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bike & blackberries

Shifting, Changing, Summer Turning to Fall

August 20, 2015 6 Comments

Have you noticed a shift in the wind?  I sure have. Yesterday after I came back from riding my bike by the bay, I sat

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“Elder Hermit” by @joannapcolbert The Hermit taro “Elder Hermit” by @joannapcolbert

The Hermit tarot card invites you to spend time in sacred solitude, withdrawing from the world to nurture your inner life.

When I created this version of the Hermit card, I decided I wanted to keep the “elder” aspect of the “wise old man” archetype, but give it a spin by making the Hermit female instead of male and dark-skinned instead of light-skinned. I deliberately chose the same essential posture and background of Pamela Colman Smith’s Hermit as a tribute to her legacy.

This Elder Hermit represents an alternative to the ageist and misogynist cultural narrative that tells us that an aging woman living alone is someone to be pitied. There are great riches to be found in a solitary life. Our Hermit is connected to the earth, to animal companions, to Invisible Ones. Soon she’ll come down from the mountain, rejoin her community, and hold aloft the light of her wisdom as a beacon to others.

~~~

I invite you to turn up a tarot or oracle card to spark an answer to this question:

What does my Inner Elder most want me to know as we descend into the dark time of the year?

#tarot #hermit #autumn #autumnequinox
We gathered at the river this past weekend to cele We gathered at the river this past weekend to celebrate the First Harvest, as we’ve done for 19 years. We were blessed by fierce heat, pouring rain, ripe blackberries picked off the vine, and the ever-flowing, tumbling river. 

One of our beloved traditions is creating a communal Bread Goddess to share at our evening feast. 

As we bless the Source of Life, so are we blessed. Happy Lammas / Lughnasadh!
Soul-stirring music + overarching oak boughs on a Soul-stirring music + overarching oak boughs on a Sunday morning = my kind of church.  Last Sunday at @vanfolkfest 💚 (Especially loved Ruby Singh & the Future Ancestors’ rendition of “Lean on Me”)
Heading home with a full heart after a week in Mai Heading home with a full heart after a week in Maine with my family … son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter Grace … not to mention the pups and kitty.  Grateful for good conversations, adventures, hanging out, and watching the World Cup! 💚
May you ripen as the Summer sun ripens to fullness May you ripen as the Summer sun ripens to fullness.

May the basket of your life overflow with play, laughter, and strawberries.

May you burst open like a sunflower at its peak, shining your light on everyone around you.

May the monarch butterfly in your heart remind you of your sovereignty.

May your hands always be open to receive the radiance of sun and moon. 

And so it is, and so it is, and so it is.

Words and artwork by Joanna Powell Colbert.  @joannapcolbert

#summersolstice #wheeloftheyear
On the first sunny day after a week of rain, you j On the first sunny day after a week of rain, you just have to go to church … I mean, the beach. Not the sandy beaches of my childhood, but the wild, rocky, windswept Pacific Northwest shores that have stolen my heart for the past 36 years. 

1. Firewheel (so apropos for Summer Solstice)
2. Wild roses
3. Rose hips forming already!
4. Low tide & eagle
5. Sentinels
6. One cannot really go to the beach and not stack stones 
7. St. John’s Wort, holding it aloft like the Ace of Wands
8. Beach hair, full heart

#almostSolstice
I interviewed my friend @ellenlorenziprince about I interviewed my friend @ellenlorenziprince about her new deck, the Dark Daughter Tarot. It’s fierce and deep! (And for the artists out there, I asked her to tell us about her creative process. So good.). Link in profile.
#tarot #darkdaughtertarot joannapowellcolbert.substack.com
Every day brings new outrage and new grief. And st Every day brings new outrage and new grief. And still, the first wild roses of summer are blooming. ::
::
Rose is the embodiment of the Empress, the Great Mother, in the Herbcrafter’s Tarot. When I see the wild roses on my walk and inhale their sweet fragrance, I remember we’re not alone. We’re held by the One Who Hears the Cries of the World. #herbcrafterstarot #rose #wildrose
(Art by @joannapcolbert)
A beautiful day in the neighborhood! #nokings #be A beautiful day in the neighborhood! #nokings  #bellingham

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