Dry Season in Southwest Florida – pace yourself!

Hello Honorable Shamans and Fellow Pagans, welcome, finally, to Dry Season.

To catch you all up a bit, here in the Earthways Shamanic Path, I’m writing about the Seasons from a place-based point of view.  I encourage you to really get to know Mother Earth where you live, to learn what the Seasons are where you live, beyond the four known as “Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.” 

Dry Season starts in Southwest Florida in mid-October, and runs till about mid-February.  The first obvious marker of Dry Season, is that it stops raining every day.  And, it gets markedly less humid in Dry Season.  So all the people say, “Ahhhhhh, it is such a nice day out!!!”  The light is shifting.  Different trees are blooming now, and different fruits and vegetables are growing now.  Birds are beginning to migrate here from other places.

Turner Road in Dry Season

And people are migrating here from all over the country.  Down here, we call them, Snowbirds.  (A Snowbird is different from a Tourist; Snowbirds tend to own property here, and stay for several months, whereas most Tourists rent and don’t stay as long.  A lot of people say there are only two seasons in Florida, Tourist Season and Rainy Season.  They are missing the nuances.)  There is a gradual influx of people until the crescendo in mid-February.  By then, our regional population about doubles.

Dry Season in Southwest Florida is marked by a surge in THINGS TO DO.   Suddenly, there are festivals all over Florida, every weekend.  There are art gallery openings and exhibits and contests.  There are plays and concerts.  There are fund raising events and college alumni get-togethers.  And, because it has stopped raining so much and the weather is more comfortable and less buggy, there are now all kinds of nature-oriented things to do too.  People go camping now, and there are swamp-walks and people go star-gazing and kayaking.

While most people were almost in hibernation-mode in their air-conditioned homes and offices during Hurricane Season, now in Dry Season, they can get out and about.

The primary Spiritual aspect of Dry Season is to pace yourself!  There is so much to enjoy, and most people can’t do everything.  You have to prioritize:  you have to decide what’s really important to you, and figure out how much time and other resources ($$$) you have, and do what you can.  And, you have to find your way to stay centered.  You need to carve out down-time for yourself, to restore your energetic reserves because if you try to do everything, you may tire yourself out.

Although the Earthways Shamanic Path is based in Florida, it can be celebrated anywhere.  You just need to explore the magic of your land.  What is it saying to you?   What are the seasons, where you live?  What do they mean to you?  How are they celebrated? 

And “Let’s Share Peace With Our Earth.”

Join Whale Maiden in the discussion at the Earthways Shamanic Path – Facebook Group

(c) 2015, Whale Maiden.  All Rights Reserved. 

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rescuing a frog

This may be a two-part story; I don’t know yet.

I was in the kitchen working on something behind the refrigerator when I heard a “SCREECH” coming from the back yard.  A moment later, I heard it again:  SCREECH!   Thinking that it was a baby bird in distress,  noted the location of my two cats as we all went out to the porch and then to the back yard.  I strode over to the Orchid tree and stood under it and waited.  SCREECH!  Ok, I was in the right area.  I looked up, scanning the leaves and twigs to see if I saw any thing — no birds, no mice — then suddenly, it SCREECH-ed again and then something fell out of the tree and hit the ground.

My one cat sat near where I was standing, but he seemed to know to leave the critter alone.  I stepped closer and saw that it was a tree frog.  I picked up a little twig and tapped the frog on the butt, to see if he would hop.  He didn’t.

I scooped him up with my fingers and he held onto my thumb.  I looked him over closely.  He was breathing.  He seemed to have scraped the skin over the top of his left eye.  Everything else seemed to be ok.

I took him into the house and got a paper towel for him to sit on and went out to the porch and sat down.  I smoothed his scraped skin near his eye back into place with my finger nail.  I sat calmly and figured the warmth of my hand was a good thing.

My daughter has a friend who raises spiders and snakes.  We called her up.  As it happens, she was driving near our house and came over.  She looked at Frog and agreed with me that he was probably shook up and maybe a little shocked.  She said we could put him in a box of some kind with air holes and a wet paper towel and let him rest for a while.

Maybe he’d eat some cat food…

Photo later.

 

 

The Quickening – Tropical Storm in May 2012

We were watching TV last night and there was a big thunderstorm happening in Glades-Hendry and Collier County, with winds gusting to 45 mph.  That was interesting enough since it is “Dry Season,” right now and a little early for rain.  Not that I’m going to say, “no thank you.”

Then the weather station announced that there is a Tropical Storm developing along the coast of South Carolina.  This is the first named storm of the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season.  This means the ocean temperature has gotten high enough to host storms.  (I think it really means that the ocean didn’t cool down much this winter-spring.) 

We all need to stay vigilant since it looks like we may have a very strong Hurricane Season.

Ants in the bathroom

It is dry season in Florida and all creatures need water.

I have ants in my bathroom.  They make a very long trek each day, all day, every day, to climb into my house then up the smooth side of a Tervis Tumbler and then down into the waiting reservoir of cool water.  I don’t leave the water there for the ants.  I am leaving it there for my cats.

Each day, I refresh the water for my cats.  Sometimes I do this by pouring water from another cup, into the water cup on the floor.  That way, I can fill it to the rim.  Other days, I pick up the cup from the floor and rinse it out in the sink and start over with fresh water.

Every day, I rescue the ants.  They can’t help it if they are thirsty.  There’s usually a line of ants along the edge of the glass where the water meets the glass.  I rescue these by putting my thumb under the lot of them and raising them up like a mini-tsunami.   And there is always a group of ants swimming together in the middle of the cup, holding each other up. 

I rescue the ants, and put them on terry cloth towels to dry out.  I ponder the confusion the ants must experience when they are placed down on the towel, far away from the scent of their path, their line of previous ants and wonder what they will do when they encounter the loops of the terry cloth.

Do you love Love Bugs?

I’ve been traveling rather a lot lately and now it is Love Bug season.  The local folklore holds that Love Bugs were an experiment gone haywire from the University of Florida.  Apparently, researchers were trying to create a bug which would eat mosquitoes.  This is not a bad goal when you consider that mosquitoes are the vector for serious diseases like malaria.  However, some of the Love Bugs escaped and I am pretty sure they don’t eat mosquitoes.  In fact, from what I understand of their life cycle, they do not eat at all. 

They hatch.  They fly around looking for a partner.  They connect.  They mate.  They hit the windshield of your car.

And that’s the problem.  When you squish an average bug, it creates that sticky enzymey gloopy residue.  Most bugs are squished on the ground, and most of us don’t ever have to deal with bug goo on our cars.  But Love Bug goo, leaves an oily residue that coats your windshield, and takes the paint off the front end of your car, and even sticks to the backs of your side view mirrors.  All you can hope for is to drive through a good rain shower on your way to the car wash.

Love Bugs fly in late April/early May, and again in September.

moving from Hurricance Season to Dry Season

We have left Hurricane Season in the dust and are now well into Dry Season.  I think this happened a few weeks ago, but I’ve hit a kind of writing rut. 

We were fortunate in Southwest Florida this year, because we didn’t have any major Hurricanes hit us.  (I think we didn’t even have any minor ones hit us.)  Hurricane Season represents the time when the air and the land and the water bodies, are full of moisture. 

After Hurricane Season ends, we move into Dry Season.  It won’t rain on a daily basis again until April or May.  So, the air and the land and everything on it will gradually dry out. 

SOmetimes, (like this year) the drying out won’t be gradual.

We are in for a big Fire Season this year.

more later.

When Hurricane Season winds down

We went from a high of 85-95 degrees two days ago, to a high of 70 or so today.  Hurricane Season is ending, the Dry season is coming. 

It is very windy today and a cold front blew in even while there is Hurricane Tomas running amuck over Haiti.  (As if they haven’t had enought to deal with this year.  I can’t imagine living in a tent, much less living in a tent during a hurricane.)   

Everybody I spoke to today was happy about the cold front, because it meant we could wear our sweaters — yes, it is “Sweater-Weather” day in Southwest Florida!

Approaching Dry Season

We are approaching Dry Season here in Southwest Florida.  This started about September 23rd, which is a little early.  Normally this comes on about mid-October.  This has been an unusual year to use to identify the change of the seasons in the Florida Earthways Path.  Gradually the daily afternoon thundershowers have subsided and the humidity is down.  We’ve been fortunate that no major hurricanes have hit Southwest Florida.  (I’ve a friend who says that is because there are so many Light Workers here, we all keep redirecting the Hurricane Energy out to sea.)

As we prepare to leave Hurricane Season, let us pause and consider what we accomplished.  Let’s continue to reflect on the symbolism where each season represents an aspect of goal setting and progress towards the implementation of a goal.

Remember that symbolically, Dry Season represents the East, Fire Season represents the South, Rainy Season represents the West, Hurricane Season represents the North.  The Center is Spirit.   Fire Season follows Dry Season.  In Dry Season, (Air=Intellect) it is time for new ideas to spring forth as more and more of what was grounded, previously, now symbolically dries up into the Air.  So, the Idea is developed in the Dry Season. 

In the Rainy Season, the Idea which was formed in the Dry Season, (from the Intellect) and which is developed in the Fire Season (due to Passion and Courage), begins to take hold because we invest our Emotions in the Idea.  When you are setting about to make meaningful change in your life, if you do not care about the thing you are changing, you won’t take action. 

Water is symbolic of our emotions.  What do you care about?  What replenishes you?  What nourishes you?  When you think about your idea, how does it make you feel?    That is the work of Rainy Season.

In this methodology Hurricane Season = North, which is the point of ACTION.  What did you set out to achieve this year?  Have you taken any action on the goals you thought about earlier this year?  Before the year ends, is there anything specific you could do to achieve the goals you set for yourself earlier this year?

In my opinion, the point of following a Path is to bring about positive, meaningful change in your life.  This is similar to goal setting, creative visualization, and manifesting desired changes.  Keeping in mind that the Seasons follow one after the other, then work we do now, was developed in a previous season.  And, whatever we do “now,” lays the groundwork for something we will do “later.” 

The Spiritual Aspects of Fire Season

The Spiritual Aspects of Fire Season.

In my opinion, the point of following a Path is to bring about positive, meaningful change in your life.  This is similar to goal setting, creative visualization, and manifesting desired changes.  Keeping in mind that the Seasons follow one after the other, then work we do now, was developed in a previous season.  And, whatever we do “now,” lays the groundwork for something we will do “later.” 

Remember that symbolically, Dry Season represents the East, Fire Season represents the South, Rainy Season represents the West, Hurricane Season represents the North.  The Center is Spirit.   Fire Season follows Dry Season.  In Dry Season, (Air=Intellect) it is time for new ideas to spring forth as more and more of what was grounded, previously, now symbolically dries up into the Air.  So, the Idea is developed in the Dry Season.

Fire is symbolic of passion and creativity.  This is a time to discover what you are passionate about, and what is it that you create.  I believe everyone is capable of creating something.   When you think about the Idea that manifested in the Dry Season, do you get excited about it?  Do you think about ways you can make your idea happen, how to create it?  That is the work of Fire Season.

We will return to this discussion later.

WhaleMaiden’s Suburban Shaman Blog

I’m Whale Maiden.  I explore the mundane and the magical in Southwest Florida, from a Florida Earthways Path perspective.   Some of the Posts on this Blog were originally published at:

http://whimsywoman.wordpress.com/

and, a few also were previously published at:

http://whalemaidensblog.blogspot.com/