encircling.

 

she who raised me is a woman of superstitious nature.  she is my mother.  we haven't spoken to each other in four years now, but today a branch on her namesake rosebush in my garden snaps in the spring winds.  

this is the first year of blooms: sprays of wild berry hued roses.  i notice there are no buds or flowers on the broken branch, so i shove it into a pot of soil.

she who birthed me is also a woman of superstitions.  she was not my mother.  it is her birthday today.  her number is still in my phone.  an inner peace reminds me that some beginnings are also endings.

i decide not to augment our texts to each other.

she who recognizes me is a selectively superstitious woman.  she is my chosen nona.  it is her birthday today.  we share bonds of persistence, awe, tenderness, and soul deep delight in nature.

she has the feral kenning, too, and gifts me a St. Regina's medallion.  i wear it daily around my neck.  

nona gets first pick of my woodsy, coastal, or desert hauls: mosses, lichens, grasses, bark, feathers, shells, rocks, bones, fossils, driftwood, herbs, smudge sticks, and obsidian.  we share artwork together- both our forms being of paper mediums.

an old matchbook helps me to spark up a cornerful of tealight candles, and burn a rose dhoop cone atop a flat rock embedded with seashell-fossils.  i choose a candle.  

by choose, i mean that i close my eyes and ask my heart which of the five colours to light afire.  i open my eyes to the mossy green candle.  green corresponds to health; the colour of chlorophyll, new growth, and ancient, green woods.

there's no mistaking that today is a meaningful, curious day.   

i chuckle in gratitude to the woman who raised me, and pray good health to her.  

i wish a silent happy birthday to the woman who birthed me, and pray good health to her.  

i share photo/text birthday joy with nona, and pray good health to her.  

then, i pray good health in my own body, this home, my cat, and to beings both near and far.

perhaps the only superstition needed tonight is that this day is full of it's own.