Deepening with the Moon
This was a pretty intense last week. The moon got full, the nights cold, and my inner world busy and sometimes maddening. I balanced some self-directed research work I’ve been needing to do for years that felt thick and full and overwhelming at moments, euphoric at others. I balanced this with getting ready for my Ethnobotany of Juniper class that I taught via ZOOM, the third online class I taught this fall, and the fullest and most popular. When I get ready for these classes, I need to immerse myself, update my writings, go on further side research trains in order to understand certain pieces of the web more, get inspired to add more nuance to other areas of how I present my work in this realm, and more. It is all consuming, I end up sitting a lot, but feel pretty good about it usually once the crunch is done. Yet again I had wifi troubles so I had to go into the neighbor’s house and their kid’s bedroom to get the best service. As it goes, teaching online, off grid. I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with teaching this year, it reminds me of many years back when I used to lead plant walks more in Virginia. I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback on the depth of my knowledge and the casual and seamless way I present things that are interconnected. It feels good to hear that. I balanced this with… a lot of watery emotions. Having connection to so many people and plants through my work, but spending most of my days alone, without much touch or personal companionship right now. Without that kind of inspiring co-created dreaming with any collaborators really, something I have been desperately calling into my life for many years and it only seems to come for fleeting moments and then slips through my fingers. For years I have done this field study work and research to better understand plants, dreamed since I did the Camino de Santiago in 2007 of long walks documenting plants to deepen my work and understanding as a human as my work really is just about being a human with more connection.