is known in the Christian world as the feast day of the Archangel Michael.  Michaelmas is also an important season in the Waldorf community. It's the first festival celebration in the school year at Waldorf communities in the northern hemisphere. 

Michaelmas is one of what I call the “ Big Four" Waldorf festivals. 

The “ Big Four”  festivals are: 

• Michaelmas
• Christmas
• Easter and 
• St. John’s Tide

Each takes place near one of the cardinal points in the year - the solstices and the equinoxes.

Michaelmas takes place near the autumn equinox, a time of balance, with equal day and equal night. The word equinox means equal night, “equi + nox." 

The Archangel Michael is an important figure in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In the world of Waldorf education, anthroposophy and medicine he is said to be the guiding force of our times. Michael appears in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

Michaelmas (pronounced mikel-mas) is a season, the season of the final ripening and gathering in, the harvesting of the earth's bounty. It's the season in which the earth begins to inhale her forces, which marks the turning of the year from the long hot expansive days of summer towards the dark cold contraction of winter.  Plants wither, leaves drop, the last ripened fruits, nuts and vegetables are taken in, feasted upon and put up for the cold days ahead. The geese are heading south. We are in the season of Michaelmas. 

As parents we begin to bring out the layers of clothing for physical warmth, cook up warm soups, stews and roasts and imbue our stories for children with light and warmth to carry us through the cold and dark days to come. An afternoon cup of tea brings warmth to body and soul in that moment of the day of quiet just before the shift towards dinner, bath and bed. A fire, either outdoors or inside warms body and soul.

When our family lived on the equator, autumn heralded in a marked change in the year, the storm season began with high swells on the sea, strong winds, heavy rain and typhoons. It was the time of year when we avoided certain crossings across the waters for it was likely to be rough. That was a time for pulling in a bit - despite the heat. The days grew shorter by thirty minutes and we noticed it. 

Michaelmas is the first of the festivals typically celebrated during the new school year at Waldorf schools. It is celebrated with stories about Michael and stories of shooting stars, courage, balance and strength are told. The grade school students often perform a play with a dragon. The older child might use a scale to contemplate the balance of his or her deeds over the course of time, and take stock.

For the young child, Michaelmas is a harvest festival, a time to savor the harvest, roast vegetables, polish apples, cut them in half to discover the stars within and celebrate through song, story and food the gifts and  wonders of nature and all her beauteous bounty. Michaelmas is also a time for purposeful work.

                                      " My nice red rosy apple has a secret midst unseen;

You’d see if you could slip inside, five rooms so neat and clean.

In each room there are hiding two seeds so shining bright;

Asleep they are and dreaming of a lovely warm sunlight.

And sometimes they are dreaming of many things to be

How some day they’ll be hanging upon a Christmas tree"

For the adult Michaelmas is a time to recognize the seeds of our own capacities and the inner dragons that obstruct our own path as well as the outer dragons of materialism, greed, stuff...what is our relationship to the material world? How do we enliven the swords of our imagination? How do we imbue it with spirit? How are we becoming human?

It is so hard to talk about Michaelmas as it is not about words or intellectuality, but about our thinking imagination, our deeds, our capacity to become more fully human. Michaelmas is a festival of strong will, of inner strength and courage.

• From Rudolf Steiner, on Michael and the Dragon, here
• For Reflections from Lynn Jericho on Michaelmas, here
• For Reflections from Danielle Epifani on Michaelmas as the Festival of Human Becoming, here
• Reflections from David Mitchell on why we celebrate Michaelmas, here

From Garrison Keillor of The Writer's Almanac on Minnesota Public Radio:

"In the Christian world, today is Michaelmas, feast day of the archangel Michael, which was a very important day in times past, falling near the equinox and so marking the fast darkening of the days in the northern world, the boundary of what was and what is to be. Today was the end of the harvest and the time for farm folk to calculate how many animals they could afford to feed through the winter and which would be sold or slaughtered. It was the end of the fishing season, the beginning of hunting, the time to pick apples and make cider.

Today was a day for settling rents and accounts, which farmers often paid for with a brace of birds from the flocks hatched that spring. Geese were given to the poor and their plucked down sold for the filling of mattresses and pillows.

Michaelmas was the time of the traditional printer's celebration, the wayzgoose, the day on which printers broke from their work to form the last of their pulp into paper with which to cover their open windows against the coming cold — the original solution for those who could not afford glass yet had more than nothing — and the advent of days spent working by candlelight.

In the past, the traditional Michaelmas meal would have been a roast stubble goose — the large gray geese that many of us only get to admire at our local state and county fairs. Today, when most poultry comes from the grocery store in parts and wrapped in plastic, a roast goose can be a difficult luxury to obtain, but any homey, unfussy meal is a fine substitute — especially with a posy of Michaelmas daisies or purple asters on the table.

In folklore, it is said that when Michael cast the Devil from Heaven, the fallen angel landed on a patch of blackberry brambles and so returns this day every year to spit upon the plant that tortured him. For this reason, blackberries would not be eaten after today, and so folks would gather them in masses on Michaelmas to put into pies and crumbles and preserves. And they would bake St. Michael's bannocks, a large, flat scone of oats and barley and rye, baked on a hot griddle and then eaten with butter or honey or a pot of blackberry preserves.

Whether you recognize Michaelmas or not, you can still greet what comes with the symbols of today: gloves, for open-handedness and generosity; and ginger to keep you warm and well in the coming cold."

Blessings on your season of Michaelmas! May your dragons be met with grace.

Happiness is a Compost Bucket

When I was young and imagined my life as an adult, I saw myself living in a big city like Paris, New York or San Francisco, doing deeply meaningful work, wearing stylish clothing, discussing politics and working for causes I believed in and going to parties where people said witty things. 

The urge to have children had not hit and I did not envision children in my life although I seemed to attract children to me throughout my life. I imagined this adult world as a grown up. My work as a midwife was focused on the mom- to- be and her partner.

Fast forward this picture through relationships with men who wanted to have children and fairy tales and a home with a hearth and settling down with one who seemed to share my values. Fast forward to the birth of my first child. Pregnancy changed my body each day in ways I never imagined. I ate with a hunger I had not known before. I fell asleep on the sofa after dinner. Basic need became primary.

Who would have known that becoming a mother would do that?



I remember the day after my first child was born. His dad had gone to work and I was sitting on the bed watching this new and precious being sleep peacefully. When I began to consider the enormity of the task that lay before me, I began to cry. This was a human being and my task was to introduce him to the world. About diapers and feeding and creating a home, I felt excited and capable. But his soul, I had no idea how I, a mere person would provide enough of the right thing for this child. I sobbed my worries out and  went on staring at him the way new mothers stare entranced with their newborns while they sleep, encased in a bubble of timelessness.

You may be wondering what does this all have to do with a compost bucket ?

I'm getting there.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I gave up coffee and carefully read all food labels for additives and artificial food coloring. These foods became repugnant to me and my body no longer wanted them. I even gave up M&M's. I chose the healthiest foods I could find and ate protein with every meal and slept early each night. I thought pleasant thoughts and was excited about becoming a mother.  I talked to my mom about mothering and grew closer to her through this.

When my first child was born, I knew that I would give my life to save this child if ever need be. I felt protective in ways I never imagined. I drove slower and more cautiously. I calculated risks that I had thought nothing about doing before like jumping off trestles and picking up hitchhikers. My life took on new meaning and purpose in such a simple and primal way. I drew stronger boundaries in my work and instantly realized the value of my time when it was weighed against caring for my child and homemaking. I realized that my mom was a really good mom and capable homemaker. I realized how large it is and how encompassing it becomes.

This past weekend when I went to the dump, I learned that the large compost buckets I had been waiting for, were in, the four gallon ones with the tight fitting lid. The dump man gave me one. My own five gallon bucket had split on the side and never fit right under the sink. My porch bin is full and it is too much to trek out to the bins with each meal's scraps with the snow and cold.

I am thrilled to find a compost bucket that is large enough to hold the scraps we produce and to fit under the sink. I am thrilled to be home with my second grader, homeschooling him. I am thrilled when my teenager asks me to sit with him and help with his homework. I am thrilled to go outside and hear the birds and see a cardinal in the tree. I am thrilled for the sunbeams poring into the kitchen this morning.

Now I live in Northern Vermont, in this small rural, agricultural state. It is a huge big deal to throw a party and most likely it is a birthday party or lantern walk or cookout in the summer. That's what I can manage. Grown up time is scarce and precious. It's been ages since I've been in the city and I find the bigs ones overstimulating with children. When I took my first born to San Francisco, he was nearly three and I was afraid he might step on or pick up a syringe in my old neighborhood. The neighborhood looked so different through my eyes as a mother, filthy and fast paced. No where to roam freely on the sidewalks.

I do miss the pulse of urban life and experience it vicariously through my city friends. And today I am grooving on my new compost bucket which means gracefully turning our food scraps back into the earth which satifies me in ways I never imagined possible.

Who would have known?


Blessings,

Lisa

Hey Ho for Halloween!

Halloween is my favorite time of year. 

For years when I wrestled with questions of religion and spirituality and sought clarity on what made meaning for me, Halloween stood out as a holiday I could fully and whole heartedly embrace with no uncertainty or feelings of discomfort. Halloween does not invoke the sort of stress that other holidays seem to call forth for me.

Halloween is all fun. Dress up and go out and play with the crunch of leaves underfoot and darkness everywhere.

I had the good fortune of living in San Francisco's Mission District for four years in my young and carefree days and experienced the celebration of the dead, with The Day of the Dead celebrations, procession and rooms. This deepened my passion for Halloween and created a bridge from my Catholic upbringing to the beliefs and values I embraced. It was empowering and awakening for me along with Z. Budapest's Spiral Dances for women at Halloween.  

Twenty years later as a parent, I bring aspects of these celebrations to my children whose ages span from seven to fifteen.

Some favorite songs:

Who are the Witches?

Chorus:

Who are the witches? Where do they come from?

Maybe your great, great grandmother was one.

Witches are wise, wise, women, they say,

There's a little witch in every woman today, 

There's a little witch in every woman today, 

Witches knew all about flowers and trees

How to use the bark and the roots and the leaves,

When people grew weary from hardworking days,

Witches made them feel better in so many ways

Repeat chorus

Women had babies and witches were there,

To help and to feed them and give them some care,

And witches knew stories of how life began,

Don't you wish you could be one, well maybe you can......

Repeat chorus

Some people thought that the witches were bad,

Some people were scared of the power they had,

The power to give and to heal and to care,

Is not something to fear, it's a treasure to share.

Repeat chorus

A fingerplay:

Five little witches sitting on the gate,

The first one said, " oh my it's getting late,"

The second one said, "Halloween is in the air,"

The third one said, "let us take to the air"

The fourth one said,  "when I finish my brew,"

The fifth one said, "my black cat comes too "

The night wind whispered whooooo, whoooo

So they put on the hats
And flew into the air, 

Singing all together, 

Hall-o-ween is here!

A Song:

Hey ho for Halloween!

When all the witches are to be seen.

Some in black and some in green,

Hey ho for Halloween!

Hey ho for Halloween!

In 1973, Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English wrote Women, Witches and Nurses: A History of Women Healers , online and at Amazon. It is well worth the read, still timely and sheds light on healing, medicine, the role of women and the divine feminine.

Blessings!