Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day, this post somehow wants to go up again. I’ve already reblogged it, so I’ll just include the link here.

“The Sunflower Saga, Synchronicity and the NAPC” is a long, involved, twisty-turny post I shared in August 2014, yet somehow it seems especially relevant today. It speaks of people being detained for respiratory issues, Minneapolis, intuition, precognitive dreams, synchronicity and protecting the Earth.

The more I revisit periods of high strangeness, the more I find they ripple throughout time. In the post, My Very Own Technicolor Dreamcoat, I mentioned feeling led to get a Bible verse flip calendar:

[S]ometime in 2020, dreams and synchronicities led me to order a little calendar that features a Bible verse a day. I keep this on the coffee table where I record my dreams into my dream journal and later type them into my laptop. It doesn’t always happen — but it often does — where flipping to that morning’s Bible verse either confirms my dream interpretation or provides additional context about a less clear dream. I use it as a synchronous, Biblical “gloss” for deeper dream analysis, and it works uncannily well.

This morning, I awoke from two dreams (or one complex dream) that seemed to include messages of patience and the idea that “delay leads to delight.” Some details in the dream were very personal, while others seemed to mark this as a collective message, too. When I recorded the dream(s), I glanced at the Bible verse flip calendar for today:

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten … And you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you.” ~Joel 2:25-26

On this Earth Day, as many empaths, animal lovers and children of our Great Mother Earth wonder what can we do? How can I help? , I share 2014’s The Sunflower Saga, Synchronicity and the NAPC, because some things are easier to explain by way of Story.

Wishing everyone a blessed Earth Day!

Ann Kreilkamp ~ The Great Conjunction Jupiter/Saturn: Grounding Energy for Lift-Off

With Summer Solstice and a powerful Solar Eclipse behind us, friend, astrologer and permaculturist Ann Kreilkamp looks ahead to the powerful planetary alignments on Winter Solstice. While no one can definitively say when the Age of Aquarius began or begins, Winter Solstice 2020 seems a likely candidate with Jupiter and Saturn conjuncting at 0 degrees 28 minutes Aquarius.

As usual, this happens in very key spots of my natal chart and life. My Moon sits at 1 degrees 14 minutes Aquarius, so this Jupiter/Saturn conjunction closely conjuncts my Moon, which, in turn activates an exact Grand Trine in Air among my Aquarius Moon, Gemini Sun and Libra Pluto. Some astrologers theorize that the Star of Bethlehem occurred at a Jupiter/Saturn conjunction, and I grew up in “The Christmas City,” Bethlehem, PA. David and I got married on Winter Solstice 2016.

On the Eve of Last Winter Solstice, I experienced a surreal and spontaneous “initiation” involving a Womb exhibit, powerful death and rebirth imagery, including a huge synchronicity with my birth time, owls and then finding a dead coyote frozen on the edge of Lake Michigan — right at dusk on this longest night of the year. I described some of that experience and included photos in a blog post, but the full tale remains complex and deeply personal. In any case, for me and for many others, it doesn’t feel too soon to bring Winter Solstice 2020 into our awareness. Here’s Ann encouraging us to find greater context from the previous conjunction in May 2000:

The Great Conjunction Jupiter/Saturn: Grounding Energy for Lift-Off

by Ann Kreilkamp

Note: Hold on to your hats, this is a long post!

Please keep in mind that this turbulent year’s finale will occur on Winter Solstice, December 21, the holiest day of the year, which will just so happen to feature what is known as a Great Conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn, at, guess what? 0° Aquarius!

Yes, I’d say that if we have been waiting all these decades for the Age of Aquarius to begin, it will finally ignite! But, a note of caution: electric Aquarius ramps up to warp speed only after death/rebirth Pluto itself also moves into Aquarius, in 2024. Between 2021 and 2024, expect a see-sawing between old and new: vertical, control-obsessed New World Order hierarchy vs. horizontal decentralized permacultural networking; the 1% (Capricorn) versus the 99% (Aquarius); doing things in old, stuck ways, versus using our imagination to explore and invent entirely new (and, paradoxically, ancient) ways of being and doing on planet Earth and out to the Great Beyond. For if any sign indicates space exploration, it’s Aquarius.

Wikipedia:

When studying the Great Conjunction of 1603, Joannes Kepler. thought that the Star of Bethlehem might be the occurrence of a Great Conjunction, which occurred in 7 BC.

(If so, I imagine the Star of Bethlehem included a conjunction of Mars, or maybe Venus for a short while, to give that bright spot in the sky extra punch for the Three Wise Men.)

What’s important here, is that Great Conjunctions of  Jupiter and Saturn, the two planets that function as a bridge between the individualized consciousness (short cycled planets, including Sun, Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars) and the planets of the collective unconscious (Uranus, Neptune Pluto and beyond), concern the manifestation of goals, plans, structures (Saturn) that are granted extra oomph (Jupiter) during each 20 year period.

And when did the last Great Conjunction begin? May 2000. We are only a few weeks from a 20 year anniversary during this month of June 2020. And what sign was it in then? Taurus, the most earthy earth sign, fixed, security-oriented, stable, and stubborn as hell. If there is any single sign that correlates with the natural world, it is Taurus.

Garden Tower Project + Face Mask Frames

Last night, I asked my future self in my dreams, “What are you grateful I put into play earlier? What do you wish I had done now?”

As a result, Crazy Plant Lady spent this morning figuring out how to set up our Garden Tower 2 in an animal proof way, since all the critters have made for much smaller scale gardening than I did in Goshen with two fully permacultured yards. I also ordered seeds for crop varieties I’d given up growing due to our many groundhog “friends.” We mostly have perennial herbs, rhubarb, alpine strawberries, aronia, elderberry and blueberry bushes, plus some edible ornamentals scattered among the flowers.

The Garden Tower 2 inside a mesh pop up cage, on top of concrete pavers surrounded by wire fencing, in our fenced backyard should allow me to grow carrots, collards and other goodies normally devoured by rabbits, groundhogs and deer. With some of my crops protected, I can focus attention more on those, and feel relaxed about the other beds planted with more critter resistant varieties.

We have a yard with lots of raised beds, but the Garden Tower 2 allows you to grow 50 plants and compost in a very small space. For those people looking to garden more, here’s a list of my favorite permaculture and edible yard resources.

I also see that The Garden Tower Project is now manufacturing face mask frames for men, women and children. You can add your own filter, bandana, or whatever fabric you have on hand.

I know both Colin Cudmore (inventor of The Garden Tower Project) and his mom, Ann Kreilkamp, but I have no financial connection to these resources. Just sharing here in case anyone else feels led to increase garden yields or make their own face masks. Remember to breathe! As the Hopi say, “This could be a good time.”

Garden Update: Perennials in Containers and Mid-May Blooms and Growth

Tomorrow marks the supposed last frost for Kalamazoo, MI. I’ll need to find a new motivation to do squats now that I (hopefully) won’t need to haul these lilies and ranunculus into the garage a couple nights per week! The almost blooming chives in front love the cool spring nights, but I bought the more tender flowers on the first warm day we had. Six frost warnings later, I admit, I got a bit ahead of the weather. 🙂

Our backyard redbud knows the right time to blossom. I love this tree, and the photos never do it justice:

Hostas, rhubarb, vinca, and strawberries know it’s time to go green:

Two More Weeks

Two weeks left for these April Specials. May’s will be different:

APRIL 2019 SPECIALS

20-Minute Property or Home Reading

In preparation for spring cleaning and garden season I’m bringing back the 20-Minute Property or Home Reading special. You email me an address and possibly photos of a property you rent, own or are considering purchasing or moving to, and I email you my findings and suggestions. I can focus on the overall energy, things to tweak to support life goals, and/or permaculture suggestions and resources, based on my Permaculture Design Certificate and creation of a 1/3 acre food forest.

April 2019 Specials and a Radio Show

Happy April Fool’s Day! Despite today’s date, these are the real April 2019 specials.

Also, heads up that I’ll be on “A Fireside Chat with Zany Mystic” this coming Saturday, April 6th at 7 p.m. Pacific/10 p.m. Eastern U.S. time. I always enjoy talking with Lance White (aka Zany Mystic). We’re never quite sure what will come up, but likely topics include Black Moon Lilith, faeries, devas, tuning into the Otherworld and other practical/mystical topics. I’ll provide the link and reminder closer to Saturday — just wanted to let you know about the live show.

APRIL 2019 SPECIALS

20-Minute Property or Home Reading

In preparation for spring cleaning and garden season I’m bringing back the 20-Minute Property or Home Reading special. You email me an address and possibly photos of a property you rent, own or are considering purchasing or moving to, and I email you my findings and suggestions. I can focus on the overall energy, things to tweak to support life goals, and/or permaculture suggestions and resources, based on my Permaculture Design Certificate and creation of a 1/3 acre food forest.

This 20-minute email reading covers time spent reading your email, tuning in and typing up my reply. It may also be combined with a Property Clearing/Relocation Booster ($77) based on whatever I glean from the reading. $77 if prepaid on or before April 30, 2019. ($154 total if you’d like both the reading and the clearing. If you’d like 40 minutes, you can also double the email time.) Please contact me to sign up.

$555 Reiki Level 3 Master Teacher Certification Special

Every once in a great while, I feel led to offer this special. I’m taking $95 off the normal rate for in-person or correspondence/phone/distance training and certification for Reiki Level 3 Master Teacher.

This special obviously does not apply to everyone, as you will need at least Reiki Level 2 Certification from me or another Reiki Master Teacher in order to qualify for the training. I also require a casual but effective application process so that I get a sense of readiness for this next level. 555 indicates divinely guided positive change, so it seems like an appropriate number for certification to teach “divinely directed healing energy,” another definition of Reiki besides “Universal Life Force Energy.”

People considering this special might find this Reiki Master Teacher FAQ post helpful in answering common questions related to discerning your own readiness and our compatibility as teacher and student. You do not need to know for sure you’d like to teach Reiki in order to take this training. You just need to feel ready to learn Reiki from the perspective of one who could teach and who has committed to living the Reiki Principles as much as possible in your own life.

For more than 16 years, many students who already received their Reiki Level 3 training from another Reiki Master Teacher have completed their second Reiki Level 3 Master Teacher Certification with me in order to increase their confidence and knowledge before going on to teach their own students. Because many teachers don’t teach others to teach, preparing Reiki Master Teachers to teach their own students has become my specialty. I honor this training process as a sacred journey and transmission.

If you decide you’d like to apply for in-person (in Kalamazoo, MI) or long distance Reiki Level 3 Master Teacher Certification, please contact me, and we’ll start the short application process. The message to post this special was so strong this morning, that I’m excited to see who steps forward. Offer valid if prepaid on or by April 30, 2019.

Rune Soup ~ Talking Permaculture and Seasonal Festivals with Robyn Francis

I love this talk between Gordon White and Robyn Francis! It’s chock full of information, but feels like storytime with a wise grandmother. So lovely! If you have any interest in permaculture, connection with the land, practicality, and the inherent magic of life, you’ll probably love it, too.

Garden Update ~ Life in Death and Flowers Galore

It’s so amazing how nature sorts itself. I’ve mentioned the weeping birch in front of our house, which according to neighbors, has struggled for five years. I kept trying and trying to keep this tree alive, but it turns out a dead tree really does support more life than a living one. I had heard that before, but I still wanted the birch to survive. It seems that nature had other plans, because this tree actually looks more dramatic and faery without leaves, and it gives the garden much more sun:

I have another, far more magical and accurate looking photo of that birch tree and surrounding garden, which I’ve unsuccessfully tried posting for weeks. In the photo you see above, most of the camera shy beings are out of sight. No matter how hard I try, I cannot get that other photo to load. If you want to know what the garden really looks like, imagine the above photo with extra shimmer and glow, and the hanging branches creating a “mist” even on sunny afternoons. The photo above is flat compared to the life force energy radiating from that tree and the plants and beings around it.

We have way more birds in our front yard this year due to all the fun perches available now. I see gold finches, cardinals and robins throughout the day. On a recent morning,

Edible Landscaping Secrets

I get so many questions from people about permaculture, edible landscaping, Robinhood roses, and “permaculture in pots” that I thought I’d list some of the top things I’ve discovered here. This is by no means a comprehensive post — just sharing some of the beauty and a handful of general tips. (If you would like personal assistance with your own situation, this month’s Property Reading Special can include that.)

Combine Flowers with Veggies:

One of the easiest ways to sneak edibles into a “regular” landscape is to intermingle them with flowers. Passersby will notice the blooms but not the edible. This purple iris and columbine camouflage purple and green radicchio. The taller, vibrant plants distract critters from the radicchio, while the lower radicchio covers the soil and keeps it from drying out so fast. The radicchio is so well hidden that I forgot it was even there, until I found it un-nibbled and happy in the slight shade provided by the purple maple and taller flowers:

Even trickier, you can plant edible flowers like nasturtiums, violets, hibiscus, borage, and roses. Many herbs like sage and lavender flower as part of their life cycle, and squash blossoms are not only beautiful but delicious!

Consider Color:

Many vegetables come in unusual colors beyond what you find in the grocery store. Sources like Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds specialize in rare and colorful varieties of garden classics. Even standards like red chard can play nicely with coordinated snapdragons and pansies like we have approaching our front door:

Garden Inspiration and Permaculture Projects

Yesterday, David and I enjoyed an afternoon in Grand Rapids, including our second trip to the Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. We took my mom there back in December 2017, and this time proved different but equally enchanting.

Even more exciting, walking around all those carefully planned gardens gave me some alternative solutions for our yard and neighborhood, which will be going through major changes in the next couple years due to mandatory sewer and possibly sidewalk installation. We’re fighting pretty unanimously to save as many of our neighborhood’s gorgeous, old trees, but in the event we lose to the Township’s dedication to the “Agendas,” yesterday’s creativity inspired some lovely “lemonade” recipes from the Township’s would-be lemons.

It’s all very Uranus in Taurus: major upheaval on the physical level, concern for “the greater good.” The questions remain: what is the greater good, who gets to determine that, and how? I’ll share some photos from Meijer Gardens first, followed by a few of our yard and some of the “problem is the solution” ideas this visit inspired. Even this entryway at Meijer Gardens may change, as we heard people discussing a major planned shift in where people enter the park.

David included me in the photo for scale:

Some of the sculptures have a grand presentation, while many others play hide and seek within the landscape and winding pathways. This next sculpture is one of my favorites, called “Espaliered Girl.”

We heard so many different languages as we wandered around the Japanese Gardens.