Thanks, Irene. Isn't that fox an interesting melange of colors? The head looks like a gray fox and the hindquarters look like what's called a "cross fox," gray with a black stripe down the backbone and across the withers. May spring bring more moisture there. :)
Thanks goes to the playwright and novelist Denise Chávez, who was the one who pointed out to me what my assemblages meant many decades ago when my little family and I lived in southern New Mexico. Isn't it interesting how we unconsciously honor the earth and our kinship this way, and until someone else points out what we are doing, we don't see the spiritual leadings in our gatherings? Blessings of spring to you, Kathryn!
Spring Blessings to you, Susan! This is such a beautiful reflection on honouring spring and deepening our bond with Mother Earth. Thank you so much, for sharing your wisdom and inspiration. I'll definitely be using this as a guide to create my own seasonal altar, a space to celebrate the vibrant energy of the season.
Gardens up and down the land are waking up with colour and new growth - it truly is such a joyful, life-affirming time. Here's to embracing the magic of spring and all the possibilities it brings! 🌱💚🌿
Thank you, Deborah! And yes, it is a "joyful, life-affirming time" full of possibilities. May we can use that energy to spread what Quakers call the "Ocean of Light and Love" over the "Ocean of Darkness and Fear" in this world. Seeding the good, as it were....
Spring wishes to you, Susan! The alters are a wonderful idea and place for meditation on the season and her meanings. Spring is an energizing time of growth and new beginnings💚
Thanks for your thoughts on this first day of Spring.
I am reminded of a quote from George Orwell
"Spring is here, even in London..., and they can't stop you from enjoying it."
He wrote this in 1946 in the essay "Some thoughts on the Common Toad."
It is gratifying to see the renewed signs of spring. As I walk with my walker to the post office several times a week, I see the signs- daffodils, grape hyacinths, crocuses, and earlier snowdrops, heather and camellias, blooming along the way. A few days ago I was surprised by a flock of cedar waxwings feeding on the still hanging fruit of a hawthorn tree. I had been looking for waxwings for the last month, occasionally hearing them, but never seeing. Yet there were nine in a tree along the road not far from my apartment!
David, It's great that with your walker you can get out and explore your neighborhood and take in the spring signs. And it's always a lift to see and hear a flock of cedar waxwings with their thin trilling calls and their sleek plumage!
Ah, yes, spring on the Great Plains! The season of wind and horizontal snow.... We got blowing snow here too, but it all blew past us, and we could surely use the moisture. Hang in there and absorb the joy of the brave bits of green when they do appear.
As always, I enjoy your substack offerings, especially this one. Your altars are lovely. We woke to 2-3 inches of snow and couldn't see any of our mountains around us. Snow lies deep beside the house--maybe 2-2-1/2 feet--and, although I hear it melting most days, the melt is darned slow. We may not get spring until May! Our roads are too muddy to walk. The World Cup ski finals are in our valley beginning Saturday. We plan to attend all of them. Pure winter. Love to you!
Julie, Enjoy the exceptional snow year you're having, even if the melt is slow and the roads are muddy. It's perfect for the World Cup ski finals, and I know you will both enjoy those immensely. I wish I could say we had that kind of snowpack, but it's been a dry winter and spring here so far. Still, it's spring and there's new life coming, and that is comforting in these times. Hugs to you!
This was such a good thing to read this morning. I had an hour long conversation with someone about the state of the world before reading this. I appreciate the nature pictures, the altar pictures, and the invitation to look at spring and the cycles that happen, regardless of whatever else is going on.
Christina, I am glad you had this to read after that hour-long conversation. We need grounding and the reminders that life in the larger sense continues when it seems the human world is falling apart. As you say, when we are feeling overwhelmed, we can look at spring and the ongoing cycles to help ground us and give us back our balance and strength. Outside, the plants and photosynthesizing bacteria are still inhaling CO2 and exhaling the oxygen we breathe. The bluebirds are still winging north to look for nest sites. The red foxes are still pouncing on mice. The daffodils and trillium are budding; bumblebee queens are raising their first brood of young in time to pollinate the spring flush of flowers.... The larger world is still going about the business of living and healing and offering beauty and joy. That can be our nourishment.
Lovely, Susan! I too have an earth altar that has traveled with me from home to home. And thank you for all the other spring-y words here. Happy Equinox to you!
I am not surprised that you have an earth altar that has come with you from home to home, Jeanne. I think we share a number of earth-spirit practices. :) I have several at this point, including ones that change from season to season. That refreshing keeps me from forgetting to pay attention to these terraphilic assemblages, as I might otherwise. (I am a creature of too much habit sometimes.) Blessings of the equinox to you, too!
Love the pictures. At a distance, the fox looks a bit like the red wolf, which is a protected animal. I think it's in NC. A post on FB reminded people it's not a coyote. I could see why people could make that mistake. I spent the day planting the garden. A great way to celebrate spring.
Red wolves are indeed an endangered species, Penny, now found in the wild in only a tiny fragment of their original range, the Albemarle Peninsula in eastern NC. And their coats are marled the way this fox is, so I can see how the photo reminded you of them. I'm glad you could spend the day planting your garden--good regenerative work for the soul and the earth!
Beautiful thoughts on spring's arrival. I love the picture of the red fox -- fox in general are such interesting, curious creatures. And your altars! Deliberate altars, and spontaneous ones -- they touch my heart. May you be blessed with rains. Sending love and goodwill.
Stephanie, thank you! I added a link to your beautiful essay on grief and altars after the newsletter went out in email (my apologies for forgetting in the first version). It's there on the web version. Mine are not nearly as lovely as the altars you create, but they're meaningful to me! Thank you for the rain blessings wish. We still have a chance for a wet spring snow or two between now and the end of April, and I am hoping... Hugs and blessings to you.
I keep a little basket on the corner of my desk that my dad made when he was a boy. In it, is a collection of stones I gathered with my daughter and a little twig that my granddaughter gave me when she was two or three. (She’s 16 now.) I never thought of this as an earth altar but, in a sense, I suppose that is what it is.
Linda, I think that is the best kind of altar, because it connects you to several generations of family, is contained in a hand-made basket, and the stones and twig represent your family's terraphilia. What a wonderful collection of memory, artistry and communion!
Spring greetings to you, dear Susan, and thank you for including me in this wonderful guide to ways of honoring and celebrating an important seasonal change. Grateful to all the other contributors too, imagining us all sitting together on a hillside overlooking a meadow of Spring flowers watching the sun rise on the gift of another day.
Happy Spring, Gary! I'm glad you are with us here, and still finding the energy to write when you can. May your spirit be nurtured by the community here and by all you do. Blessings to you and yours.
I am sending you a copy of what I just sent to @Kert Lenseigne 🌱 as we share similar views on numerous topics. I want to emphasize this gift from you : MAY YOUR SPIRIT BE NURTURED BY THE COMMUNITY HERE AND BY ALL YOU DO. BLESSINGS TO YOU AND YOURS.” I can think of no better prayer than that! Thank you, Susan. Here’s a little window into part of my conversation with Kert this morning: Seems I am about the age of many Substack people’s parents!
“Yes it’s basic interaction of internal and external chemistry, and biology. We practiced for awhile what we called “LINNER” a combo of lunch and dinner which was around 3 PM. I have also found that eating smaller amounts more frequently works too but nothing heavy before bedtime. Naps aid digestion or so it seems to me, as does taking a walk which I have not yet been able to manage but working on getting there, one step at a time, if possible. If not, then I am grateful to be able to sit here and communicate with some good folks and friends like you, sharing ideas, experiences, thoughts and feelings. My breaking the fast this morning was a shot of cold pressed green juice that included kale, spinach, cucumber, ginger and couple of other things followed up with glass of pure 100% orange juice and then a small dish of coconut yogurt and muesli. Taste remains one of the best of my senses and I always felt sorry for those who lost it and smell sometimes because of COVID. I combine eat to live with live to eat. I used to say I was in good shape for the condition I was in. Now I say, glad to be here, regardless. We’re fortunate to still have some good choices although more limited than in previous years. As time wears on, and the inevitable decline takes its toll, I remain grateful for each day, what it offers and what I can offer in return. So, here’s to you, and your Dad, Kert. Celebrating second full day of Spring!”
Gary, your attitude is a blessing in itself. I live with Lupus and two other autoimmune conditions, so I am used to observing my body and adapting my life and rhythms to adjust to what gives my immune system the most ease. Hence my focus on practicing my terraphilia, that innate connection to the earth and its web of life. Practicing terraphilia has no only helped me live well with my particular health; it also helped me live well in the two-plus years I spent journeying with my late husbands brain cancer, and ultimately, "midwifing" his death and my mom's death in the same year. Without that heart and spirit-connection to nature, I am not sure I would have survived. I say that all to say that I have some understanding and empathy for what you are living with, and I feel you walking your steps ('walking' metaphorically or literally) in life with a great deal of grace.
Thanks, again, Susan. Ever wonder why more people haven’t figured out what a big role “attitude” plays in our overall well-being regardless of condition? And even more, that our conscious choices affect how we live every day? One of my mantras is “gratitude abides.”
I've thought about that a lot, Gary, and that's a great mantra! I wrote about attitude in my first memoir, Walking Nature Home, which is about learning to live well with what I have. Attitude matters a lot, something that western medicine has a hard time grasping, but eastern medicine sees as crucial. Different perspectives, different systems of thought.
Yes, it’s interesting to see the effects on health that emanate from different cultural practices, including diets. There seems to be increased interest in eastern vs western perspectives in medicine and healthcare.
Loved your alters, most especially your council of fetishes and equine talismans. I grew up by the ocean and have collected seashells from that first home in MA to beaches around the world. I have arranged and rearranged them to mix and mingle in a way (for the most part) that humans do not. They live together with such diversity that I no longer remember their origins. They were my oceanic alters, I guess. Now I no longer have them all out in view. There were too many. I recently brought home a few pine cones from a getaway in Pagosa Springs, CO. There were so many that I thought it would be okay to have a few of them on my dresser as a reminder as to how much I love being in a pine forest. I vow to do this more often.
I have seen too few foxes in the wild. This one is a beauty. Thank you, Susan.
Phyllis, your seashell groupings sound like powerful homages to your relationship with the ocean and the communities of diverse saltwater life around this earth. And now you have ponderosa pine cones to remind you of the fragrance and feeling of being in pine forests. It sounds to me like you have an altar practice, you just didn't ever name it! Re foxes: They live along the rivers and perennial streams where you are, and in the irrigated farmland. And you'd see them most in the early morning or the evening, so if you walk the Bosque in the evening ever, watch for them there. Blessings to you!
We do walk along the bosque and will be starting early morning walks as soon as the temp goes up and it becomes too hot to take puppy for a walk later in the day. I will definitely look for foxes then! Thanks for the tip. We loved Pagosa Springs!! Lynn and Lynda Miller go there regularly and recommended it. What a gorgeous place but probably a long drive from where you are. It was only 3 1/2 hours from Placitas. Stunning getaway. We will definitely be going back. Terraphilia abounds in Colorado as well as New Mexico!!
I haven't been to Pagosa in more than a decade, since Richard died. He loved the hot springs there, and it was a good stop in between our home in Salida and Durango and other places when I was actively giving talks and workshops in that part of the world. It is a lovely place, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! (It's about the same distance from Montrose, via Red Mountain Pass and Durango.)
Beautiful! Equinox blessings to you!
Thanks, Irene. Isn't that fox an interesting melange of colors? The head looks like a gray fox and the hindquarters look like what's called a "cross fox," gray with a black stripe down the backbone and across the withers. May spring bring more moisture there. :)
Super cool! I've never seen one like that. I sure hope we get moisture soon- we are bone dry and have red flag warnings every day.
Touch grass, dear Earthlings~
Gaia altars all around.
Fetish councils, yes!
Beautiful, Marisol! Your gifts of word and spirit are so nourishing. Thank you.
To feed each other,
to pay forward Grace’s gifts,
like does fun Flora. :)
I too have groupings of items – fetishes, feathers, rocks – I never thought of them as altars before - thank you!
Thanks goes to the playwright and novelist Denise Chávez, who was the one who pointed out to me what my assemblages meant many decades ago when my little family and I lived in southern New Mexico. Isn't it interesting how we unconsciously honor the earth and our kinship this way, and until someone else points out what we are doing, we don't see the spiritual leadings in our gatherings? Blessings of spring to you, Kathryn!
Yes! And blessings to you, and deep thanks for all you offer1
Spring Blessings to you, Susan! This is such a beautiful reflection on honouring spring and deepening our bond with Mother Earth. Thank you so much, for sharing your wisdom and inspiration. I'll definitely be using this as a guide to create my own seasonal altar, a space to celebrate the vibrant energy of the season.
Gardens up and down the land are waking up with colour and new growth - it truly is such a joyful, life-affirming time. Here's to embracing the magic of spring and all the possibilities it brings! 🌱💚🌿
Thank you, Deborah! And yes, it is a "joyful, life-affirming time" full of possibilities. May we can use that energy to spread what Quakers call the "Ocean of Light and Love" over the "Ocean of Darkness and Fear" in this world. Seeding the good, as it were....
Spring wishes to you, Susan! The alters are a wonderful idea and place for meditation on the season and her meanings. Spring is an energizing time of growth and new beginnings💚
Thank you, Jenny! Spring is an energizing time and we surely can use that growth and positive new beginnings right now.... Many blessings to you.
Thanks for your thoughts on this first day of Spring.
I am reminded of a quote from George Orwell
"Spring is here, even in London..., and they can't stop you from enjoying it."
He wrote this in 1946 in the essay "Some thoughts on the Common Toad."
It is gratifying to see the renewed signs of spring. As I walk with my walker to the post office several times a week, I see the signs- daffodils, grape hyacinths, crocuses, and earlier snowdrops, heather and camellias, blooming along the way. A few days ago I was surprised by a flock of cedar waxwings feeding on the still hanging fruit of a hawthorn tree. I had been looking for waxwings for the last month, occasionally hearing them, but never seeing. Yet there were nine in a tree along the road not far from my apartment!
David, It's great that with your walker you can get out and explore your neighborhood and take in the spring signs. And it's always a lift to see and hear a flock of cedar waxwings with their thin trilling calls and their sleek plumage!
We got a blizzard for the equinox, which is very fitting for Nebraska:).
Ah, yes, spring on the Great Plains! The season of wind and horizontal snow.... We got blowing snow here too, but it all blew past us, and we could surely use the moisture. Hang in there and absorb the joy of the brave bits of green when they do appear.
So true. I will enjoy:)
As always, I enjoy your substack offerings, especially this one. Your altars are lovely. We woke to 2-3 inches of snow and couldn't see any of our mountains around us. Snow lies deep beside the house--maybe 2-2-1/2 feet--and, although I hear it melting most days, the melt is darned slow. We may not get spring until May! Our roads are too muddy to walk. The World Cup ski finals are in our valley beginning Saturday. We plan to attend all of them. Pure winter. Love to you!
Julie, Enjoy the exceptional snow year you're having, even if the melt is slow and the roads are muddy. It's perfect for the World Cup ski finals, and I know you will both enjoy those immensely. I wish I could say we had that kind of snowpack, but it's been a dry winter and spring here so far. Still, it's spring and there's new life coming, and that is comforting in these times. Hugs to you!
This was such a good thing to read this morning. I had an hour long conversation with someone about the state of the world before reading this. I appreciate the nature pictures, the altar pictures, and the invitation to look at spring and the cycles that happen, regardless of whatever else is going on.
Christina, I am glad you had this to read after that hour-long conversation. We need grounding and the reminders that life in the larger sense continues when it seems the human world is falling apart. As you say, when we are feeling overwhelmed, we can look at spring and the ongoing cycles to help ground us and give us back our balance and strength. Outside, the plants and photosynthesizing bacteria are still inhaling CO2 and exhaling the oxygen we breathe. The bluebirds are still winging north to look for nest sites. The red foxes are still pouncing on mice. The daffodils and trillium are budding; bumblebee queens are raising their first brood of young in time to pollinate the spring flush of flowers.... The larger world is still going about the business of living and healing and offering beauty and joy. That can be our nourishment.
Lovely, Susan! I too have an earth altar that has traveled with me from home to home. And thank you for all the other spring-y words here. Happy Equinox to you!
I am not surprised that you have an earth altar that has come with you from home to home, Jeanne. I think we share a number of earth-spirit practices. :) I have several at this point, including ones that change from season to season. That refreshing keeps me from forgetting to pay attention to these terraphilic assemblages, as I might otherwise. (I am a creature of too much habit sometimes.) Blessings of the equinox to you, too!
Lovely, the earth altar is a wonderful idea. Happy vernal equinox 🌱
Happy Vernal Equinox to you, Stephanie. May you find inspiration and joy in life's renewal.
Love the pictures. At a distance, the fox looks a bit like the red wolf, which is a protected animal. I think it's in NC. A post on FB reminded people it's not a coyote. I could see why people could make that mistake. I spent the day planting the garden. A great way to celebrate spring.
Red wolves are indeed an endangered species, Penny, now found in the wild in only a tiny fragment of their original range, the Albemarle Peninsula in eastern NC. And their coats are marled the way this fox is, so I can see how the photo reminded you of them. I'm glad you could spend the day planting your garden--good regenerative work for the soul and the earth!
Beautiful thoughts on spring's arrival. I love the picture of the red fox -- fox in general are such interesting, curious creatures. And your altars! Deliberate altars, and spontaneous ones -- they touch my heart. May you be blessed with rains. Sending love and goodwill.
Stephanie, thank you! I added a link to your beautiful essay on grief and altars after the newsletter went out in email (my apologies for forgetting in the first version). It's there on the web version. Mine are not nearly as lovely as the altars you create, but they're meaningful to me! Thank you for the rain blessings wish. We still have a chance for a wet spring snow or two between now and the end of April, and I am hoping... Hugs and blessings to you.
I keep a little basket on the corner of my desk that my dad made when he was a boy. In it, is a collection of stones I gathered with my daughter and a little twig that my granddaughter gave me when she was two or three. (She’s 16 now.) I never thought of this as an earth altar but, in a sense, I suppose that is what it is.
Linda, I think that is the best kind of altar, because it connects you to several generations of family, is contained in a hand-made basket, and the stones and twig represent your family's terraphilia. What a wonderful collection of memory, artistry and communion!
Spring greetings to you, dear Susan, and thank you for including me in this wonderful guide to ways of honoring and celebrating an important seasonal change. Grateful to all the other contributors too, imagining us all sitting together on a hillside overlooking a meadow of Spring flowers watching the sun rise on the gift of another day.
Happy Spring, Gary! I'm glad you are with us here, and still finding the energy to write when you can. May your spirit be nurtured by the community here and by all you do. Blessings to you and yours.
I am sending you a copy of what I just sent to @Kert Lenseigne 🌱 as we share similar views on numerous topics. I want to emphasize this gift from you : MAY YOUR SPIRIT BE NURTURED BY THE COMMUNITY HERE AND BY ALL YOU DO. BLESSINGS TO YOU AND YOURS.” I can think of no better prayer than that! Thank you, Susan. Here’s a little window into part of my conversation with Kert this morning: Seems I am about the age of many Substack people’s parents!
“Yes it’s basic interaction of internal and external chemistry, and biology. We practiced for awhile what we called “LINNER” a combo of lunch and dinner which was around 3 PM. I have also found that eating smaller amounts more frequently works too but nothing heavy before bedtime. Naps aid digestion or so it seems to me, as does taking a walk which I have not yet been able to manage but working on getting there, one step at a time, if possible. If not, then I am grateful to be able to sit here and communicate with some good folks and friends like you, sharing ideas, experiences, thoughts and feelings. My breaking the fast this morning was a shot of cold pressed green juice that included kale, spinach, cucumber, ginger and couple of other things followed up with glass of pure 100% orange juice and then a small dish of coconut yogurt and muesli. Taste remains one of the best of my senses and I always felt sorry for those who lost it and smell sometimes because of COVID. I combine eat to live with live to eat. I used to say I was in good shape for the condition I was in. Now I say, glad to be here, regardless. We’re fortunate to still have some good choices although more limited than in previous years. As time wears on, and the inevitable decline takes its toll, I remain grateful for each day, what it offers and what I can offer in return. So, here’s to you, and your Dad, Kert. Celebrating second full day of Spring!”
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This was lovely! And now you’ve introduced me to another kindred spirit.
Hello, Kert, and blessings on your journey.
Gary, your attitude is a blessing in itself. I live with Lupus and two other autoimmune conditions, so I am used to observing my body and adapting my life and rhythms to adjust to what gives my immune system the most ease. Hence my focus on practicing my terraphilia, that innate connection to the earth and its web of life. Practicing terraphilia has no only helped me live well with my particular health; it also helped me live well in the two-plus years I spent journeying with my late husbands brain cancer, and ultimately, "midwifing" his death and my mom's death in the same year. Without that heart and spirit-connection to nature, I am not sure I would have survived. I say that all to say that I have some understanding and empathy for what you are living with, and I feel you walking your steps ('walking' metaphorically or literally) in life with a great deal of grace.
Thanks, again, Susan. Ever wonder why more people haven’t figured out what a big role “attitude” plays in our overall well-being regardless of condition? And even more, that our conscious choices affect how we live every day? One of my mantras is “gratitude abides.”
I've thought about that a lot, Gary, and that's a great mantra! I wrote about attitude in my first memoir, Walking Nature Home, which is about learning to live well with what I have. Attitude matters a lot, something that western medicine has a hard time grasping, but eastern medicine sees as crucial. Different perspectives, different systems of thought.
Yes, it’s interesting to see the effects on health that emanate from different cultural practices, including diets. There seems to be increased interest in eastern vs western perspectives in medicine and healthcare.
Loved your alters, most especially your council of fetishes and equine talismans. I grew up by the ocean and have collected seashells from that first home in MA to beaches around the world. I have arranged and rearranged them to mix and mingle in a way (for the most part) that humans do not. They live together with such diversity that I no longer remember their origins. They were my oceanic alters, I guess. Now I no longer have them all out in view. There were too many. I recently brought home a few pine cones from a getaway in Pagosa Springs, CO. There were so many that I thought it would be okay to have a few of them on my dresser as a reminder as to how much I love being in a pine forest. I vow to do this more often.
I have seen too few foxes in the wild. This one is a beauty. Thank you, Susan.
Phyllis, your seashell groupings sound like powerful homages to your relationship with the ocean and the communities of diverse saltwater life around this earth. And now you have ponderosa pine cones to remind you of the fragrance and feeling of being in pine forests. It sounds to me like you have an altar practice, you just didn't ever name it! Re foxes: They live along the rivers and perennial streams where you are, and in the irrigated farmland. And you'd see them most in the early morning or the evening, so if you walk the Bosque in the evening ever, watch for them there. Blessings to you!
We do walk along the bosque and will be starting early morning walks as soon as the temp goes up and it becomes too hot to take puppy for a walk later in the day. I will definitely look for foxes then! Thanks for the tip. We loved Pagosa Springs!! Lynn and Lynda Miller go there regularly and recommended it. What a gorgeous place but probably a long drive from where you are. It was only 3 1/2 hours from Placitas. Stunning getaway. We will definitely be going back. Terraphilia abounds in Colorado as well as New Mexico!!
I haven't been to Pagosa in more than a decade, since Richard died. He loved the hot springs there, and it was a good stop in between our home in Salida and Durango and other places when I was actively giving talks and workshops in that part of the world. It is a lovely place, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! (It's about the same distance from Montrose, via Red Mountain Pass and Durango.)
Maybe we will meet there one day!