Autum’s Grasses, Evergreens, and Ziggurat
We either live with intention or exist by default. … It's not only moving that creates new starting points. Sometimes all it takes is a subtle shift in perspective, an opening of the mind, an intentional pause and reset, or a new route to start to see new options and new possibilities. Kristen Armstrong
This new moon day I’m declaring my intention to live in harmony. In harmony with myself. In harmony with others. In harmony with Gaia and all Her beings. In particular I’m focused on the power of our intentions, individually for ourselves and collectively for all, and on the rhythms of Nature. I’m revisiting each of my intentions with the overarching question: Is this intention aligned with valuing ALL Life?
With today’s new moon and solar eclipse arriving just a short 10 days after the equinox (autumnal here in the northern hemisphere, spring in the southern) the seasonal changes to cool, crisp mornings and splashes of brilliant colors on the mountains finds deep resonance in my body and spirit.
In many traditions the new moon is honored as a time to set new intentions and to revisit, revise and reaffirm or release those created on new moons past. The new moon is a time for seeding, and today’s new moon feels especially auspicious in this regard.
Stepping out before dawn this morning and gazing upward to the vastness above, I felt the clarity and connection of the cosmos, a deep knowing that I, we, ALL are from that same stardust. We are all different; we are all the same.
I feel that internal knowing more and more frequently these days. As I walk in Nature’s bounty and beauty, I observe what seems to be the ease with which She changes, a clear reflection of our ever-changing evolution. Buds to blooms to fruit to seed. A tiny green sprout to tall waves of verdant grasses and grains to fall waves of golden browns. Daylight shortens as the sun moves south only to pause and return, beginning yet another new cycle. Humming birds depart and nutcrackers arrive to enjoy the bounty of pine nuts.
I weave my observations of her seeming ease and flow as potential into my intentions for who I am becoming, indeed, who we are becoming. For surely change is afoot in our world and with it our potential to sprout the unique seed that lies within and to align ourselves with the nature of Nature.
At the same time, I recognize the challenges Nature faces – some a simple part of her natural eco-system, others imposed upon her by our human foibles of living in separation and our quest to control. She faces untold challenges and intrusions on the path, just as we humans do. Nature though seems to go with the flow, with her own ways and rhythms of response. We humans attempt to control it all to conform to our comforts, our profits, and our ways. Perhaps Nature has a more advanced view of what harmony truly is.
In the wake of the havoc and destruction of fires, floods, drought, storms, quakes, and volcanic eruptions, Nature seems to be inviting us to pivot, to shift our perspective, to reset our individual and collective eco-systems to align with our planet home.
As I revisit my intentions this day, I wonder, can we calm Gaia by calming ourselves and by moving away from our addiction to control and war as we move toward understanding and love and the Oneness that IS our true Nature? That, it seems to me, is the essence of harmony.
Seeds Ready to Fall