time of burrugin

Tugarah Tuli – cold, frosty, short days (June to July)

“This is the time when the male Burrugin (echidnas) form lines of up to ten as they follow the female through the woodlands in an effort to wear her down and mate with her. It is also the time when the Burringoa (Eucalyptus tereticornis) starts to produce flowers, indicating that it is time to collect the nectar of certain plants for the ceremonies which will begin to take place during the next season. It is also a warning not to eat shellfish again until the Boo’kerrikin (Acacia decurrens) blooms. ”

http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/dharawal/burrugin.shtml

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Burringoa (Eucalyptus tereticornis)

Image source: http://www.saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/_dbase_upl/p_t_eucalypt_7198_id127.jpg

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Boo’kerrikin (Acacia decurrens)

Image source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rtIRGTY69D4/TkQLUwBv0-I/AAAAAAAAAAw/5UipUNZoP-w/s1600/acacia-decurrens.jpg

Noticing …

The calls of currawong, kookaburra, magpie, satin bowerbird, whipbird, wattle bird.

We have a family of satin bowerbirds that frequent the garden (the same ones chowing down on my capsicums and grapes in early Autumn). It intrigues me that they have been safe despite the number of domestic cats in the area. Satin bowerbirds build a bower on the ground, and are incredibly vulnerable. I don’t know where this family nests but they have been in the area for many years now.

A satin bowerbird’s bower. Image from: http://thebeautifulbrain.com/?s=bower

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The Winter Solstice on the 21st June.

Journeying around the sun,

she turns  furthest from the light.

Here In the dark of the long night she is  veiled,

and here she comes to the fullness of her union with creation.

To  enter is to hold Death closest to our hearts.

And as we do,

Death has her sensuous way.

 

Slowly, we come to a clearing, and the  solstice.

And in deep stillness, we enter.

Our journey from the sun has come to its full, and we wait in a rare quality of quietness.

Time is no  more.

 

Here in this place, we gently slip into the emptiness, and depth of the  void,
and bathe in the energies of creation.
when we are cleansed, and  fully drunken from the cup,
she continues on her journey around, and we edge  back closer to the light.
slipping out through her veils in birth, we are new, and journeying to the sun.

 

Martin Jones

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In the garden…

Fresh oranges, mandarines, and lemons from our trees.

I ordered four blueberry bushes to put in pots. I bet the satin bowerbirds will enjoy these.

The yard is cold and damp for most of the day. Although we don’t get frost because we are on a mountain ridge, it is the driest time of the year and it is important to keep water up to the plants. I prefer not to go out into the yard in the winter. We go out for bushwalking, and Saturday is SoccerDay as my boys play for the local club. 

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Let us take a few silent moments to turn inward, to contact the place of winter within us – the cold, contracted places and the familiar enclosed haven in which a part of us has begun to live since fall began….

 

http://www.webwinds.com/thalassa/winter.htm