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. 

In the process, we witnessed what seeds we planted then that now thrive in our gardens this summer. It is a wonderful practice we continue to repeat each year. 

This is the first extended summer break we are spending in the Philippines since covid and before we moved to the US and the UK. What better time to revisit this annual practice of ours? 

flying over Mount Kanlaon, Negros Island

As usual, September starts with the birth of our one and only spawn - Mahala. It was also the month our high school class of 1974 launched Mandala Cycles, a personally hand drawn coloring book project printed to raise funds for future scholars. This was a special golden anniversary celebration as well. 

At the autumn equinox last year we were together in London to spend some quality time together - mother and child. It was a sacred moment to greet and grieve with our beloved goddesses - Demeter and Persephone. 

Acknowledging the mysteries of this divine pair. The mother weeping in rage as her daughter leaves courageously - the old one beckoning with her wisdom and promise of transformation. 

Issa & Mahala - Mother's Day 2024

November was spent in Georgia by the Augusta Canal - this lone monument to America's Industrial Age is also aptly now the home of diverse plants and animals of the southeastern Fall Line. 

As we visited with a childhood cousin who'd been recently widowed - we celebrated our lives on a gustation of homemade Southern cooked meals. A totally freeing adventure of no schedules, no rules, no holds barred surprising delights. 

The holidays were spent bringing our US based home to a temporary close - as we packed up, stored, and boxed away what was there. To move over here until who knows when - agenda open to all openings, possibilities, opportunities. 

backyard bounty - Indian mangoes galore

Where we found ourselves slammed, hammered, and flattened in the escalating heat of our climate compromised country of our birth. hot! Hot! HOT! Where the dedicated locals are hard at work on the management and operation of our local and natural environment. 

Desperate to sustain and regenerate dwindling resources - while advocating actively through legislation programs and protocol implementation. We are still eager to keep our island's biodiversity thriving in a reciprocal loop of care and awareness. 

Holy Week came around just in time to replenish and soothe our savaged souls. Given this week of reprieve to slow down and reassess - we made time to surrender our rage and resurrect revived in our recovered spirit and joy. 

local arroz Valenciana

We are happy to be back in our own medicine - on the mend and ready to rumble. Glorying in this sacred advise: 

“Follow your own footprints. Learn from rivers, trees, rocks. Honor your siblings, honor Mother Earth, honor the Great Spirit. Honor yourself and all Creation. Look with the eyes of your soul and commit to the essentials”.