Perfect TED talk: Fifty Shades of Gay

There Will Come Soft Rains

There Will Come Soft Rains

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,

And Swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,

And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire,

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one

Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,

If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn

Would scarcely know that we were gone.

~Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

Earth Day on Campus!

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture by the lonely shore,

There is society where none intrudes,

By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:

I love not man the less, but Nature more”

-Lord Byron

Some photos from my beautiful campus on this lovely Earth Day: (there was apparently a smudge on my lens that I didn’t notice while I was shooting, and I’m too lazy to touch up photos for this blog on such a beautiful day, so please forgive!)

And here’s a special shout-out to my English Oak friend! Her little leaves are so beautiful!

That’s all for this Earth Day post! Go forth and love your land!

Cottonwood Flowers

Yes, it’s that time of year again, isn’t it? You may have noticed that the picture of my Cottonwood friend that I posted just a little bit ago featured a sleepy cottonwood, not quite stirring with the spring. Well, I went to visit my parents this past Sunday for Easter (most of my family is christian or at least christian-leaning-theist so easter is kind of a big deal for them. I find it a nice opportunity to eat yummy food), and it seems like my Cottonwood friend is starting to stir. This photo (it’s a cellphone shot, so sorry for the not-great quality) has flowers!*

In spring, the ‘female’ cottonwood lets loose lots and lots of cotton-puffs that get blown every which way  by the wind, and the ‘male’ tree produces all of these lovely red flowers that produce pollen that gets blown away to find the seeds that are embedded in the cottony-fluff.

It’s a lovely time of year, albeit one that, for me, is filled with lots of allergies. I just want to be outside all day long sitting in trees and getting my hands dirty in the garden. But there’s still a good few weeks left to put in to school before summer vacation officially arrives.

In other words, I still haven’t decided how I’m going to celebrate Beltane here at school. It’ll probably be something Very Simple – that’s how I tend to roll while here at school. Partly because I’m sort of a Pagan On The Downlow (in the broomcloset, however you want to say it), and partly because there isn’t a lot of opportunity for doing elaborate ceremonies or rituals here at University.

There’s another idea – I ought to start posting candle-less/incense-less spells/charms/etc that can be worked on a student budget. This seems as good a place as any to start compiling such things.
Something to keep in mind, I suppose….

*EDIT: for some reason, the photo I took of my Cottonwood friend is not uploading properly. Hopefully I’ll post that pic at a later date, but as of now, the photo in this post is courtesy of this site and is not mine, was not taken by me, etc.
*EDIT EDIT: I'm still unable to get the photo of my beloved Cottonwood to upload, but I took some photos of a cottonwood on campus that's also in flower, so I'll put one of those up here rather than borrowing from another site. I'll leave that link up here though, in gratitude. Basically - the photo in this post is now a photo of my own, but not a photo of the Cottonwood in question.

Vinca and Oak

[whoops! I meant to post this yesterday, but it seems that I forgot!]

Our lovely little snow from Sunday has all but melted away now, and Earth seems more-than-pleased about the additional bit of moisture heading into summer. Here’s to hoping that the droughts won’t be particularly bad this year. In any case, right now, heading into spring, campus is beautiful! Summer weather is back again (tomorrow we’re supposed to be in the 70s!) and all the trees and shrubs are racing into bud. Typical Colorado for you.

I was going to take photos of basically everything around the campus, but I have so many meetings and classes today (inside, of course, in such beautiful weather), that I only had the chance to snap a few pictures on the way to class.

Here’s some gorgeous vinca that’ve been loving the opportunity to drink up some water before spreading their petals.
 



What gorgeous color, am I right?

And I even got some photos of my English Oak friend! They haven’t quite woken up yet, but they’re just beginning to bud. The first photo is of one of the twigs that I took while sitting in the tree, and the second is from a bit of a distance.




I’m sure that there was something else I was going to talk about, but now I can’t quite remember. So I suppose that’s all for now!

Time Passes Differently In Trees

Slower, in a way. Somehow more…right, I guess. You know how it is, when you find a tree that you really connect with, and you climb up in their branches to read or write or meditate or just be. And you can be up in that tree for what feels like hours and hours and hours, and you end up sorting through so many thoughts and you come down feeling right, and inspired, and balanced – but then when your feet hit the ground and you return to the world, it hasn’t been nearly as long as it has felt like.

It’s magical. Truly like climbing into another world, somewhere, hung between earth and sky where time runs slow and true.

This photo is the cottonwood tree in my parents’ backyard (a ‘male’ Fremont, also called Alamo, Cottonwood). I’ve spent a lot of time up in these branches, and learned a lot there. As a Colorado native, cottonwood trees have always spoken to me – the way that something so tall and striking and brave can grow in nutrient-poor soil under a sun that shines 300 days a year and rainfall is relatively uncommon. This tree has taught me a lot about how to send my roots deep in the earth and carry the stars in my branches, and I owe quite a lot to them.

I love this tree, but when I came to University, even though it was only twenty miles away, I realized that since I wasn’t going home very often, I needed to find another tree. Not to replace my cottonwood friend, but to help me learn and grow and stay connected with the earth and my environment. Even though I’m lucky enough to live on a campus that is also a registered arboretum,  it took me almost a year and a half to find a tree that spoke to me in a similar way as the cottonwood. Finally, I found a beautiful, old English oak who seemed to ask me to climb into their branches and stay awhile.

There have been so many times since I’ve found this tree that I’ve been rushing off to class, hardly ten minutes to spare and I’ve walked past this tree, and felt the sudden call to climb up and visit for a bit. I always think ‘Not now, not today, I haven’t got any time’. I usually end up  climbing up anyway. Whenever I do, I learn so much. Things settle down in my mind just a bit, and it seems like I can finally really breathe and think. And with my feet back on the ground, I feel grounded and centered, and – what do you know? – only a couple of minutes have passed, and I still manage to get to class right on time.

This post isn’t really about me and the trees in my life (although it kind of is). This is a post to remind you that time passes differently in trees. This is a post to remind you of the most important trees to you – and if you don’t have an important tree in your life, this is a post to encourage you to find one.

Mostly, this is a post to suggest that even if you’ve only got a moment or two a day, you should seek out some time to sit in the branches or at the roots or beside a Very Special tree, and in those one or two moments, you might just feel time slow down and learn more than you realized was possible.

Reclaiming Eve

When I was Catholic, I felt (as many Catholic girls and women do) a strong connection to the Virgin Mary. A bit of the Goddess in a male-centric religion, I suppose. Today I have no quarrel with the Virgin, except that her submissive and docile nature is used as a sort of redemption arc for Woman-as-Eve. As Eve seems to me to be just as worthy as celebration, being the first human Seeker of Knowledge in her mythology/story/set of archetypes*,  I have rewritten the prayer Hail, Holy Queen! to be relevant to Mother Eve. A personal reclaiming of a figure who is certainly a part of me, but whom I was unsure of how to relate to for many years. A reclaiming of knowledge, and the quest for knowledge, and the ability to make choices.

Hail, Nature’s Queen!

Mother of Knowledge,

Our heart, our apple, our hope -

To thee do we sing,

Brave, windswept children of Earth,

To thee do we lift up our voices.

Dancing and breathing in this garden of life.

Turn then, O First Seeker,

Thine eyes of wonder toward us.

And in this, our Journey,

Guide us ever unto the Fruit of thy Tree, Knowledge,

Ever curious, Ever thinking,

O wise Mother Eve!

Blessed Be.

*with the possible exception of Lilith, depending on which version of the myth-system you prefer. Probably more on Lilith later.