Living in Season
The official newsletter of School of the Seasons

March 20, 2009
Happy Spring Equinox! 

Contents

Inspirational Quote
My Season: Time out of Time
Zero Email
Calendar Companion Photo Contest
Slow Time Class
Eostre/Easter/Spring Equinox Holiday Packet 
Calendar Companion: Leaves from the Tree of Time 
Calendar Companion Photo Contest Guidelines 
Signs of Spring
Copyright
Subscribe - Unsubscribe

Inspirational Quote:

Ritual is the art of rearranging the unreal so that we keep noticing it.
— Luca Turin

My Season: Time out of Time

Those of you who read my blog, know that I spent the last two weeks at Hedgebrook, a retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island. I stayed in a cottage in the woods and my days revolved around writing and making tea, reading and tending the fire, eating and sleeping.  

The only clock time event was a dinner every evening at 5:30 PM in the farmhouse. It was an opportunity to spend time with the other writers in residence (there are six cottages and a small house) and enjoy a home-cooked meal of local, organic and seasonal ingredients. We didn't even have to clear our plates. There were always cookies in the cookie jar. We came away inspired by the stories of the other writers, cheered by our conversations and carrying baskets full food for the next day: a prepared lunch and the ingredients for breakfast. 

I was surprised by how little I missed some of the things I take for granted (constant Internet access, the telephone, the TV (which I gave for Lent anyway)). But it was not all easy. It took me about a week to slow down enough to realize that the plants I was writing about inside the cottage on my brand new red laptop were the same plants outside my windows. I had sleepless nights and days when no writing happened. But gradually I slowed down and gradually the words emerged from hiding. I made some progress on my Victorian ghost novel and polished six of my essays on plants for a book about the adventures of an urban naturalist. Look for excerpts on my blog soon. 

While I was in the woods on retreat the forsythia and the osoberry (a new plant to me) burst into bloom. Red catkins appeared on a yet unknown tree and the pussy willows that I passed on my way into town started flinging themselves onto the road, exhausted after puffing out their pollen. 

Blessings of spring,
Waverly Fitzgerald 

Zero Email

One of my favorite bloggers, Havi Brooks, declared a total email moratorium a few months ago. And I have to say I totally admired her boldness and envied her newfound freedom. When I turn on my computer and get a message saying I have 1,120 unread messages, I feel exhausted and guilty. But I don't have the nerve desire to give up email altogether. Havi has a few other ways to stay in touch with friends, through her Kitchen Table forum and Twitter. I still haven't taken the plunge into Twitter or Facebook; a little nervous about committing more of time to electronic communication.  

I do love email, because it means I don't have to talk on the telephone, because I can carefully craft my words, because I can respond on my own time frame. But I've decided to try something bold. Not as bold as Havi's moratorium, but bold for me.  

I'm taking all 1,220 of my unanswered emails and putting them into a folder called “To Be Read Later.” And every day from now on, I'm going to read all the email that arrives and take action on it within 24 hours: delete, reply, archive (for information I might need later) or print (for future action). If you've been waiting for a long time for me to reply to your email, please write me again and you can see if this system works. 

Calendar Companion Photo Contest

I've been pondering for years the question of how to get the photographs I need to produce an illustrated version of the Calendar Companion as a weekly planner. At my writing retreat, I came up with the idea of a contest.  

If you submit a photo that matches one of my upcoming topics (see below) you will get a free subscription to the Calendar Companion (for the rest of this year) and a free copy of the Calendar Companion weekly planner when it's published next November, plus a photo credit and link (if you want one)..  

The topics for the next few weeks are:

• Spring Feast
• Doing One Thing at a Time
• Pilgrimage
• Ask for What You Want
• Eat Locally 

The trick is that I'm looking for photographs that are both seasonal and natural. So you have to use some creativity to interpret the topics. For instance, for the Spring Feast, I'd be happy with a photo of a festive table set for Noruz or Easter or Passover, or a great shot of a sprouting branch or a basket full of grass and colored eggs or a nest with an egg in it. For complete guidelines, click here. 

More opportunities to submit seasonal photographs will arrive when the new web site launches which should happen next month. 

(See submission guidelines at the end of this email.)

Slow Time Online Class

I'm slowly accumulating participants for the Slow TIME class which starts next week. If you are interested, there is still room. This class uses the lessons from my Slow TIME book as the basis for homework assignments that will help you transform your relationship with TIME. One prospective student asked how much TIME the class takes. You can probably read over the lesson in an hour and I ask you to do only one of the possible assignments (some do more) so you could choose one that will take the right amount of TIME for you/ There is also a list serve on which you can post your comments and interact with other participants all over the country (which is one of the joys of the class). You can choose how much TIME you want to spend on that as well. 

One of the assignments in the first week is to substitute the word LIFE for the word TIME whenever you use it. “I don't have enough TIME for that,” becomes “I don't have enough LIFE for that.” Try it with the paragraph above.  

The course consists of twelve weekly lessons, and homework assignments you can use to explore the concepts in your own life, plus enrollment in a private email list on which you can post your homework and your questions for discussion and feedback. The course starts on Spring Equinox and costs $120. Enrollment is limited to 10 students.

Click here to register and for more information,.

Eostre/Easter/Spring Equinox Holiday Packet 

The joyous mid-spring feast of Noorooz or Spring Equinox is upon us. This illustrated portfolio contains 50 pages of ideas for celebrating including how to:

• Make tansy pies, hot cross buns and other traditional Eostre foods
• Decorate eggs the Ukrainian way, using symbol and ritual
• Use food items and plants to create natural dyes
• Play traditional games like cracking eggs, egg rolling and pace egging
• And much more.

I've reproduced the pages on the sacred meaning of dyed eggs, and on my Ukrainian egg decorating ritual from the Eostre packet as free samples on the website. You can download them at:
http://www.schooloftheseasons.com/pdfdocs/eostresample.pdf

It is available in an email version for $10 (sent within 24 hours) or via snail mail for $15 (please allow 10 days for delivery). Order in our Store.

Calendar Companion: Leaves from the Tree of Time 
This is a graceful way to incorporate spirit and seasons into your life. Use it along with your usual planning tools and calendar to help you: 

• Slow time down
• Consult your soul while creating your schedule
• Make time for what's truly important in your life
• Move in rhythm with the seasons and the moon  
  

Every week for 52 weeks you will receive a brief email with a reflection on the qualities of the present time period and one suggestion, task or question that you can savor throughout the week. 

Start whenever you like. When you order the Calendar Companion, you will receive the next week's calendar companion, along with an introductory email. 

$26 for a year's worth of gentle reminders to help you stay aligned with natural rhythms. To order or to see a sample reflection, click here. 

Signs of Spring

What's happening where you live? Do you see any signs of spring yet?

Where ever you live, send me your signs of the season and we will post them at the website at Signs of the Season.

Calendar Companion Photo Contest Guidelines 

Please submit photos as a .JPG or .TIF file.

Both horizontal and vertical orientations are fine.

I am most interested in natural and seasonal subjects for the Calendar Companion, despite
the fact the topics may sound abstract.

I am not looking for photos that are a direct translation of the topic.

For instance, for Asking For What You Want, I don’t want one person talking to another, but
rather something in nature that might suggest or illuminate the topic, perhaps a bee on a flower or baby birds with open beaks in a nest, or a waterfall pouring into a pond. 

The upcoming topics include:

• Spring Feast
• One Thing at a Time
• Pilgrimage
• Ask For What You Want
• Eat Locally 

If your photo is chosen, I will send you a simple agreement, asking for your permission to use the photo and spelling out the conditions.

If your photo is not chosen, I will delete it from my computer (so make sure you have a back-up copy).

If your photo is chosen, I will give you:

1. a free email subscription to the Calendar Companion for this calendar year (2009)
2. a free copy of the 2010 Calendar Companion Weekly Planner (a book)
3. a photo credit in that book
4. the opportunity to purchase copies of that book at cost so you can share them with friends and family (holiday gifts?) 
   

Please let me know if you have any questions, by writing to me at waverly@schooloftheseasons.com

I promise I will answer your email.

Copyright

Copyright © Waverly Fitzgerald 2009
All rights reserved. You may reprint material from
Living in Season in other electronic or print publications as
long as you credit me and provide a link to:
http://www.schooloftheseasons.com
Please send me a copy of the publication.

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