“Let me cover you…”

Very early this morning on the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, there was a total lunar eclipse of the full moon making it the darkest night in some 400 years.  I didn’t intend to get up to witness this piece of lunar history but something pulled my pagan soul awake around 3:00 this morning.  Maybe it was the knowledge of this happening that lay in the back of my head, but most likely it was the taillight of Greg’s truck as he headed down the driveway to get to a more open area so he could actually see the full sky. 

He needn’t have bothered since there was a cloud curtain that kept the moon shrouded.  But there was something about just being awake while it was happening that seemed to strengthen my acceptance that winter is finally here.

Unlike many people that I know, I’m not one who complains about winter.  I try to accept it as part of the ebb and flow of the year even as I admit to not being quite so stoic about the heat of summer.  Now plants and animals that need it are getting a long rest as the days begin to lengthen…a much-needed rest.

When I finally forced myself out of bed this morning, I saw that there was a light snow falling – our first of the season.  Welcome, Winter!

"On the first day of winter,
the earth awakens to the cold touch of itself.
Snow knows no other recourse except
this falling, this sudden letting go
over the small gnomed bushes, all the emptying trees.
Snow puts beauty back into the withered and malnourished,
into the death-wish of nature and the deliberate way
winter insists on nothing less than deference.
waiting all its life, snow says, "Let me cover you."
-   Laura Lush, The First Day of Winter