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Planet Earth has once again reached the midpoint of her annual journey around the sun.  Here in the northern hemisphere the Summer Solstice is a magical time, when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, giving us the longest day of the year.

Traditionally it has always been a day of joy and celebration when we cannot help but appreciate the beauty and bounty of midsummer.  It's also a deeply meaningful time when we can reconnect with Nature and find nourishment and healing.

A Super 'Buck' Moon, a Comet and a host of planetary conjunctions are making this an intense and dramatic time for everyone.  Revolutionary energy seems to be in the air, pushing for change both in our own lives and in the world around us.

Since  The Woman’s Book of Joy was first published in 2016 the pace of change and resulting upheaval in the world has increased exponentially.  It’s hard not to feel de-stabilized by everything that’s happening, and anxiety and fear can overwhelm us.  For women it has been particularly challenging, and trying to deal with all the issues that face us has left many thinking there has to be a better way of living.

Spring is always a magical time, full of promise and hope for better things to come - a time of rebirth and renewal.   In India the festival of Holi has just been celebrated with the joyful throwing of coloured powders. It’s the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and a time for singing and dancing.  In China the Li Chun festival sees people decorating eggs and trying to balance them, in the hope of having fortune smile on them for the rest of the year.

We seem to have entered a dark new phase in our current age of crisis and uncertainty.  The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the horrors it has unleashed seem incomprehensible.  Does history just keep repeating itself, is a third world war inevitable,  and have we as human beings learned nothing from the past?   Or is it possible that we can change?

I enjoyed the send-up of the media, the scientists and the politicians in “Don’t Look Up”, a recent film about a PhD student’s discovery of a huge asteroid headed towards planet Earth. On the one hand it’s totally believable that those in power wouldn’t take seriously the fact that we could be headed towards the 6th extinction, preferring to focus on their own self-interest.   On the other hand, there have been all kinds of initiatives - by governments, organisations and individuals to help combat climate change and reshape our world.

Can we add to the light that is breaking through across the world?

Right now at the end of 2021 darkness and gloom appear to reign and the problems of the world may seem overwhelming.  Yet amidst the turbulence there are many indications that light is increasing as individuals reassess their values and re-prioritize what really matters in their lives.

We’ve arrived at a crossroads where we have a choice.  We can continue headlong into the collapse of civilisation as we know it and life on earth itself, or we can try to create a different kind world.  On many fronts we are facing crises, but they are all pointing us in one direction - that of fundamental change.

Now I’ve reached a certain age, I make a point of glancing at obituaries.  It’s fascinating to see what rich and fulfilling lives so many people have lived.  One recently caught my attention because it was highly unusual - that of Sister Mary Joseph, known until 1989 as Ann Russell Miller.  Once a wealthy Californian socialite associating with the rich and famous, after the death of her husband, on her 61st birthday she threw an enormous party in San Francisco.  The next day she flew to Chicago to join the Sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel where she remained for the next thirty years.

As a gardener, May is my favourite month as spring seems to explode with a vibrancy that I can’t help but be moved by.  The trees now reveal their soft green foliage so that the structure of the branches is still visible against the blue sky.  Refreshed by the welcome rain, they are a glorious backdrop to the brilliant colours of the tulips, camellias, rhododendrons, irises and primulas that I have planted throughout my garden and love so much.