July's Abundance
Hello friend,
There is a gentle breeze, and it might thunderstorm soon. Over the past week, rain has visited us each day and evening, providing a much-needed respite from the heatwave that was here last weekend. I think I'm surprised each year by the abundance the garden provides in July. I don't know how or why I forget about the harvest and the ways the garden continuously gives this time of year. Maybe it is how time moves, or memory works. I am immersed in the harvest when it is upon me, and when it changes, I sometimes forget it existed. I would like to be better about remembering the long arc of time, so during those times that seem barren, I remember that abundance always returns.
My garden is giving me more than it ever has before. I cannot eat the tomatoes fast enough. We pick blueberries each morning. The sweet potato plants have taken over a large portion of the garden. My kale is still growing. The okra is coming in, and we have corn this year. I just saw the first corn silk on the stalk this morning! What a wonder.
I'm grateful for what is here now, and I know what is here will change, just as time does.
Having a corner of peace, really a sanctuary, feels essential right now, but please know, the thought that some people don't ever experience sanctuary is never far from my consciousness. So I sit in my own, and I uplift blessings for everyone to have a place of peace.
This month's card is adaptation.
The photo of the baby wolf is from a book I bought over a decade ago at a library in Hot Springs, North Carolina. They were having a sale on books they had moved off the shelves, and I saw the one with oodles of pictures of wolves and knew it was for me. I've collaged from it many times. I am not sure what was moving through me when I made this card in the new year, but here it is an invitation for each one of us to shift and change, really to be shapeshifters and changemakers. The earth does this all of the time in response to unpredictable conditions, mostly human-made. So maybe we, too, can learn to adapt in ways that support the whole and more baby wolves coming into being so they can howl at the moon.
This month's practice will be on Monday, July 27th at 4:00 pm ET.
I will guide us through a meditation, a little somatic practice, and (I'm changing it up again) the opportunity to create a blessing for this time, in the spirit of adaptation. You could use pastels, pencils, your journal, watercolors, collage materials, and the like to create your blessing. I'll guide you through the process. There will be time for us to share our blessings, or parts of them, with each other if we wish. If you do not wish to use creative materials, you can use your body, your throat, and your energy to create a blessing.
If you cannot join us in person, I will provide a recording of the meditation and somatic practice, along with instructions for creating a blessing.
Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/iSFzT1Z5Q3G8sGNynWgEdQ
Many blessings. Blessed Bee.
Michelle
