ancient calendar

At its heart, Halloween is an astronomy holiday. It’s a day rooted in Earth’s orbit around the sun. It’s a cross-quarter day and a testament to our ancestors’ deep understanding of the sky. 

October 31 marks the approximate midway point between the September equinox and the December solstice. This means Halloween also an astronomy holiday, and one of the year’s four cross-quarter days. 

Learn about the four seasonal Quarter Days in the ancient Celtic calendar.

Some historians are divided as to whether the ancient Celts observed the solstices and equinoxes (quarter days). Some believe that the Celts divided the year into just four major sections: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh (cross-quarter days). 

celebrating a world class contrarian

Our wonder | wander | world pick of the week is the latest bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell's "Revenge of the Tipping Point." Building on a familiar idea from his books, he continues doing what he does best - poking the bear. 

You may think you know how the world works, but you're wrong! The provocative Gladwell talks with correspondent David Pogue about why he's refused to change his approach, his work ethic, or his contrarianism. 

the latest release

Malcolm Gladwell is revisiting the book that made him famous. "The Tipping Point" was a huge bestseller in 2000. 

Its title proclaimed an alluring idea - a social trend or behavior might spread slowly until a tipping point, when it reaches just enough people, and then suddenly it's everywhere, like an epidemic. 

Malcolm Gladwell, "Revenge of the Tipping Point"

Businesses and activists loved this, even as critics questioned some of Gladwell's findings. Recently, he started an update to that book and decided instead on a total rewrite. 

"The job of a journalist is to go and talk to people who know something specific that the rest of the world needs to know about and to translate what they say in a way that makes sense to a broad audience. That is the job description. I'm like, yes. Of course. That's why I wake up in the morning, to do exactly that." ~ Malcolm Gladwell 

week pick | intending with Dorothea Lucaci

Equinox has arrived, 22nd September. It marks the entry into a new season and chapter of life. 

Dorothea Lucaci image

Equinox is a day of balance, and when we come into stillness, to deep listen and align to the natural laws that govern the orbit of the earth around the sun, the orbit of the sun around the galaxy, the orbit of the galaxy around the universe, the orbit of our protons, neutrons and electrons around the nucleus. 

We begin to see lasting change.

When we are in flow we are no longer swimming against the currents.

Connect to the rhythm of life, meet yourself in your natural state.

Return to balance. ~ Dorothea Lucaci

color our world

Colors have been used to stand for major human traits of love, purity, innocence - as well as death, destruction, and loss by artists, poets, and authors throughout the ages. 

seven & twelve color circles - 1708, attributed to Claude Boutet

These are basically similar to the original symbolism of colors, like red stands for love, yellow stands for energy, green for a new life as well as jealousy, blue for beauty, and purple for royalty.

nebulae

It is meteor shower season and summer skies are ablaze in their glory - where it's clear of thunderstorms, that is. 

The final, infinite frontier of space has captured the imagination of humanity since the days of prehistory, and it seems the more we learn about the universe, the more we realize just how little we actually understand it. 

the expanding universe - NASA image

From black holes to giant stars to distant planets, there are innumerable celestial objects out there for us to study, probe, and marvel at. Certainly, the most visually beautiful and awe-inspiring of all, are nebulae. 

Summer Solstice 2024

In 2020 when COVID-19 was so new to many of us wonder | wonder | world heard an episode on The Shaman’s Cave centered on summer solstice. 

In a wind journey that wound us back to the previous solstice in September, Renee Baribeau discussed the change in season and led us to reflect on our lives from the solstice in September to the solstice in June. 

tropical arrangement from our backyard

Sandra Ingerman led us on a ceremony to honor the Earth and reflect on regaining our space in life to stay in balance - providing some tools to navigate the upcoming changes. 

HERstory vs HIStory

Maybe they did get it wrong. The men who told the stories that went down as recorded historical fact. The conquering hordes that erased our true history. The prevalent thought of those times that perpetuated their brand of bullshit. 

". . . .focus on her-story as opposed to the traditional his-tory - the thousands of years of recopying and retelling the stories from the male viewpoint. And that these assumptions are based on no original sources, such as the ancient Roman Jewish female epitaphs inscribed in ancient Greek with symbols of authority - just opinion and self-preservation of a patriarchal dominated society." ~ Bernadette Brooten 

singing in the rain - bird on a wire & a restive Mt. Kanla-on

 
An age-old unoriginal propaganda for many a tyrant and demagogue - yet it never grows old and too many are still sipping their Kool-Aid. 

wild wide world

“I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.” ~ Anaïs Nin. 

We are born of water - its salt and brine are in our blood and veins. The tides work their constant ebb and flow on us. The waves wash over us - carrying us to distant shores from our island home through rough or calm oceans of great depths and vast expanse.

Annette Kellerman in Queen of the Sea, 1918

Our equatorial seas are warm and salty. clear and overflowing in bounty. Our fisher folk are sturdy, sinewy mortals steeped in the mysteries and myths of the first and oldest drop of water on earth. They traded and travelled the world back since continents were crossed by land bridges.

It is no wonder that we are daughters of the seas - wild and untamed, willful and free. We wander in wonder - exploring what the world has to offer, delighting in our own self discovery. We plumb the currents of countless coasts, we slither sleek and smooth through dreamtime, daydreams, and visions.

It is no wonder our power animal is a mermaid, at least one of them. These sirens of the sea - half-human, half-fish - legendary sea creatures chronicled in maritime cultures, ancient and ageless. 

Although no evidence of aquatic humanoids has been found belief persists that we swam in oceans before we ever found a foothold on land. 

The belief in mermaids may have arisen at the very dawn of our species. Magical female figures first appear in cave paintings in the late Paleolithic (Stone Age) period some 30,000 years ago - when modern humans gained dominion over the land and presumably began to sail the seas.

Atlantis, Lemuria, Mauritia, Thule - these lost lands still have their hold in our veins and lively imagination. Why, then, do they occupy the collective unconscious of nearly all seafaring peoples? 

A question best left to historians, philosophers, and anthropologists? Or one best answered by questers, seekers, and dreamers? Who is to say? We can all dream up whatever we desire. 

hearts on fire

A month back in our tropical island home, swimming in the warm ocean, browning in the hot sun - heart fires rekindled here at wonder |wander | world.  

I watch my daughter build a fire

not from a match or cigarette lighter

but from the original elements,

two sticks, a length of sinew, friction.

She has formed a cup of juniper shreds,

and when she spins out a black ember

and breathes it to life

she transfers the radiant pebble

into the nest and breathes again.

a collection of poems

Sparks fly from her lips.

A dove of flame bursts from between her hands.

She speaks to the spark

until the words catch and burn

and I think, here is my daughter

who is innocent of all things

yet from whose lips

the terrible and merciful

flame flies out, the truth, the fire.

extremes in temps

hot! Hot! HOT! April has us burning up - inside and out, inner and outer worlds on fire. As we move into May we are eager for a break, ready to breathe easier, pull back and retreat. 

Here in our little world, the humid heat and hectic doings in our island home leave us panting and plastered. wonder | wander | world pick for this week is a regular and reliable site we rely on to guide and focus us.

post on Instagram

When it comes to intuitive astrology and spiritual wisdom, Forever Conscious has been our go to fave over the years. 

Up above and all around us we've been inundated these past months with Eclipse Season, Mercury Retrograde, and the rare and special alignment of Jupiter and Uranus.

May is a good month to slow down and focus on what we truly value. As we journey through the cosmic energies of May, we are eager to gain greater awareness, expansion of some kind, and a deeper clarity on the journey of transformation we are moving through. 

As Mercury stations direct, we may receive deeper insights and see a clearer path forward. A new or higher truth may also be revealed to us, helping to change our thinking or the direction we’ve been traveling in. 

Here's to a new month and new beginnings for us all! 

April 2024 week pick

Back when we were young and impressionable, the writing of Rachel Carson introduced us to topics and issues that opened up our world. At wonder | wander | world we are forever grateful for sharing her stories and insights with us.

a classic introduction to the wonders of nature

Author, biologist, conservationist, and leading pioneer of the global environmental movement - her life, legacy, and revolutionary writing have greatly impacted the world. We give homage to the literature and environmental education she shared - which still remain our treasured and eternal companion.

Rachel Louise Carson is well known for her Silent Spring book (1962) that challenged the use of chemical pesticides and launched an environmental movement. Not many knew that before she wrote about the silencing of birds she was a marine biologist and wrote a trilogy about the ocean.

In her essay and book The Sense of Wonder - when her grandnephew visits Carson for a summer at her cottage in Maine - together they wander through the surrounding woods and tide pools. 

Teaching Roger about the natural wonders around them - she relates to her readers how she too experiences them anew - sharing these same magical moments of awe with us, her audience. 

Learn more about her story and legacy. Read her writing for yourself - it is the ideal way to honor her on Earth Day this April 22.

coloring anatomḗ

Mandalas are a fun an in-depth method of tracking personal cycles of growth and development. Throughout the ages the most admired and discussed symbol of divinity and art is the mandala.

a fully colored mandala

wonder | wander | world presents Mandala Cycles - a labor of love created to celebrate our alumni homecoming golden anniversary. 

original uncolored mandala on Behance

Mandala Cycles now has its own community page as well on Facebook. Created to provide support and collaboration among colorists of all ages. 

embrace equity

Every year, March is designated Women’s History Month by presidential proclamation. Why this day needs a presidential proclamation is beyond our nation of women and all tribes of females. The month is set aside to honor women’s contributions in world history. 

March 8 is a global holiday - International Women's Day. It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements - across nations, divisions, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. 

invest in women & benefit all

IWD Themes: 

2020	"I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women's Rights"
2021	Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world
2022	Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow
2023	DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality
2024	Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress

400 years of women's frustrations

In conversation today we wondered and meandered over human dynamics and how they have come to be. Especially within families - how we perceive and are in turn perceived, what bonds and binds us, what stories are told, embellished, and retold? 

some women diarists featured in the new anthology

Sarah Gristwood's Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries, is a captivating anthology of women's dominant emotion in the past 400 years - a recurring theme in their journals written between 1599 and 2015. 

This book is a collection of extracts from women’s diaries, looking back over four centuries to discover how women’s experience has changed over the years and how it hasn’t.

Organized around the calendar year with several selections for each day - this book is a fascinating record of how women were thinking, feeling and reacting to historical events.

Stauney, Sadie, and Sarah discuss the book

The variety of entries, the process of women writing in diaries and how they were preserved, the importance of daily records, how it's changing in the digital age, and what Sarah hopes people will take away from her latest release.

This book is an enthralling retrospective of well-known diarists and more obscure ones. The rich mix of incredibly voices often echoing down the centuries sound eerily familiar today. 

wonder | wander | world thoroughly recommend this fun and fabulous read. Read it! Read it! Read it! 

Lunar New Year 2024

This year 2024, we celebrate the lunar new year on February 9 and 10. It is the year of the Green Wood Dragon. 

Quinglong, god of the East, Green Dragon

All over the world Asians and many others greet each other “Congratulations and may you be prosperous.”

Gong Xi Fa Cai in Mandarin. Kung Hei Fat Choi, also spelled as Gong Hei Fat Choy in Cantonese. Kiong Hee Huat Tsai in Hokkien, spoken by most Filipino Chinese, like our grandparents. Kiong Hi Huat Cai in Indonesian. Chuc Mung Nam Moi or Cung Hỉ Phát Tài in Vietnamese.

May we all have a prosperous New Year! 

star codes

Here at wonder | wonder | world we regularly share a week pick that inspires us or something special we recommend to our viewers. 

The thriving and insightful community of We'Moon is one of our regular favorites. These wise women are a constant and deep well filled to overflowing with artful illustrations and insightful ideas. 

2024 We'Moon Datebook

We are proud and content users of their annual datebook for years now. Aside from including a lunar calendar and astrological planner it is also a visionary art and writing by creative talented women from around the world. 

We recommend tuning into the weekly Star Codes - beautiful and insightful lunar news released every weekend. Daily predictions and planetary interpretations are paired with a lovely art feature. 

radical truth

Anne Brontë, the last of the Brontë children, was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England on 17 January 1820. Meek and more religious-minded than Charlotte or Emily, little is known about her life compared to the lives of her more popular sisters.

The Brontë sisters like many women writers at the time published their poems and novels under male pen names so that their work might be taken seriously in the male-dominated literary world of the 19th century: they were Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. ~ The Attagirls on Twitter

Anne Brontë: the radical sister overlooked by history

Anne's first novel was Agnes Grey (1847), based on her experience as a governess. It didn't get much attention, but her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), was an immediate success. She met with fierce criticism for her work despite its huge popularity.

LitHub's 2024 film & tv preview

Aside from being book worms, here at wonder | wander | world we are great fans of movies and television as well. It is a joy to discover that LitHub, a favorite go-to - has now released their recommended list for 2024. 

Their 2024 literary film and TV preview features 53 shows and movies to be on watch. From what it looks like we are definitely in for a wild and fun ride.

Check them out here as posted on the LitHub site.

"Happy 2024—may it be better than 2023 2022 2021 2020 you expect. To that end, here are a selection of literary films and tv shows hitting screens large and small in the year to come. Might as well entertain ourselves while the world burns. (NB that premiere dates are subject to change, and plenty haven’t been announced yet, especially in the second half of the year.)"

Thank you Emily Temple for her succinct and delightful previews listed here - well done. We eagerly await their release. 

Dive in folks - for the best entertainment of the year! 

a return to feminine power

As we strive to connect with the universe to unlock its secrets and our innate potential - the divine feminine has been a potent concept in human history.

Goddess Maat, Egyptian, date unknown
via the British Museum

The manifestation of feminine energy in the universe is the energy inside everyone associated with creativity, fertility, and intuitive thinking. It is a sacred power source that is both integral to the nature of the universe and inherent in ourselves.

Goddess Tellus relief, Ara Pacis, circa 13- 9 BCE

All through history the divine feminine is revered and deified as the foundation of all creation. In many cultures - then and now - the Mother Goddess is a matriarchal archetype represented frequently in art and found in various mythologies around the world.