If there is anything more peaceful than the silence and purity of fresh snow in crystalline cold and fresh air, I don't know what that might be.

On Christmas Day 2012, I hark back to what mushing dogs in those deep woods of the frozen North of Finland felt like. Yes, it was beyond cold, (minus 35 degrees F) but it was a dry cold. (That helped). And the privilege of experiencing such untrammelled pristineness, a place no man had laid his interfering hand on, more than made up for dealing with the cold. (At least 10 layers of clothing also helped). I felt swaddled laying in the soft snow (which I ended up doing a lot when my dogs would whiplash me off the sled going downhill at a gazillion MPH). I don't weigh a lot, so when I would stand on the brake to slow down, God would laugh. It had no impact. In truth, I loved falling in the soft snow. Getting the dogs back was another matter. But it was all in a day's work.

There is no snow here today but I feel the peace that snow gives. I am just here with my animals this morning and will do the warm friends and family part later in the day. For now, it is . . . great great peace. I know the more we can feel it, the more we can imbue our beautiful Gaia and all our relations, two and fourlegged, finned and winged with it. Everyone wins.

Happy Birthday to all Christed Hearts everywhere.

In the early morning light, after massive fire and flooding damage to a ravaged neighborhood in Queens, in the aftermath of Storm Sandy, people are stumbling around, trying to see what, if anything, is left of their homes and the lives they once knew. Suddenly, in the middle of this nightmarish scenario, a large, overarching and very bright rainbow appeared. As one, people looked up and gasped. And for a moment, all the heaviness was lifted. The rainbow faded, and then the reality of what was in front was back again.

I have seen this phenomenon over and over again of rainbows appearing after devastation. I saw it the evening of 9/11 here on Tybee. A huge double rainbow appeared after Tim Russett's funeral after someone in the service mentioned about how Tim felt about rainbows. Always, to me, a rainbow seems to be saying, "I know things look dark and sorrowful, but there is a bigger picture, and it is all about love."
 
In that shared moment in Queens when all those human hearts simultaneously felt relief for a short time, who knows what was born out of that "time out" that the rainbow provided. Surely, it had to do with feeling the 'something bigger' that loves and supports us, no matter what. For the faithful and the spiritually inclined, it would be called God or Creator, or Source. For atheists, it would probably not be called anything, but would be felt, nonetheless. I don't think it is possible to see a rainbow and not feel uplifted. Enclosed is a double rainbow from my small island from this summer. I too gasped when I first noticed it. I always do.

H.M.S. Bounty and the other tall ships were just in
Savannah last Spring. I was able to sit on the dock next to where I live and watch these regal beauties pass one by one as they left the Savannah Port, after docking here for a week. This picture was one I took from shore of one of our dolphin watching boats next to the Bounty as she set off probably never to return here again, I was thinking at the time. Little did I know how true that was. Since I had a thing for this particular ship for a collection of reasons, it was thrilling to me watch her wave goodbye as she left port. I also got to visit her up close and personally while she was docked.

When I found out that that Hurricane Sandy took the Bounty down into the ocean's depths this very evening, I was and am stunned. This happened about 90 miles North of North Carolina. She was heading South to St. Petersberg, Florida and her generator quit so there was no power to handle the size of the waves. Something about this powerful symbol of beauty and grace not being able to get out of harm's way alerts me to a changing of the guard in some way. This ship, of course, was not the original Bounty but rather the replica built for the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty." Still . . . she was majestic and spoke of another time when man's relationship to the sea was much more intimate. I am very sorry for the lives lost in this incident. My understanding is one is dead, one is missing and 16 were rescued. The captain is the one missing. In days of old, the captain would go down with the ship. From all appearances, the captain and the Bounty are sharing a watery grave.

Up North, many other dramas are unfolding and there is much to love and care about in what masses of people are going through. Still, the Bounty has sunk, and for this moment, that has my full attention.

Part of the reason I moved here 14 years ago was to explore the possibilities of forming a conscious relationship with weather. Shamans have done this for eons but few cultures understand the potentialities of such things. I have learned much from personal experience and from study, even wrote a short ficitonal piece entitled Talking to Hurricanes in 2000 to share some of my burgeoning awareness.

Much of what I wrote 12 years ago is now manifesting in front of me in the form of Hurricane Sandy and its prospect of roaring into the Northeast U.S. shortly. But, as I indicated in the made up story, something else is happening that will make a huge difference.There are people who are recognizing that weather is us, and we are the weather, and that if we want to affect the weather, we must start from within. Our task has to do with joining forces with others who can accept that hurricanes are the perfect metaphor for polarities and the clashing of opposing forces. As people accept that the intense polarities of the current political climate in this country are being reflected back to us, in some kind of example of hermetic principle ("as above, so below"), that is step one. From there, as I see it, the solution is to go within, find our inner polarities, and join with others in accepting, for all our differences, that we are one. Then the storms can cease and desist, dissipate and return  from whence they came.
 
Many awakening people are responding to this current storm with an awareness of having some power in the situation, but it is an inner power and one of much joining with others of like heart. I wish I had a way of sharing the story I wrote on this site now but at this point, that is not possible, but something even better is happening. In some small but significant way, the story I penned 12 years ago seems to be coming to life. Love and accept your and other's polarities, experience the peace that comes with doing that and stand by to see what happens next.

One thing about living in a coastal area is that many strong currents of water and air and heat and cold intermingle to create all manner of effects. If you want a chance to get close to Nature and learn her language, opening all your senses to what is going on with weather is wonderful training. Sailors of old would spend so much time reading the waves and the skies and the cloud formations because their very lives depended on knowing what was coming and responding in best possible way. If you looked at their faces when they are looking out to sea, you would observe imprinted on their features a depth of understanding and respect that landlubbers do not so easily attain. Watching the weather channel does not help you to develop your innate sensing and feeling about what is going on in the atmosphere.

In short, I suggest we weather weather in the same way we weather our emotional storms (another form of weather). We become very very familiar with the movement of the elements in nature and the currents in our own emotional field as well. Yes, to become really good, you must study long and hard, but it will make you a good sailor, and give you that  look in your eye that others come to respect.

 About six years ago, I wrote a fictional account of a man who learned to communicate with weather. It was entitled "Talking to Hurricanes". Yes, it was fictional in that I made it up but it was based on things I am aware of about our latent abilities. It is time for us to go fishing about what abilities we had once, lost and now need to retrieve to bolster our arsenal of means to live a rich life at all times no matter what the challenges.  Clearly erratic weather patterns (and emotional excesses) are on the rise. I suggest we all spend a part of each day looking at the skies, the horizon at sunrise and sunset, watch your dogs wiggle their noses when the wind blows and see if you too cannot detect something in the air that your body understands better than your mind. I also check in with my inner weather of feelings regularly and so often, what shows up is a feeling of vulnerability that seems to come out of nowhere. As I stay with that kind of weather just as the good, observant sailor, slowly my confidence builds that I have what it takes to weather most anything, so long as I just take things as they come and accept I am a sailor in training. Live long enough and I am going to get really good at this weathering the weather thing!