Ah, the nights after Solstice and all through the house, no one was stirring, not even the mouse (this is the one the cat brought in and let go last fall☺).
And in the quiet I sat in my warm winter wrap, with the seed catalogs open all over my lap.
Gary still snuggled all warm in his bed, while visions of tomatoes and herbs danced in my head…

The new seed catalogs are arriving and I’m like a kid in a candy store. But just what does my garden planning have to do with shamanism, you might ask. And my answer is that we are all gardeners…gardeners of our own life. We all know the old saying “You reap what you sow.” What are you going to sow in the upcoming year?

It’s no coincidence that we gardeners take the winter months when the earth seemingly lies dormant to assess the previous year’s harvest and plan for the new year’s planting.  It is this time of “dreaming” and planning that gives us the beautiful gardens and bountiful harvests. Without this assessment time, we would repeat the same mistakes and/or not see the new varieties and options available to us. Continue reading →