As the New Mexico solstice moon ripened into a sliver this longest night of the year, i dreamt, cozy in my down comforter, next to my beloveds. I was not alone. I slept alongside my bees, suspended in a heated, glowing fist of sleep.

I dreamt of a new year, trembling on the horizon. In the night, I felt the anxiety of the shift we will live to face. It was a visceral sensation, haunting my night dreams. And in the secret dream world as I asked how I could serve this transition, I heard “You will know…”

I do not need to fear. Every being on earth is equipped with what we need for this coming year—including human beings. So, I look to the bees as my teacher. They teach me fortitude. They are the penultimate survivors, locally attuned. Incessantly adaptable no matter what the weather, food situation, or pest ravaging them. Resilient. Animated. Whether their life energy is poured out in the summer food forage for the hive body, or hanging dormant in winter, their tiny bodies radiating heat for the commonwealth.

infrared light showing the heat from the winter bee cluster

Whether they will live through the winter, to see a new Spring, remains to be seen. But the return of the light. Ah. They know it. The queen is sensitive to the light. As daylight begins to creep back once again in this hemisphere, she notes the increase and begins to lay her eggs in anticipation for a new turning. As early as January, the honeycombs will begin to teem with new life, aching, longing for what may come with the Spring.

But meanwhile, we still live in the darkness. A time for rest. Rejuvenation. A time to set your intentions for 2018. To dream your dreams. To seed your imagination and prayers with all that is life affirming.

Wendell Berry always says it better than anyone I know.

I woke this morning feeling solstice in my bones. Oh the swing away from darkling. Swing towards the light. Though hibernation will still feel apt, to move along in grace towards goals both outward and inward….And though the holiday season is monumentally topsy-turvy, I reach for the open spaces of empty pages, to plan, to poem, to story.

May you also find your gaze towards the light, towards the brightening horizon. May your find solstice blessings aplenty.

And while the dark still lasts, be well…

To Know the Dark 

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

We don’t know what the New Year will bring, but I seeded my dreams in that longest night of yesterday….

Think Like a Bee’s sole focus the next few years will be an epic project called the Rio Grande Watershed Story project. We will be collaborating with New Mexico Acequia Association and Ghost Ranch to connect youth, elders, and land based communities of New Mexico—remembering the stories of the land and water of New Mexico.  Documenting through videography, the precious story of agua é vida. Without safeguarding water, this precious living substance, there will be no life. Generations to come must remember and work on the front lines to protect her. It’s about bee life. Critters. Plants. Soil. Humans. All life.  I am passionate about this.

This is the way I will #resist in the New Year. One creative step at a time.

In this waning year, 2017, I invite you to support our work.

click here to make a tax deductible donation on Paypal

Tax deductible checks can be made out to PES, our fiscal agent, and sent c/o PES, P.O. Box 6531, Albuquerque, NM 87197. note“THINK LIKE A BEE” in the memo line.

Have a blessed holidays with those you celebrate, serve and love.

bzzz.

Think Like A Bee is a tax exempt organization in the State of New Mexico