A bit about May Celebrations

First, there’s May Day.  Western europeans and the north american generations that

were born from them- celebrate the first of May. It’s an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival that has blurred into an International Workers Day. 

Originally from Pagan tradition it merged with Christian celebration and happily settled as local custom with dancing, dining, acknowledging spring fertility and recognizing the ability to work for a living. In others words, it has become a great excuse for a party. 

My Finnish cousins celebrate with with food and beverage.  The Brits have the May Pole and frolic about. It’s nice out...we all just survived a reluctant spring and now it’s time to have a little fun.

Kids, campfires & fireworks.  May 24 Weekend

Here in Canada we have another May Tradition;  May 24.   It doesn’t always land on the 24th of May... but often does.  Growing up, I had thought it referred to a case of twenty four beer, the beverage consumed at the unofficial start of cottage season. It's actually called Victoria Day but nicknamed May 24. 

Across most of Canada (except the East Coast) Canucks celebrate Victoria Day.  It honours Queen Victoria’s birthday.  May 24, 1819 is Queen Victoria's birth date. The dates don’t always line up, but the celebration does and there are hours of traffic into cottage country.  This year, I’ll already be  in cottage country and my family will join the hordes of others.... inching their way up. It’s tradition and so - it is. 

There will be fireworks. Often you can see the flares from cottage to cottage, luck is when they go off at different times, so you merely have to reposition your chair to get a continuous view. Ah May 24 Weekend....we all open up our cottages, slather on bug repellent and get outdoors. 

Large Cities provide fireworks for the public for those who don’t have the chance to get away.  Every patio is full, parks are teaming with day users and backyards are once again- alive with life.  Its the season kick off, don’t you know!  

May is promising.  Get out there and enjoy it. 

A bit about.... International Women's Day

Today I attended my first IWD gathering.  I’m in my mid 50’s, a former barbie doll type raised by Archie Bunker male influences and subservient matriarchs, so I sat there and wondered... do I fit in?

In attendance were recognizable female activists, celebrated authors, documentarians, doctors, lawyers and Queen’s Jubilee Medal recipients - all from my neighbourhood; Roncesvalles Toronto.  And then there was me.  It took me all of ten minutes to realize that I was an example of the change that is needed to validate the importance of International Women’s Day.  Women need to acknowledge their own self worth.  

In ratio to the history of mankind, there are far too many years that women haven’t achieved any equal status.  Couldn’t even vote a hundred years ago.  No woman in my immediate family has ever earned an equal salary, higher level of education (and perhaps too honestly) during my childhood I have witnessed the disproportionate injustices of domestic abuse.  How would I know any better? 

I do know of crotchety grandfather types who poo poo the efforts of recognizing gender equality.  They still exist.  They have patted me on the head. The begrudging thought that women have the audacity to require a day of celebration is beyond some. Isn’t that sad?   Hopefully this way of thinking will come to pass for all of society.  This isn’t  exclusively feminism, its humanism and its a celebration.

Karyn with Toronto City Councillors; Gord Perk & Sarah Doucette

So over tea and nibbles we women gathered and I too, took pride in the achievements I have brought to our community. I have had the opportunity to lead, advocate and promote ideals that benefit society and I would like for my daughter and her friends to know, that they are capable of great things.  This is what International Women’s Day is all about.  Pass on the strength.  

Want to know a bit about me? 

http://keepitin.wix.com/karynklairekoski1

A bit about Lent.....

Lent is a solemn religious observant time frame, that occurs about six weeks before Easter when Christians prepare themselves with prayer, penance (self punishment), repentance, (express sincere regret/remorse) almsgiving (charity), atonement (balance out wrongs you committed) and practice self denial (no explanation needed).

As a Christian youth, I remember no chocolate till Easter, to which you will be given a few- chocolate treats. But I don’t exactly remember having treats before lent either.  I remember Pancake Tuesday - the day before and Ash Wednesday, the first day of lent which was significant because we got a dab of soot placed upon our foreheads. 

Lent is a fasting time, though I can’t remember eating any less. Fasting and abstinence was more severe in ancient times. Perhaps this is why Pancake Tuesday was such a big hit because it was the last day to consume the sweet of syrup and the flour batter of pancakes. Just exactly how Mardi Gras got into the mix and the flashing of ta tas came into tradition - is a mystery to me, doesn’t really sound religious... but okay?  

The other rites are imposed because the enactment is to become a better person, as man’s sins are what led Jesus to be crucified. No guilt there.  

Lent - a rather dismal time

According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. The ash received on the first day of lent represents our observance of human mortality and is a sign of mourning and repentance to God.  One gets those ashes from the burning of the previous year’s Palm Sunday ceremony.  They burn the palms in a ritual. 

Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.

—Genesis 3:19

Repent, and believe the Gospel.

—Mark 1:15

Lent is observed until Good Friday, which is the actual murder date of Jesus Christ. Honestly there isn’t anything “good” about that day and then of course we get into the entire Easter tradition which is the witness of Jesus’s ghost and other paranormal activity. That's all fodder for another post.

Lent today for me is a mere vague memory.  It's a grey time of year, not yet spring, still cold and unbearably long.  

A bit about self healing: reiki/pranic/spiritual/energy

Admittedly, most would think that reiki, spiritual or energy healing could only work dependent on belief.  Apparently, practitioners believe otherwise.  If healing energy is sent, it is received. Therefore if you believe you are sending this energy yourself, then it works.

Here’s the jest of it; someone (or yourself), draws from “somewhere” and delivers “energy” into your body, thereby healing you.  From personal experience, you don’t always feel anything and that’s when - for some like me, a person questions whether it works or not.

I believe... so let’s start off with the assumption that I expect a reaction.  I just am not certain that there are a multitude of true healing conduits out there.  Honestly, the industry of energy healing practitioners is full of those who think they are healing and also - there are those that pretend they are healing. Often there is money involved.  Need I say more.

The origins of reiki is as a Japanese tradition, made public in the 1920’s.  The linage of true masters is still going strong today.   Of course even in biblical times there was knowledge of “the laying of hands” so the idea of spiritual energy is evident in many cultures and has sifted down from generation to generation.  

I took my first “course” (that only lasted a weekend) from someone who borrowed characteristics from many sources of pranic/spiritual/energy/reiki healing.  Did I master it? NOPE.  Had anyone else in the class? Unlikely but we all got an introductory taste of what the power of belief and visualization could do.  

Years, years,  later I turned to the study of self healing to recover from a hard time in my own life.  With the help of online networking, I was able to find groups of more qualified energy workers, who gave me additional insights to ethereal healing.  

This is not to say that I have mastered the art, just that I believe it is possible.  There are subtle differences between the components of each belief system and none is absolute.  One or two healing sessions will not heal a person completely.  

Because I simply could not afford Master treatments,  I chose to go the route of learning self healing.   I chose  Reiki’s 5 precepts and methodology, sometimes I add in chakra work.  What I do notice, is that when I stop for any great length of time.... I start to feel unbalanced again.  

I also find healing in nature

To me, self healing is like prayer and mediation. It’s simple quiet time in total solitude and I seem to need it.  I have never been the kind of person that benefited from a strong support family, aside from a couple of great Gal Pals, I have lacked family empathy, so for someone like me, self healing has been my only option.

If you learn to integrate daily practice, (which even I have not been able to adapt) then you can identify when you are hyper aware of subtle changes and reactions.  You feel when your body needs more exercise, rest or requirements from a more specific diet.  You become very in tune with yourself, and that, is not a bad thing. 

A bit about Valentine's Day

I’m guilty.  I’m one of those romantic saps who use Valentine’s Day to mark anniversary dates with my life partner.  We didn’t marry on this lust loving day, nor have we ever given it much commitment.  We simply used this as a date, that sorta solidified when we officially became a couple.  We met after New Years, we were in love by Valentine’s Day.  It’s been twenty three years and it has become, as simple as that.

Several martyrdom stories have been invented to go along with this early Christian liturgical celebration.  One Saint Valentinus performed weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to do so (marry that is) and the whole “longing” sentiment was established. Valentines were notes of farewell as the men went off to battle. 

Dance with my, my Love - Long for me, when I go off...

In the Middle Ages the tradition of courtly love flourished and presenting flowers, sweets and greeting cards evolved with the presence of cupid. We love to love.  

Today, Valentine’s day is very, very commercial.  Dinner out, chocolates, wine and roses, not to mention scheduled romantic 'steal aways' encouraging the purchasing of lingerie and sexual accoutrement!  But that changes.  With all that passion most couples have children.  Interestingly enough, the Canadian statutory holiday 'Family Day' almost always coincides a day before, or around Valentines Day.  

We buy chocolates for our kids.  That’s what we celebrate.  The ultimate fruition of love is your children and the children they will have,  and all this loving and cuddling is the real reason why we feel intimately drawn to another person.  We see our future in them and the spark of Valentines, is just a wonderful perk along the way. 

Of course if couples do not go the route of raising children, the physical release of lovemaking is a continued expression of a primal need.  Mankind thrives on it.  Who is to say what amount of intimacy is the appropriate amount?  Not I.

I personally think if you have been lucky enough to find someone who continues to love you, then that in it’s self, is cause for celebration.  Happy Valentines.  Tell someone you love them.  

A bit about Chinese New Year & how it relates to Feng Shui

The Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese Holiday.

It is the last day of the last month of the lunisolar calendar.  Lunisolar (lune = moon/solar=sun) So both the moon’s phase and the year’s season are acknowledged and are used to predict the constellation or... astrological phase.   Ancient Chinese Secret stuff.

RED for Chinese New Year Celebration:  This display is actually a Feng Shui enhancer & cure. 

There’s actually fifteen days of rituals that are noted that honor deities and ancestors.

House cleaning and purging is key to sweep away all the bad of the year before. The color red is applied freshly and liberally, debts are paid out and incense is burned for a variety of reasons.  Most recognize the gift exchange of red envelopes with money or chocolate coins in them. And of course, we see red and gold paper lanterns and such.  

I was introduced to the Chinese New Year when I studied Eastern Energy Philosophy. I practice traditional feng shui and harmonize annual energy patterns that merge into the year, (several days after the Chinese New Year).  Somewhere around February 4/5 chi moves into homes with different intensities, like a bio rhythm. 

I have always used the Chinese New Year as a start to my Feng Shui cures & enhancement strategies.  My newly adapted custom goes like this;  I use the cleaning and purging of pre Chinese New Year as a way of starting with a fresh slate.  Ritualistically I clean and then prepare a room for what it is about to need. Then I go about doing it in time for the annual influences to take effect.

In my dreary Canadian winter, the celebration of The Chinese New Year is welcoming and it helps me kick start a new year, mindful of what obstacles or blessings I may encounter.  A little preventative medicine. 

A bit about the month of February

It’s an odd word, no?  February. 

“Februa” means cleansing or purification.  It reflects the rituals that are needed to be undertaken before Spring. The Romans and Celts regarded February as the start of Spring.  Chinese Astrology and Feng Shui energy charts are calculated; either on the 4th or 5th of February because the energy of this month, is considered a new time.

It’s a shorter month having only 28 days, in non- leap years, that is.  February hosts the Christian festival of the lights (Candlemas Day), the days before lent starts, ground hog day, Valentine’s day and (in Canada) Family Day. 

Depending where you live, its a time that we are weary of winter and greatly need to anticipate spring, hence Ground Hog Day and Candlemas Day:

Forceful Forsythia Buds in February

If Candlemas brings

   wind and snow,

Then spring will very soon show.

But if it's clear and bright,

Then spring won't come so right.

Then there is Shove Tuesday & Ash Wednesday, depending on the calendar year, which contradicts the chocolates of Valentine’s Day because Ash Wednesday heralds the start of Lent which is a time of fasting and repentance in preparation for the Easter Celebration.  

We have less days to pay bills, still more days of chilly weather, a time when we lube up our pasty white winter bellies for some amour and chocolate.

But my favorite time is the cleverly calculated Family Day long weekend; A statutory holiday tagged onto a school PA day.  Families can hunker down in warmly lit homes or brave the elements and go somewhere wintery or even, dare I say; take off a few extra school days and go somewhere tropical.... if you can afford it. 

February can go surprisingly fast after the cold dragging days of January.

I’ll tell you what is magical about February. Despite the blustery winds and lingering snow,  my forsythia and pussy willows are boldly showing signs of February budding.  Not the big showy blossoms of spring, but the modest hardening of where a bud will be - perfect to take inside to force.

There’s a hope in that act.  Bring it in, warm it up and life springs forth. 

Fearless Pussy Willow Buds

Force.  February Force.  It’s that last push of resilience to get through winter; thorough household cleaning, applying your cures and enhancers for your feng shui energy audit, validating your loved ones with either romance or quality time and doing so, with great anticipation of early spring.  

Happy February!   

This reflection is dedicated to Nikki & Katie; two of the great loves of my life who will spend the better part of February in a Northern Ontario Cabin.

Their family camp is nestled along a “big watered” shoreline property, that silently sits in a of heavily forested remote area, with nothing but the winds, winter wildlife, swaying saplings and the solitude of the heavily drifted snow.  I wish I could be there with them!