The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer. ~ Dylan Thomas
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It has been a fierce and wild winter. Not so much a continuous snow here on the coast, but rather cold, and one major blizzard with the immense power of its furious Winds which buried us in heavy wet snow, shredded and took down trees and power lines, leaving many of us without electricity, heat, light and water for over a week.
Nature wields un-imaginable power that we ignore at our peril. Perhaps that is why the ancients, indigenous peoples and the pagani of the earth took such care to honor, celebrate and ritually appease that immense FORCE for life and death that is inherent in the energetic Greening Spirit of the Cosmos.
I have felt that so strongly this season. Perhaps it is because I am of a certain age and have witnessed, experienced and gathered the teachings, challenges and gifts of many turns of the wheel of life, and I have not yet emerged from the spirit of actual winter this particular year. Perhaps it is because just recently, my own mother has passed and in the almost-spring phase of February and March when one starts seeds and seedlings indoors for the eventual garden, dreaming of Life, I have been rather out-of-sync momentarily in the process of grieving. The great FORCE of the winds and the destruction that it has brought with it, taking down and decimating so many young and elder trees alike, combined with the ending of my mother’s life had made me feel the inevitable far end of the spectrum of the opposites of existence: the visible and invisible, the great sound and the Great Silence, the Force that pushes Life UP! and that same force that breaks and takes Life DOWN!.
Winter right now is at the very end of the cycle, saying “goodbye” just as simultaneously Spring is seemingly gently nudging us to wake up and say “hello” to the great Life Force of the Greening Spirit that has had enough of stillness and frozen sensibilities, and with the greatest Force, thrusts us and all living things up and out of real or symbolic darkness into the New. It is for this reason we often in great excitement “plant” our spring bulbs or Narcissi and tulips, gladioli and daffodils with a sense of excitement: to participate and help the process of birthing and renewal along…to see and smell GREEN and enjoy all the fresh and vibrant colors that were asleep while grey, brown , black and white blanketed the earth for their allotted time.
This past week, because of the ruthlessness of the winds that took down so many trees, and the death of my mother, I went to the markets in search of a little prepared potted narcissus to bring home for an altar in honor of letting go of the past, and to honor the new, bringing the green, the color and the scent of new life into my “living room” itself. I needed to do that because I had been unable to cry and let the tears flow for all that had ended and demanded a goodbye. I was however quite surprised and frustrated when I found just the perfect little pot with several miniature yellow blooms and buds ready to open, and then realized that I had left my checkbook and debit card at home by mistake and did not have enough cash on me to purchase the flowers! Oh how I needed to see and sense the Greening Spirit of Life on that special altar I had set up at home for comfort and inspiration.
I returned home and started to prepare dinner, going to a bowl filled with winter squashes, avocados, sweet potatoes, and garlic. And there..THERE..right amidst this bountry, was one large sweet onion…. sprouting green shoots, just like the narcissi! I truly had not seen it before in that state as I moved about the small kitchen preparing meals..how could I have missed this only onion on the plate, firm and hard still, but with the tall green shoots straight up, thrusting out of itself from the ineffable power of the driving Greening Spirit of Life wanting to flower and bloom! I had missed bringing home the potted narcissi because instead here was an Onion, which if cut and chopped for cooking, brings tears, TEARS that are frozen behind the eyes, sometimes not even knowing that they were there in the first place.
The Universe and Great Mystery and I dance together, and I believe always that there is the potential dialogue between us if we pay attention and listen deeply. This was the perfect plant of life for my altar at this moment..a plant that symbolized both nourishment, an aid for the flowing of tears, and soon, a bloom as well..an onion that embodies within its seemingly solid and finished self..the spark of new life that mysteriously MUST move up and out….”the force that through the green fuse, drives the flower…”
It is unstoppable!
And there will be a flower on one of those green shoots eventually..a globe of purple or some secret onion color…the promise of Spring, the power of the Greening Spirit and renewal will soon be here. Is ALWAYS here!
I am grateful for the way the Great Mystery and I play together.
“And remember this: SPRING is the secret work of winter.” ~ John O’Donohue
**Note: you are invited to check my other blogs/sites:
http://sensuoussoupsandsuppers.wordpress.com
http://lunchandlearnseminars.wordpress.com
Christine Phoenix Green is on FB.
The Greening Spirit 