Thursday, April 8, 2010

Meteorological Passions Run Amok


Logan Circle

The earth is a living being. When I say that, I'm not being poetic or metaphorical; it is literally true, at least according to the cosmology of Reya.

Of course I have created a complicated structural schematic of the living being we are a part of. What I'm thinking about today is the weather, which I think of as the emotional body of the earth. Complicated, changeable, and frequently unpredictable, earth's weather patterns are not unlike my own human emotional body. My moods pass through me like weather fronts, often surprising me with the power they have to change my inner landscape. Sometimes when I get angry I feel as if tiny lightning bolts shoot out of my eyes. When I'm calm and content, it feels like I am emanating gold sunlight. Sometimes my mood is windy. At those times I can not stop talking. I could go on, but you get the idea.

The earth's weather patterns are inextricably interwoven with the currents of our oceans, as well as with the seasons. Seasonal weather is all about which hemisphere is leaning away from (or towards) Brother Sun of course. The dance of the earth and sun is so interesting to me, as is the hard-wired relationship of the seasons to the emotional body of every landscape on earth.

I'm thinking about the emotional body of our beautiful, living planet because of the weirdness of this particular spring in DC. What is normally a slowly unfolding season of color and energy is, this year, an explosion. The sky is full, all of a sudden, with waving green leaves. Usually it goes like this: tree bloom, then tiny specks of green, next tiny, tender little leaves and then finally, in mid-May, the leaf canopy fills in. But not this year! This year there was the bloom, then KA POW - full leaf canopy. It seemed to happen almost overnight. We've had three days of 90 degree heat, something that doesn't usually happen until late May. All that sultry summertime heat must have inspired the trees to jump into full leaf ASAP. I guess.

The dogwoods have bloomed, too, and iris and all kinds of flowering bushes that, during an ordinary spring, don't open until May.

This spring reminds me of those times when I can't hold back, when an emotion comes up inside me so strongly that it bursts out. Have you ever had that experience? Yesterday I was thinking about my sister Hannah shouting, "I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM!" just after the conclusion of a beautiful wedding ceremony. That's how it is in Washington this week.

Explosions, even "positive" explosions like passionate expressions of love, have an impact. For those of us who are allergic to the erotic springtime dance of the green world, it's an especially great time to hunker down indoors until things settle down.

Looks like I'll have plenty of time to catch up on my blog reading today. I've decided to look at this situation in the most positive light possible. Love is a many splendored thing. Oh yeah.


Dogwoods? Already?? What next - roses in April? It could happen this spring.

15 comments:

Deborah said...

amazing

and i love everyone in this room

Reya Mellicker said...

Me, too, Deborah!

ellen abbott said...

I noticed that too. Spring was like a dog straining at it's leash this year, held back by an unusually cold and long Winter. And when Winter finally let go it's grasp, Spring exploded on the scene. All that energy that usually seeps out, slowly building up, just burst out unrestrained.

And yeah, the planet lives.

Reya Mellicker said...

YES, like a dog straining at its leash. Perfect. But once that dog gets loose, my job is to get the hell outta the way. Whew!!

Susan Carpenter Sims said...

This is the second post about weather on my blogroll this morning. One of the unexpected goodies of blogging for me has been so enjoying seeing and hearing about weather in other parts of the country and the world.

I thought about you the other night when I was reading Byron Katie's description in one of her books of being in DC when the cherry blossoms were blooming. I actually had a point of reference for that, thanks to you!

California Girl said...

I see beautiful red camellias in there. This is when I miss the more southern parts of the country. Such profusion of flowers, colors, smells.

Tom said...

ahg..my Kousa dogwood has barely started not looking dead...Our trees have to be more careful, sometimes they jump the gun and then get a quick reminder that winter really isn't over until May 1st, and then...you never know!

Lynne said...

Reya, it's the same here. It's like an explosion! I swear the trees popped overnight two days ago and each day when I wake up and look out it would seem they have doubled or tripled overnight! Yikes. And everything is doing it *all at the same time*. Normally things have their own cycle—not this year!

We went to see the cherry trees (in New Jersey, YES!) yesterday and they were already mostly done. The Cherry Festival doesn't happen until next week. The trees could not wait.

Ronda Laveen said...

Did you see the reports on the extraordinary levels of pollen this year due to all the heavy rainfall? I saw one photo of I Don't Know Which City but it looked like it was socked in with fog but it was very, very thick pollen. Katie, bar the door and close the windows. The plant kingdom is having an orgy.

Reya Mellicker said...

More power to the green kingdom! I've been writing and reading blogs all day. Kind of nice to take a "sick day" but without being sick!

I turned on the TV for a minute. Just happened to catch Eleanor Powell tap dancing with a little Jack Russell terrier. (Part of the film, Lady Be Good

I admit I did go out for awhile to take some pictures. Whew - there is a CRAZY energy out there today. It's very windy; clouds of pollen and dust and discarded blossoms are flying everywhere.

When I got back I ducked into the shower ASAP as if I'd been exposed to serious toxins.

Wow. What a day.

Pauline said...

hope the sneezingsniffling ends soon - what a pity to miss the beauty - it's nothing to sneeze at ;)

Reya Mellicker said...

Pauline I wish my histamines agreed with you.

Steve Reed said...

Isn't the idea that the Earth is a single integrated organism the Gaia Principle?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_theory

(I know this only because there's a street artist named Gaia who took his name from this.)

It does seem like we went BANG from winter straight to summer, though today is cooler than yesterday.

Steve Reed said...

Sorry, I should clarify -- the artist took his name from Gaia, the Greek Earth goddess, whose name was also adopted for the principle. :)

Mrsupole said...

Allergies suck. I am sure that is why I have been wheezing for weeks. We have so much pollen here in So CA and it can be released all year round. So for me allergies suck. But the plants are beautiful.

God bless.