Sunday is the eve of Beltane (or May Day) in the northern hemisphere, the eve of Samhain in lands below the equator. As we in northern realms drift from winter into springtime, our kin below the equator are moving from summer into autumn.
It has been a long winter here in the eastern Ontario highlands, and it will be another week until colonies of bloodroot are up and blooming in our forest, but early specimens lift their gold and white heads in protected nooks here and there in the woods. In other years, wild yellow orchids were in bloom right about now, but it will be a while before they put in an appearance, along with trout lilies, columbines and hepatica.
Bloodroot blooms are breathtaking, and the shy white blooms with their golden centers are dear to my heart, something of a seasonal marker. Discovering this one glowing softly in its flickering, stone-warmed alcove, I felt like kneeling and kissing the good dark earth where the flower made its home. Ignoring my protesting knees, down I went in the dead leaves and stayed there for a while, nose to nose with the little wonder and as happy as one elderly clam can be. Getting up again was quite an undertaking.
The interval was one of the wild epiphanies I love so much, especially in springtime when the north woods are just coming to life. Call it a moment of kensho, one of those fleeting intervals of quiet knowing and connection that I like to call "aha" moments. Forget the fancy stuff - this is the ground of my being. As long as I can spend time with trees and rocks and springtime wildflowers, I can handle the big health "stuff", most of the time anyway. Add lakes, loons, cormorants, herons, full moons and sunsets to the equation, please. Also geese, trumpeter swans and sandhill cranes.
May there be light and blooming in your own precious life this Beltane, and may there be warmth in your corner of the great wide world. May all good things come to you at this turning in the Great Round of space and time.
4 comments:
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May all good things come to you as well!
Such a beautifully felt piece of writing and oh the bloodroot photo! I found my old love, the Trout Lily with its amazing leaves, last week and felt just as you did with the bloodroot. It is a season of worship for me also.
Joy to you,
Mary
THank you so much for the Beltane wishes! I send the same to you, as your springtime is blossoming forth, and ours may only be with us a few more weeks. I'll be joining a circle of women on Sunday May 4, and will watch those who dance around the May Pole.
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