For the Love of Nona Gaia…

 

 

For many, February conjures images of hearts, expressions of sweetness, gestures of love, too often in the form of conventional consumption of holistically toxic industrial chocolate and flowers that starve and deplete the earth, Nona Gaia, and all life she supports.

I conjure similar images and expressions, yet I do my best to do so in ways that acknowledge and honor Nona Gaia, ways in which we nourish and sustain her, and all life she supports. Past, present and future. I conjure images and expressions that reinforce the connections that bind all life. Past, present and future.

In this framework, I invite you to consider your choices, behaviors, actions in this season (and always), to challenge yourself to parry the powers that poison, and in instead foster the forces that flourish.

Our world needs it. Our future needs it. Our ancestors need it. Nona Gaia needs it.

Perhaps you already know that I, along with my spouse and other helpers, real ‘n’ imagined, grow, nurture, harvest, and preserve a lion’s share of our own vegetable food, and do some seed-saving as well. So, as we move into February with its undeniable expanding daylight expressing the coming of spring, the life-affirming activity of seed-starting ratchets up in my world. I welcome, as I have done for years, the seeds that hold the timeless life with which I collaborate to nurture the foods and Medicines, real and imagined, that support the life of the mind, will, heart, body and spirit. I realize that this may sound grandiose. I hear it. And, in a way it is. And in so many ways, it is so, so simple. Simple, like most – if not all – meaningful prayer, action, and magick.

Here, in the heart of winter, and I gather the trays, starting soil, and seeds, organic and non-GMO, and consult memory, notes, and my calendar to plot ‘n’ plan the seed-starting that will become food ‘n’ Medicine for the soil, Nona Gaia, us, our dog ‘n’ chickens, our friends ‘n’ neighbors ‘n’ others yet un-met. To me, this is mighty Medicine, with holistic reach to ancestors and successors, intimate and collective. This seasonal ceremony connects me to all Life. Past, present and future. Known and imaginal. Did I mention that this is mighty Medicine for me?

One of the Medicines that this season of seed-starting offers to me is rooted in the obvious and metaphorical roots of consuming less and giving more, the tangible reminder that all things sustainable are reciprocal. I could go on, and perhaps I will in another column, yet today – especially considering these days in which we live – I prefer to invite you to take this in… let it digest… assimilate… absorb deeply into your being… into the seed of your soul’s memory… to take in all that nourishes and sustains you – and all life – so that you may eliminate all that does not.

Still yourSelf, and sit with that. Then stand with it, and act on it.

And as for seed starting: Do it. There are few gestures that express the delicate and deep value of the relationships of reciprocity as this small, yet mighty action.

Whether you have acres… a home garden… an allotment… a pot on a balcony or windowsill… do it. There are few gestures that express the delicate and deep value of our relationships of reciprocity as this small, yet mighty action.

And to close, let me offer this redundancy: In this framework, I invite you to consider your choices, behaviors, actions in this season (and always), to challenge yourself to parry the powers that poison, and in instead foster the forces that flourish.

Our world needs it. Our future needs it. Our ancestors need it. Nona Gaia needs it.

Peace.

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About the Author:

Rosemari Roast is called herbalist, artist, Medicine womyn, backyard farmer, among other things. You’ll find her around the northwest hills of Connecticut. You can learn more about her and discover all her online spaces at: linktr.ee/walkinthewoods.