Sacred Season

I was reading a bedside book which a friend gave me,(Earth Prayers, from around the world) this morning and came across a poem which has an essence of what I was trying to say with the previous blog. So I thought I would share it.
.......

O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher
for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment
As I gaze upon your full-colored beauty,
I sense all about you
an at-homeness with your amber riches.

You are the season of retirement,
of full barns and harvested fields.
The cycle of growth has ceased,
and the busy work of giving life
is now completed
I sense in you no regrets:
you’ve lived a full life.

I live in a society that is ever-restless,
always eager for more mountains to climb,
seeking happiness through more and more possessions.
As a child of my culture,
I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received;
may I know that it’s enough,
that my striving can cease
in the abundance of God’s grace.
May I know the contentment
that allows the totality of my energies
to come full flower.
May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure.


As you, O Autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty,
let me also take delight
in the abundance of the simple things in life
which are the true source of joy.
With the golden glow of peaceful contentment
may I truly appreciate this autumn day

~Edward Hays

A forgotten harvest

Soon my children will be having their harvest festival at school. They will sing songs about the bounty of the earth, tell us to think of those who do not have enough to eat and read poems about Autumn. Parents used to be encouraged to bring food into the school which was collected up and taken to a local old peoples home, but this is no longer the case.
A couple of years ago we collected all the food but the care home didn't want it because it contained fresh veg from some of the parents gardens. I presume this was some sort of health and safety thing, either that or they just didn't know what to do with fresh vegetables.
Any harvest festivals I attend now, seem to consist of lots of tins of baked beans and spaghetti hoops.

It makes me sad that this country just doesn't 'harvest' anymore.
The children sing about the Earths gifts but how many accept (or even understand)them? Harvest is solely for farmers now, and is done from the back of huge machines.
Fewer and fewer people collect apples from the tree's, pick brambles from the wayside, know the fungi to eat or grow their own small harvests.

Something has been lost.
The apples sit and rot under the tree's.

It's not the food, we all have plenty of that, it is the recognition of the Earths seasonal gifts to us all and it is the thankfulness to creation for caring for us in this way.

I wonder how many other 'harvests' we have forgotten?
What else are we forgetting to bring home and be thankful for?
Our health? our friends and loved ones? our gifts in life?

I hope that each of you has a Harvest of your own this Autumn and that it sustains you and you are thankful.


...and if you want some of my apples, I have tons. (this is one basket of three from a single tree, there is only so much apple pie I can make!)

Sacred Nature

My husband and I were watching a documentary the other night about the nomadic horse peoples of Mongolia.
As part of this documentary it was noted that they regarded the animals at a particular lake as sacred, the wildfowl and particularly the whooper swans which nested there.
There have been similar documentaries we have also watched recently in which certain cultures or religions hold animals in a high regard, as special or sacred to their Gods.

It occured to me that Christian belief doesn't have this connection to animals and nature.
Is this right?
Thinking back on my Bible stories I cant think of any which venerate animals or nature? (other than the Arc) and I am unaware of any animal sacred to Christians.
I am sure those of you who know your Bible better than me (I am looking at you Old Crone!) might put me right, and I welcome any stories that I don't know about.

But perhaps this is part of the reason I have always felt a little detached from the Christian tradition (that and the role of women, which OC and I were also discussing recently).
I find in my RL as well as my SL, that I gain great spiritual strength from the natural world. For me just 'being' with the world can reveal wonders and beauty which often my everyday life can block.
When I spend time outside I can almost feel the connections that bind us to each other as humans, that connect us to the rest of creation and , I believe, connect us to something greater.

Vulture . by Robinson Jeffers

I had walked since dawn and lay down to rest on a bare hillside
Above the ocean. I saw through half-shut eyelids a vulture wheeling
high up in heaven,
And presently it passed again, but lower and nearer, its orbit
narrowing,
I understood then
That I was under inspection. I lay death-still and heard the flight-
feathers
Whistle above me and make their circle and come nearer.
I could see the naked red head between the great wings
Bear downward staring. I said, 'My dear bird, we are wasting time
here.
These old bones will still work; they are not for you.' But how
beautiful
he looked, gliding down
On those great sails; how beautiful he looked, veering away in the
sea-light
over the precipice. I tell you solemnly
That I was sorry to have disappointed him. To be eaten by that beak
and
become part of him, to share those wings and those eyes--
What a sublime end of one's body, what an enskyment; what a life
after death.

A poem

I found this on anothers blog and thought I would share it.

Anam Cara by Ulrike Gerbig

The sun
Bears you

The wind
Knows you

The rain
Cries you

Water
Holds you

Night
Sends you

Day
Claims you

Valleys
Hills Meadows
Woods Brooks Rivers
Ponds Lakes
Desert
Sea

Pass by

In my heart’s many folds
I carry your image

I feed on your love

Inside
And out

My search for you
Is endless

Your call made me
A pilgrim

I follow
Your song




*in Gaelic Anam is soul and Cara is friend

January 2007

Wrens

It has become clear that many people arrive on this blog looking for information on Wrens in general. Below is a rather naff blog on Wrens, however further information on Wrens can be found at the RSPB

or in the US Audubon Baby Wren

So on a very random note, I want to tell you a wee bit about my namesake.

Wren's are one of my favorite birds, they are the second smallest bird in the UK , but that doesn't stop them. Despite their size they are the most numerous bird in Britain.

This is partly down to the enterprising and hard working males in the spring time.....

I tell a story to (primary) school children about this:

The male Wren is a very clever chap, he builds at least three nests, before he has met even one lady Wren.

Once his nests are built, he goes off to find a female. He takes his new girlfriend to one of his nests and shows it off.

He says ...*full of pride* "Look at my lovely nest, I made it myself you know, don't you think it would look nice with some lovely eggs in it?" *wink*

She says ...*none committal* "Hmmm... I don't know.." *points at it* "that side looks a bit loose and the neighbourhoods very noisy"

So he tells her to come and see his other nest... and so on. Eventually she finds one she likes, and she lays her eggs in it and begins to brood them.

Meanwhile...off Mr Wren goes to find another young lady, who might just like his first nest, and so on..

Soon there are at least three females sitting on eggs, one in each nest.

Now this is all fine for Mr Wren.. until.. the eggs begin to hatch. Soon Mr Wren has three squeaking, squawking, tweeting nests full of hungry chicks to feed. You can guess just how much hard work that is! But before long, all being well, the youngsters fledge and leave, off to face the wide world.

Now why does he do this? Because he's very clever.

You see, he wants lots of children, so that the world will always be able to hear and see beautiful Wrens. But if something should happen to one of his nests... like a bad cat finding it... or a big storm bowing it away, he still has two lovely nests full of baby birds left,

and Wrens will always rule the roost and be the most common bird in the country.

......................................................

Its a simplified story, but essentially true, and shows that you don't have to be big to be clever.

If you want to help Wrens this winter, consider giving them a little food. They are insect eaters and as such rarely visit bird tables, but a little grated cheese, sprinkled along the bottom of the hedge (because they are shy) will be greatly appreciated.

Also consider a specialist Wren nest box, as they will roost in it in winter to keep warm, as well as nest in it in the spring. This is really important because they are so small that, sadly, hundreds freeze to death on cold nights.

Did you know the most Wrens ever found to be roosting in a nestbox was 63!

And I thought my house was a squash and a squeeze!

a poem for the new year

Damaged
There's not a single tree in the wood
that isn't damaged.
Yet they grow tall and old
and when at last they fall they are noticed
not by their malformations
but by their absence, sudden blue
astonishments of sky.

Being is its own achieving.
The fabric of things
mends in spans accomplished and the joy
of particular wounds. Do not ask to be cured
nor pass your parcel of injuries
to others. You were damaged, let yourself
be changed and grow and live.

BY DONALD ADAMSON: