Announcing Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality

March 1 is the official launch date for my new book, Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality (Llewellyn). Publisher's Weekly wrote, "the author's gentle optimism about human relationship to the Earth and earnest care for the planet in all its particularity is a welcome contribution to environmental advocacy." Voices is a prayer for the Earth, a guide for a new way of living on the planet - or rather, a very old one brought into modern culture - where we humans know the voices of the land, the spirit of the animals, trees, stones, and rivers, and in doing so are able to craft a world of harmony and respect for nature and each other. I offer stories of my own experiences with nature, including song birds, trees, Puget Sound, and even mama marijuana, just to name a few. Then I suggest specific ways you might deepen your relationship with the world through art, meditation, and practice. Voices of the Earth is a must for anyone who loves nature, is drawn to a spirituality of any path that embraces the land, and yearns for a more harmonious world.

You can purchase Voices through any independent bookstore (or any bookstore, for that matter, but I always suggest supporting your local indie!), or online at Amazon.com.

Read an interview with author Clea Danaan (that's me!) here.

Crossing My Fingers - Early Spring Planting

It's been warm this week - seventy degrees yesterday and today. But it's February, and that means fickle weather at a mile high. We could stay mild, freezing at night, until May, but likely we'll get a spring snow. We hope. It's been so dry... but the long range forecast (by a local weather guy) suggests warmer and dryer than usual for March. Since I get itchy and depressed when it's spring-like and I'm not in the garden, I push my luck and plant early.

I have finally learned after years in this climate that even a Wall of Water won't keep tomatoes happy. My first garden here I actually put in tomatoes in March. Since our last average frost date is Mother's Day, well, you know that didn't go well. And then I tried it again a few years later.

This year I'm sticking to cool season plants. I turned a bed yesterday, dumping some poor unsuspecting and very sleepy earthworms into the sun (and then burying them again of course). The soil is very much "workable" so I planted carrots, beets, peas, chard, and mache. And I put in rhubarb plants! My back hurts and I'm tired, but oh, am I happy. I hope that if it does snow, it will be a nice warm blanket of moisture for my baby plants, and that they will be warm enough in the cool night soil to germinate.

I'm reminded how gardening is such a balm for my heart, mind, and soul. I've spent so much time writing about this phenomenon of the healing, spiritual garden, that I have gotten rather in my head. Getting dirt under my nails and teaching my daughter about the garden returns me to myself. And here I am writing about it - but I'm not going to analyze it, just enjoy the afterglow of a day in the dirt.

Happy planting!

Review for Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality

My first review for Voices of the Earth - I'm thrilled. I've included an excerpt below. To see more new Nonfiction reviews or read the entire review (it's the last on the page), click on the link to Publisher's Weekly.

Nonfiction Reviews

-- Publishers Weekly, 2/9/2009

Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality Clea Danaan. Llewellyn, $15.95 paper (240p) ISBN 978-0-7387-1465-3

"[T]he author's gentle optimism about human relationship to the Earth and earnest care for the planet in all its particularity is a welcome contribution to environmental advocacy. (Mar.)"

Garden Plans on Chilly Imbolc

It's a perfect Imbolc day - sunny but chilly, with warmer temperatures forecast. I've been feeling exactly what we're supposed to feel this time of the year, a pull between going outside and welcoming spring and a push to stay cuddled up inside. The holiday is named for Ewe's milk, as this is the time of year ewes start birthing. I've never seen a lamb born, but (this will sound silly, but if you know me personally you'll understand) I grew up watching All Creatures and I associate Imbolc with the image of being on a frigid windy hillside catching baby lambs. One would really need a cup of tea after that.

Anyway, I have big plans for my own little "farm" this year. I want to get chickens. It's been on the want list for some time, and I'm dedicated to making it happen this year. First step is to build a coop. I'm going in on a shipment of chics with a friend, and we should have our babies in March. Also by then my book will come out and I'll be (Goddess willing) entering my second trimester of pregnancy - in many ways I'll be ready to come outside and turn the garden, rather than huddling inside and feeling sleepy.

Not sure what I will plant this year, though I have expanded the garden. With grad school, a three-year-old, a growing fetus, and my writing, I'm letting the garden be a little more go-with-the-flow than in past years. Gardening keeps me sane and grounded, and I need it to be a process rather tha a big project.

What are your thoughts for the garden this spring?

For my friends Down Under, how is your Lammas harvest? Tell me what worked well this year.

Namaste to all!