Photo by Doug Murray
See the smiley face in the mountain above? Look hard. This fellow has a little bit of a nose, too. The mountain is Ben Lomond, and it keeps watch over my city from the north.
Last week, while pedaling home from work, a new coworker said his landlady told him that when the smiley face on Ben Lomond disappears, it is time to plant your garden. He had no idea what she was talking about, so we stopped riding and I pointed it out. And until he mentioned what she'd said, I had totally forgotten the old local lore about how the disappearance of Ben Lomond's face meant the snow had melted enough, and it likely would not snow or freeze again until the fall.
Our city about 82,200 people isn't exactly a small town. We're surrounded by cities to the north and south of us, and if it weren't for mountains on the east and a big salty lake to the west, those areas would be packed with people too.
But we still manage to recognize nature's cycles as a backdrop for our bustling lives. Think about it. What do you do in spring? Fall? We all have our little rituals set to the pace of nature's cycles.
Last weekend, I attended a party a friend gave for her daughter, who had just started her moons. They called it a "Becoming party" because the young girl was embarking on womanhood. It was a grand occasion and something quite out of the ordinary compared to how modern western society views this big event in a girl's life.
Indigenous cultures considered a girl's moving into womanhood a rite of passage that bore celebrating. A woman was considered her most powerful spiritually when she exhibited the process that allowed her to bring new life into the mortal world. It wasn't seen as icky or something to hide or be ashamed of. It was just another of nature's cycles, and it was recognized and respected as such.
Which of nature's cycles speaks to you? The return of birds to your window feeder? Being able to sleep in a little longer in the morning because you don't have to scrape the windshield? Having a couple of extra hours of daylight to enjoy your garden or a walk or bike ride after work?
We may be urban dwellers, but all we are aware of nature's cycles, even if we only acknowledge them long enough to know when to plant the tomatoes.
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