Wandering: Finding Love. (Again.)

Fruiting Body of a frozen world.
(I love gifts of Woo.)

Some weeks ago while pondering the victory of Winter's frozen landscape, I asked,

"What do we do with ourselves, now that our friends have frozen?"

Normally, I would say, "Just hold tight & hole up until we leave," but the answer I was told when I paused to listen was something different:

"Go out & find Love... more Love. Strange new Love. Love repackaged."

It happens that also a few weeks ago, the High Priest told me I needed to choose an elemental & go out & experience it, really think about how I feel about it, its presence, qualities, energy. To this I arrogantly snorted (to myself, of course), thinking (also to myself), "This guy doesn't understand what I do all day. He's used to working with people who never go outside..." 

Most days, I really should just turn off my arrogant voice...

Water as Ice as Planchette.

It is cold outside. Really, really cold. It is also beginning to look more & more like we might be marooned here in Alaska for the Winter season. (Gah!) This is bad news for someone who wears her Cheechako badge with pride -- better to get outta Dodge than sit around in the frozen dark for months on end. I don't care if that classifies me as a spineless snowbird -- it's just smart living. I overwintered in Northern Vermont & that was quite enough, thank you. The news is also bad because I left a fat slab of my Heart & Spirit in the care of our precious home in the desert -- the home in the bioregion I have grown to know & increasingly understand during the span between the Solstices. It is my sacred Land, the place where I have coffee with Breakfast Canyon, reflect at the Night Altar & commiserate with the Bovini. (Among many other things.)

Ice reclining on Water.

Yet here we are. Tables have been turned. For reasons other than cold, we have all been confined to the house, working like frenzied bees. Zero time out of doors since the Esbat. But at least we took some time out to be with the Moon & there, in waiting for Her, I listened to what Water had to say. It was overwhelming. I have always had great Love for Water, but I have never given Water as a creature of the Cold much airtime. It's just so cold! However, there in the frostbitten sunset I stopped on a frozen lake to listen to Water-as-Ice & I saw a winsome new face. I met more Love, strange new Love, Love repackaged.


Water is a sculptor. 
As Ice, it can hold its shape long enough for us to notice & appreciate, if we look. 
When Water-as-Ice plays with Air, together they fashion breathtaking & sometimes familiar figures.
When Water-as-Ice plays with Light -- the gleam of our Sun or Moon -- they style a lively, stationary dance. 
There is a Life to this Water, unlike that of any other creature. 
I want to know it.

A pair of Ice teeth.
Is there a giant missing them somewhere?

Even as my Spirit rails & my Heart aches & yearns & sighs, I look forward to more time with cold Water -- the artist of the frozenscapes, the subtle teacher. I look forward to the cold, in a strange new way, very much. Even if I don't.