Colette O'Neill, Innovator of Goddess Permaculture ~Plantswoman ~ Teacher ~ Writer and Photographer
solstice
Moving with Orion Towards Midwinter
The signs are everywhere… Nights drawing in… Unexpected sunshine on frosted mornings. The bare beauty of trees silhouetted against clear winter skies. As Orion strides across the evening sky, we draw closer to the Winter Solstice and the darkest, stillest, nights of the year. Winter Solstice celebrations begin on the 21st of December, a time […]
MoreOtherworldly…
Sunday afternoon…picking flowers in the gardens. This feels like the full, quiet days before giving birth… The force of the full moon can still be felt in the stillness of the late afternoon air. There is an otherworldly feel to it all… Time appears to stand very still. Bees continue in a frenzy of work […]
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A Magical Midsummer Morning…
Happy Solstice everyone… In this special year of the return of the Divine Feminine… There will be a full moon on Sunday, June 23… And it’s a rather special one… The biggest moon at Midsummer It will not only be the largest full moon of the year… It will also be the moon’s closest encounter […]
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Kandinsky, Stars and Solstice Preparations
As the winter moves towards the Solstice and Midwinter festivities grow closer, cleaning and painting the cottage is taking up most of my time. Doors have been painted, along with window frames and furniture. The thing is, once started, painting just goes on and on, as more things look grubby alongside freshly painted wood! This […]
MoreLughnasa and the Solstice…Ancient Time
At certain times today, as I was working outside, I had a distinct sense of Autumn. The way the sun shone on a plant, the smell from the earth around my feet…it was quite tangible. The growing cycle in the west of Ireland adheres very much to the old Celtic calendar. It is easy to […]
MoreThe Magical Festival of Lughnasa…
The land approaches Lughnasa, (Lughnasadh), August and the beginning of Autumn. Looking at the apples today on the trees at Bealtaine Cottage, it is easy to see how this is. Harvests continue to be gathered and develop, ripening to plumpness and fullness. Tomatoes, like the ones above, grown outdoors in areas of micro-climate warmth and […]
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A Sense of Purpose
This is a month of many visitors to Bealtaine. It is also the month of midsummer. The ascent towards the solstice is happening. It is actually visible in the growth all around me at Bealtaine Cottage. Grass has grown tall and is seeding. Nettles are almost past their prime, for once the flower heads appear […]
MoreMidwinter ~ Celebrating the Solstice and Illuminating the Darkness
Midwinter. The sun is barely visible. Time to light the fire and illuminate the darkness. The stove is lit. The kettle sings out a tune of hot tea. Midwinter…a time to hunker down and keep warm. “Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it […]
MoreThe Enchantment of Midwinter
Hot tea, midwinter and poetry. Ensconced as I am in the silver light of a near Solstice afternoon, this seems a good way of passing the time. Outside the jewels of winter hang on the pine trees and the air is cold. I hear the cars move slowly, cautiously along the frozen road. A near Solstice […]
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