A TASTE OF SPRING

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As the holidays approach, many look forward to spending time with loved ones. In the not-very-religious-Denmark, Easter has become more of a celebration of spring, light, and new beginnings rather than of the Resurrection of Christ.

I consider both to be giant cosmic balancing of sorts. Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate Pesach, the Jewish Easter, commemorating The Exodus from Egypt, led by Moses. And he ended up with an exit of his own, out of this world. Extreme suffering and darkness turned into resurrection to eternity and light. Spring is indeed a welcomed change from dark days to sprouting life.

I just spent my Sunday in our cottage. I plucked so-called weeds from our garden, much appreciated healthy herbs, and made a salat out of garlic mustard (løgkarse), red dead-nettle (rød tvetand), ground elder (skvalderkål), stinging nettle (brændenælde), blackberry shoots (brombærskud), yarrow leaves (røllikeblade) and sweet violet (viol). I made tea out of cherry plum flowers (mirabelleblomster). They taste like almonds. I am bad at gardening – but I do love foraging and the joy of wild herbs. This is something that balances me.

RADICAL CARE AND SACRED OFFERINGS

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For ten consecutive Tuesdays, I have the pleasure of facilitating an online course on Art & Personal Leadership in difficult times. So far, we have had the privilege of listening to writer, editor, performance artist, and activist, Shëkufe Tadayoni Heiberg, and to Inuit tattoo artist and researcher, Maya Sialuk Jacobsen.

Shëkufe spoke of a time for taking radical care of the Earth. Inspired by permaculture in various ways, she also reflected on the idea of recycling her ideas and planting them in various places and contexts, to not succumb to the imperative of inventing and producing new stuff all the time. Read her text on radical care here (in Danish).

Maya Sialuk shared an Inuit creation myth with us. That everything is born out of darkness before light surfaces. A strong sense of balance characterized her words and practice. A balance between cosmos, the natural world, ancestors, spirits, and body. How the souls of our ancestors are with us and within us, and how our blood has a soul, our name has another, our breath a third, and so forth. Multiple souls and a sense of multiple times and worlds beyond geography and place. Listen to podcasts about Inuit tattoo practices, spirits and more here (in Danish).

And as I whirled into the worlds and words of the wise Maya, a strange odor spread in my basement office. I couldn’t quite place it. Later, I found a dead mouse just beside my feet. It is the first time in our seven-year-old castrated cat’s life that he has caught a mouse. (On one occasion, he just calmly watched a mouse, eating his food right out of his bowl.) So, I can’t help but think that the cat brought an offering to the session. A gift of a little spirit. R.I.P., little one. And thank you for being and taking part of this world.

May the holidays bring balance to you, and to all who need it,

Birgitte