There is no drop of water in the ocean, not even in the deepest parts of the abyss, that does not know and respond to the mysterious forces that create the tide. — Rachel Carson
This particular beach is a favorite for locals to surf and tidepool, so we are always a bit vague as to the specific location to protect it from being overrun by ill-mannered tourists who trash our beaches.
“Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
I woke up at dawn to watch the arrival of the sun and the sky was spectacular! The birds are singing and my resident hawks are nest building. All around me, I see evidence of rebirth.
You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep spring from coming.” – Pablo Neruda
This year’s Spring Equinox on March 20 corresponds with Venus retrograde, Mercury retrograde, eclipse season, and Neptune’s entry into Aries for the first time in nearly 165 years.
“Oh, what a catastrophe for man when he cut himself off from the rhythm of the year, from his unison with the sun and the earth. Oh, what a catastrophe, what a maiming of love when it was a personal, merely personal feeling, taken away from the rising and the setting of the sun, and cut off from the magic connection of the solstice and the equinox!” — D. H. Lawrence
The vernal equinox marks the astronomical start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when the sun crosses the celestial equator, resulting in equal day and night hours.
This event symbolizes rejuvenation, new beginnings, and spiritual awakening — the perfect opportunity to embrace change and harmony between light and dark.
“There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature; the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” — Rachel Carson
Many pagans today celebrate the spring equinox as ‘Ostara’, which is a Latin variation of the Anglo-Saxon goddess of dawn, spring, fertility, and rebirth — Oestra (or Eostre) with roots in Germanic cultures.
New ideas are calling out to us. The animal world is buzzing with new life. This month is about trying new things out: What excites you right now? What are you interested in? What are you drawn toward?
Just like we plant seeds in the ground to watch them grow and eventually harvest fruit, flowers, or vegetables, which seeds will we plant in our minds and hearts? What will we manifest? What will WE grow?
Image curated from Pinterest. Credit to the artist.
I almost forgot that today is also the first night of Passover, so here’s a couple of suggestions to create a vegan Seder plate. Substitute a roasted beet for the roasted lamb bone (no one should be eating babies, anyway) and for the egg, try seeds or flowers, because they’re symbolic of spring and hold the potential for new life like an egg does.
Back to Earth Day, the theme for 2024 is “Planet vs. Plastics”.
Sustainable lifestyles are considered to be ways of living, social behaviors, and choices — that minimize environmental degradation (use of natural resources, CO2 emissions, waste and pollution) while supporting equitable socio-economic development and better quality of life, not only for us, but for future generations and Mother Earth.
That’s what I like to think I’m doing when I visit my favorite consignment shop (haha).
I attended the very first Earth Day celebration in 1970 at Balboa Park in San Diego with a crowd of about 70,000 people. The weather was beautiful, about 68 degrees, and I must have skipped school that Wednesday.
After all this time, I can’t remember who I went with or how I got there but I do recall walking from booth to booth looking for free stuff and having an unpleasant encounter with a San Diego cop, probably about being truant.
There is a vague recollection that I swore at him and he got all puffed up and intimidating, threatening to call my dad until I told him to go ahead, my dad was a lawyer…and then he walked away. Miss you, Daddy, and thank you!
Gaia, known as the mother goddess, was the personification of Earth. She’s described as a caring and nurturing mother figure to all of her children, plants, and other living creatures on this planet.
If we take care of Mother Earth, she’ll take care of us!
Here are some way to live a more sustainable lifestyle from the Center for Biological Diversity.
🌎 Think twice before shopping.
🌎 Ditch plastic and switch to reuse.
🌎 Take extinction off your plate.
🌎 Simplify the holidays.
🌎 Choose organic.
🌎 Ditch fast fashion and animal-based textiles.
🌎 Be water wise.
🌎 Drive less, drive green.
🌎 Green your home.
🌎 Boycott products that endanger wildlife.
🌎 Fight for the right to choose when and if to start a family.
🌎 Take action.
🌎 Use your voice.
In 1970, I attended the original Earth Day celebration in Balboa Park. I remember wandering around the booths with friends, enjoying the balmy day amidst the smell of (then illegal) marijuana, which was never my thing because I wouldn’t be at all interested in any substance that encourages eating a lot of carbs.
It was a pleasant day with earnest young people dedicated to educate and inform and become involved in making the world a better place.
The proper use of science in not to conquer nature but to live in it.
Barry Commoner
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money
Cree Indian Proverb
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. John Muir
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 