I do not remember much changing in my life when I was growing up. My parents living room furniture never altered. The house looked the same except that once after years of my mother's complaints it was painted red. We never moved; my father kept the same job, the list goes on. World War II brought certain kinds of changes, yet nothing close to what we have recently gone through with the advent of Covid 19.

 This experience could be called a kind of war, yet the conflict is not between peoples but between all of us and an invisible, yet deadly foe. The rapid changes we have all endured have been part of the battle, weapons to fight this insidious and life-threatening enemy. The normal days we have all been living have been whisked away, replaced by a new normal that includes masks, frequent hand washing, and social distancing.

Solstice Melody

May the sweet breeze of summer
curl around your shoulders.
May the joyous sound of birdsong
fill your ears.
May the taste of wild berries
bless your lips.
May the energetic blooms
of the new and thriving
delight your gaze.
May the rich scents of roses
and wonder
fill your being.
May you lift your arms
to the sun and allow
yourself to expand into
the heart of passion,
the heat of longing,
the warmth of pleasure.
May the streaming light of
purposeful joy
replenish your heart.

Happy Solstice!

It is late this year, Spring. A coldness has swept over our land as many are fighting the powers that be, or complying with the powers that be, and those that are fighting the powers that be are being fought against by those who are complying with the powers that be, and perhaps vice versa. We are at war. Unfortunately.

May the warriors for Truth be victorious, win this war.

Summer Solstice: Celebration of Light

June 20 is Summer Solstice! The Sun moves into the sign of Cancer at 2:44 pm PDT

The seasonal cycle of the year is created by Earth’s annual orbit around the sun. Solstices are the extreme points as Earth’s axis tilts toward or away from the sun—when days and nights are longest or shortest. On equinoxes, days and nights are equal in all parts of the world. Four cross-quarter days roughly mark the midpoints in between solstices and equinoxes. We commemorate these natural turning points in the Earth’s cycle. Seasonal celebrations of most cultures cluster around these same natural turning points.

I Opened It © A. Levemark

Summit of full summer.

Feel the sun within you shining with abundance, as we blink in the light of that glowing promise, resurrection from death. The triumph of light peaks, slides slowly to dissolve. This is the tipping point for everything: democracy, misogyny, racism, climate, freedom. All are on a cliff edge. We've reached the neon-bright entrance to The Great Turning.

4/2015*

The forest was evil. It held no beauty, power, or goodness; it never fed her cells when she walked in it.

A Faerie, she could perceive subtle energies. The forest was evil.

It hadn’t always been. But she’d secretly watched the change:

How about a nice tall glass of lemonade on a hot summer day? If you make up some sugar syrup ahead of time, you can make some for yourself any time you wish. Simple syrup in your fridge, fresh lemons close at hand, ice cubes and a tall glass and you're good to go. Mix half to a whole squeezed lemon into a glass or perhaps a frosty mug, add simple syrup you make yourself, to sweeten, stir well and add ice.