There is something romantic and melancholy about the Earth Mother closing out the heat of summer and preparing herself for the cold winter’s embrace. We instinctively feel the shift and are compelled to engage with the natural world, seeking to bask in the cascades of warm yellows, reds, and oranges in the trees and almost methodically find our way to apple orchards, pumpkin patches, and forests to take in the beauty and bounty of the season.
Posts tagged #nature
Goddess of Borderland, Mistress of Crossroads--Pokeweed-Hekate
Having watched the moon set with the sun’s rising, the ancient lunar goddess Hekate is on my mind. And near the Huron river path this morning, a pokeweed plant reaches upward offering a message and posing a hieroglyphic sign as she raises her arms in slender scarlet sleeves. Fresh green pendants nestle beside fully ripe ink-purple fruit on her supple limbs where she drapes luxurious flowing tresses, trailing glossy clusters from slender stems. Wildly flowering, the goddess and plant step from forest edge as one to emerge into the waking world. Hekate dances within her chosen ally pokeweed, just as ancient Greeks thought nymphs ensouled their trees in mutual lifelong union.
Weedy Wisdom for the Curious Forager: Common Wild Plants to Nourish Your Body & Soul by Rebecca Randall Gilbert
Weedy Wisdom for the Curious Forager is a delightful exploration into the world of foraging, offering readers a unique and insightful perspective on the often-overlooked treasures found in nature’s backyard. Authored by Rebecca Randall Gilbert, the book is a comprehensive guide that helps beginner and advanced foragers embrace the bounty of wild plants and discover the hidden gems under their noses.
Sustainable Health-- Take a Mindful Hike
Are you looking for easy ways to unwind and relax even the middle of your busy days? Do you find yourself feeling worried about yet another disheartening news cycle or overwhelmed with work or personal stress, and yet uncertain about how you will find the peace and calm you long for?
Hedgewitching
In high school, I’d been set free to take French classes at the university. Waiting in the library to be picked up, I wandered and read. On a physical level I was hungry for more than stories. I didn’t eat much breakfast and found the atmosphere at school non-conducive to lunch. Like many students locked into what seemed an alien rhythm, I existed in a tattered state.
Quietly Noticing
I stood about twenty feet away from my two-year-old waiting to push her on a swing or do a count down while she hyped herself up to glide down a slide. I had just gotten done with a three-mile run with her in a stroller at the loop at Hudson Mills. The only way we get through these runs is a lot of snacks and the promise of playground time, and I was ready for the playground time. To me, playground time is a time that I don’t have to keep my brain on high alert. Rinoa would play and I would catch my breath and not have to figure out how to run, push, grab, and unwrap a snack all at once as I had been doing for thirty minutes prior.
A Walk in North Bay Park in Ypsilanti
I stood near the entrance to a boardwalk watching an egret do very little. It was nearly motionless amid a cluster of pond lilies that covered the water’s surface. Its shape—long, slender neck, bulbous body—reminded me of the glass beakers we used to mix potions in high school chemistry, it’s white plumage radiant in the afternoon sun.
Tying the Knot in Nature
Infusing a wedding with nature adds a sense of lighthearted whimsy and charm through elements such as fresh air, natural lighting, vibrant flowers, and wildlife. Several local venues bring the ceremony to nature's doorstep by offering outdoor ceremony sites, while others bring nature indoors. Some Crazy Wisdom favorites include botanical gardens, riverside views, sprawling fields, and vineyards. Each of the following venues is unique, but all of them offer nature's aesthetic beauty and are perfect options for a nature-inspired wedding.
Learning From Our Year Round Birds
Whether you enjoy watching birds flit about casually, are a dedicated birder, or keep a bird feeder going, it is likely some of our beautiful year-round birds have caught your eye on more than one occasion. For centuries, humans have observed birds for signs and omens (called augury or ornithomancy) as well as told stories illuminating the lessons birds carry. Birds have a wealth of wisdom to share with us, and this article highlights several of our year-round winged teachers who can be called on at any time in our hearts and, with some bribing, in our yards. These Michigan loyalists are the Black-Capped Chickadee, the Blue Jay, and the Northern Cardinal.
Roadside Marsh
The westbound traffic on Interstate 94 is at a crawl this morning and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a Wednesday and brilliant sunshine glints in my rear view mirror.
Raptors to the Rescue! Wildlife Ambassadors Teach Lessons in Conservation
Like many people I know, if you told me in the summer of 2020 that the pandemic would probably drag on for two years or more, I would not have believed you. In fact, I would have thought you were a negative, defeatist person, and I would have avoided you like—well, the plague.
Bringing Nature Back to Our Yard: Trading In Harmful Landscaping Habits for Healthy Sustainability
Late winter is the time we may start dreaming about the color green, about flowers, imagining new vistas as we look out our windows or walk around our frozen yard. This is a wonderful time to explore a fresh outlook on our little piece of earth. As new life emerges from dormancy, we may ask ourselves, “What is the purpose of my yard?” There are many possible answers: enjoying beauty and colorful flowers, complying with homeowners’ association regulations, conforming to the neighborhood, impressing neighbors and friends, creating a safe space for the kids to play, or wanting to help save our planet.
Life Force: Discovering Invisible Allies Outside Your Door
As the sun moves higher in the sky, warming our bones and our soil, we might find ourselves more frequently drawn outside. We venture into our personal landscapes just outside the door, onto the trails of our neighborhood park, or even Nichols Arboretum, looking for more signs of life emerging from the earth. What is our personal connection with this green world outside? Some of us have started a spring vegetable garden, some of us hike or play regularly in the wild, and some of us might not know anything about plants—we just know what looks beautiful to us or how good we feel after spending time outdoors.
Friends Lake Cooperative Community: A Nature-Based and Spiritual Sanctuary
Places that hold great spiritual energy and history have a special feel to them. For decades, it has been our family practice to pause and open our windows when we turn onto the dirt road that leads into the Friends Lake Cooperative Community. This is partly to inhale the smell of the pine trees near the entrance, and partly to feel the spirit of the place, and the immediate sense of refuge and relaxation it brings us.
Conversations with Nature
There is a reason we feel more peaceful when we spend time connecting with our pets or hiking in the forest. Nature is in perpetual energetic flow and does not manipulate energy the way people do. Humans continually try to divert, filter, suppress, create, and extinguish energy. Because of this, when we are immersed in the flow of nature, our body’s energetic response is to line up with that frequency. We let go of a little of that human tendency to control energy. It’s relaxing, and when we are relaxed, we are open to receive communication from our own intuition as well as Source (the name I will use in reference to God, Universe, Deity, Divinity).
Book Review: The Five Element Solution By Jean Haner
Author and teacher, Jean Haner, has carved out a unique niche for herself as an expert on Chinese spiritual methods, including: the art of Chinese face reading, the Nine-Star-Ki (a form of numerology), and Space Clearing. Her latest book, titled The Five Element Solution: Discover The Spiritual Side of Chinese Medicine to Release Stress, Clear Anxiety, and Reclaim Your Life was inspired by her clients who wanted more support after their sessions with her.
Squirrel Sense
They call it birdseed for a reason, but squirrels don’t know that. For those of us who enjoy feeding birds, squirrels can be crafty, and sometimes costly, adversaries. A hungry fox squirrel can chow down a dollar’s worth of sunflower seeds faster than a small flock of finches, which can be annoying. Or it can be entertaining.
Plant Medicine and Magic
When people ask what drew me to herbalism, there are two stories that I tell. One is of my time working in the Mojave desert, where my boss—a botanist by training—would point out various native plants and tell me snippets of how the indigenous people of the area used them for food or medicine (he always spoke of this in the past tense). For him, it was an interesting tidbit of information, but I thought, “couldn’t we still?” This story is true, but the deeper truth goes back many years, to my childhood.
Hidden Gems: Green Spaces You Might Not Know About, but Need to Explore!
We’re fortunate to live in a city where nature is preserved. Over 200 parks continue to be open to the public during the pandemic in Ann Arbor, and studies have shown that being in nature makes us healthier, more creative, more empathetic, and more likely to pursue active engagement with the world around us. No wonder Gallup Park gets so crowded! If you’re looking for a quieter space to immerse yourself in nature, these three hidden gems are exceptional places to unplug.
When Old Becomes New: The Hidden Power of Plants in the Matthaei Medicinal Garden
Upon arrival the Matthaei Botanical Gardens may seem a bit intimidating, with a barrage of rattlesnake warning signs posted along the long winding drive through the wild, prairie-like, bucolic setting. But once you pay for your parking at the self-pay port and enter the arboretum or gardens, you are transported to a happier place from within the deep recesses of your childhood memories. It is altogether beautiful, peaceful, and engaging. There are many display gardens and areas of interest, but this article focuses exclusively on the outdoor Medicinal Garden.
