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Large snowflakes beginning to fall towards the back of our property bring a lovely covering of snow.

Snow began to fall and cover the drab earth on this grey but lovely morning in early January at the back section of our land.


As my first 13 Moons cycle winds down, I am feeling both reflective and appreciative. I had a strong intention to birth this new project for 2025, and an exciting idea for the basic structure:


I would make 13 books of daily research and observations, paying close attention to connecting my inner and outer worlds, responding to the land on which I live and expressing my appreciation to all living beings.

My hopes were: to pay more attention to cycles, seasons and the passage of time in photos, art and writing, to be more observant of the cycles and seasons of the natural world, to appreciate and wonder at their beauty and let this curiosity and observation lead my creative practice.





Some of the Best Take Aways from this First Cycle

It seems almost every day has been filled with new ideas and growing trust in my intuitive prompts. I was tense the first few days, then became more relaxed and appreciative as days passed and my ideas and the content grew. 13 Moons was actually coming into being and I was enjoying every step of the exploration and decision making.


I started with lots of options and ideas for what to put in the book, which I gathered and recorded. By the fourth quarter I knew I didn't want to include all the notes and research I had done. I loved all I had collected and learned, but I craved quiet, simple pages with minimal text. The images and drawings wanted to tell their own stories quietly.


That choice to simplify showed me how much more I am listening to my own strong knowing, and to an inner voice that is far more nurturing and forgiving than its ever been. That may well be one of my big lessons this lifetime: to be as kind to myself as I am to others and trust that I know what's right for me. Those feelings strengthened through this cycle as well, and that felt downright magical. When I chose my word for this year, it was "transformation", because that is what I feel is happening to me through both 13 Moons and last years A Full Circle Around the Sun..


I had planned to use my photos strictly as reference images for creating abstracted landscapes, but I felt they are an important part of this cycle and need to be included in the book. They evoke good memories and smiles when I look at them : bundling up and going outside before dawn or in the middle of the night, appreciating the play of light and shadow on new fallen snow, the feeling of seeing empty bird feeders just hours after Bob filled them, the hide and seek of the January full moon appearing and disappearing as clouds drifted across its face . Even the photo editing process has been fulfilling, as I acknowledge my eye for detail and composition is getting sharper.





Some of the Learning Curves for this First Cycle

It took me longer than I expected to select a first book format. I am just learning bookmaking, but knew I wanted the first book for 13 Moons to lay open flat and to work with a heavy watercolor paper that could stand up easily for display. So I found a tutorial on YouTube and did my best - it was a nervewracking process, but I made it through and the book I made looks good, so success! Glues have been a big challenge, particularly because I interspersed matte Mylar pages with the watercolor papers and a lot of my glues didn't work well with them. However, I will explore using mediums directly on Mylar in future cycles and see what possibilities that may offer.


I tried different tapes on the edges of the small works to create a border. The artist tapes pulled up the paper at times, the Scotch and Post-It repositionable tapes both allowed paint to leech under the edges(although the Scotch tape did better), A good friend suggested I try taping the borders again with artist tape with some freezer paper strips underneath all but the very edges for a better seal. This keeps her paper from getting damaged when she takes it off . I'll try that for this new cycle.



The beauty of this book is that it doesn't have a glued binding;  the stitched signatures open easily and lay flat. The cover is Kraft-Tex paper fabric from C & T. It is quite sturdy.  The interior pages are Fabriano watercolor paper. The weight of both helps the book stand up nicely.
The beauty of this book is that it doesn't have a glued binding; the stitched signatures open easily and lay flat. The cover is Kraft-Tex paper fabric from C & T. It is quite sturdy. The interior pages are Fabriano watercolor paper. The weight of both helps the book stand up nicely.

Another decision I'm making for the Snow Moon cycle is to not bind the paper so I can work directly on the pages, then arrange and bind them together into the book form at the end. MUCH easier than gluing!


I am not wedded to any particular book format for the other 12 cycles, so I'll need to decide - quickly! - whether to remake this one for the Snow Moon or try something new. I'm also still deciding what medium I want to focus on for this cycle.


The work of creating the 13 Moons books is evolving as a tool to explore and create with more purpose and direction, all the while deepening my appreciation for all human and other-than-human beings.


With the book almost finished, now I need to learn how to set up a space and camera mount to create and edit a video so I can share this first cycle's finished book, but that will have to happen after this is posted, since it's a very new learning curve and I need a good sunny day to tackle it!


Thanks for reading, I appreciate your friendship and interest!


Peace and love,

Jeanne



Metta Prayer (the world needs all of this and it only takes a minute to still the mind and speak these words.)


May I be happy. May all beings be happy.

May I be peaceful. May all beings be peaceful.

May I be safe. May all beings be safe.

May I awaken to the light of my true nature. May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature.

May I be free from suffering. May all beings be free from suffering.


Namaste












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Today is the Wolf Full Moon. Yesterday I captured a few photos of it rising in the east just as the day faded. There is something quiet and mysterious about the edge of nightfall and moonlight reflecting on the snow. Nothing ever holds still, but for a moment it seems I want it to stay this way longer, the liminal space filling with quiet magic.


The almost full Wolf Moon rising in the east on January 12, 2025

First 13 Moons Official Full Moon Cycle


I have made an executive decision. This is now the first lunar full moon creative cycle in my 13 Moons project, mainly because December was a wild ride of holiday preparations and fun events. Maybe we'll call it the Introduction or Prologue. The little creative time I did have focused more on planning and research than implementing ideas. January is a much quieter time to create.


My first task of this Wolf Moon cycle has been to create a handmade journal to serve as a container for this cycle's treasures, like: excerpts from my daily journals, quotations, resources, photographic images and drawing/painting/collage samples. I am choosing to make a new book for each lunar cycle - it can be the same or a different style; trying some different types of paper and cover materials could be a good learning experience.


From the New Moon on December 30 to this Full Moon on January 13th, I have felt a settling in and a lot of pleasure in the doing that is deeply affirming. I am more aware and more at ease with whatever may happen next. My senses feel heightened and I am becoming more observant.


Daily Recording of Moments


What calls to me this month is to practice recording random, ordinary moments from each day. No matter how mundane, simple, or deep, my job will be to pay attention and record them. Ideas are flowing and I love the safety net of knowing each lunar cycle can build on the one before or shift totally . I am free to try new ideas and jettison ones I feel aren't working for me.



View of notes, samples and handmade book for the first 13 Moons lunar cycle journal

For example, I have been making samples - ten so far, mostly 6" x 6" and also several 12" x 12" pieces using Derwent Inktense pencils and pastels (both Pan Pastels and soft pastels). I'm drawn to the winter landscape and to the moon, so I'm taking photos, manipulating them and then using them as references, not to duplicate the scene but to help me make some basic compositional choices about values, shapes and relationships. When my imagination takes over, I listen to what it suggests. like: ways to attach the samples, make notes about their process, materials, what I like or dislike, what I'd like to do next. I act and then reflect, contemplate and act again, all the while saving bits and pieces of details, hoping they will form a map that charts my trail through a given place and period of time in a particular season of the year.


Each cycle a timeline and entries might be linear, even include dates, starting with the New Moon and charting the progression through the four quarters until the moon is totally hidden again. I might divide another cycle into topics and keep track of those separately somehow. I feel open, no requirement I have to stick with any particular structure if I am inspired to try something different. That total permission to follow my instincts feels very special. I am not just creating a journal, a project, etc., I am constructing an illustrated map of my life and experiences each day. Soon it will be evident where and how they repeat and where they might connect to form patterns and meaning.


Cover of the newly created handmade journal for the first 13 Moons lunar cycle.


Each day is bringing so many thoughts and questions about what to do next. What do I wish to choose to document and record as this lunar cycle continues into its third and fourth quarters? The small, everyday details seem powerful - the delight of watching a black-capped chickadee pecking at the seed snowman hanging next to the feeder, flying away and then returning over and over - or the stunning downy and red-billed woodpeckers pecking at the suet cakes (one at a time of course, they don't seem to like to share).


Other moments I might include: the exploration of a new recipe. Last night I made a mustard glazed salmon over oven-roasted red quinoa and French green lentils (it was delicious). Maybe include a photo and recipe? Or the samples I made using Derwent pencils and then worked back into with water and a brush (once you wet them, when they dry again they become permanent).

Or the notes I made about materials and what I discovered in using them that worked - and didn't.


Condensing it All Down


The practice. The discoveries. A variety of drawing and markmaking tools and my growing comfort with all of them. Almost daily insights. The ability to laugh at my own childlike delight at a new (to me) discovery. Embracing happy accidents. Smiling. Observing. Gathering. Recording. Open. Vulnerable. Wild. Sturdy. Grounded.


Yes, it is the Wolf Full Moon and I appreciate the progress I've made in bringing my ideas to fruition - and I look forward to the waning moon as a time for completion. I will keep debating the small choices - do I print or write in the book, do I print out typed sections, or freely combine them? There will be countless options and choices to make - perhaps each lunar cycle I'll explore a different medium, like diluted sumi ink and brushes, or gel plate prints - whatever calls to me.


I hope this first month of the New Year is starting to bring into your life what your heart is beckoning - and that you will listen to your inner guidance when it whispers inside you. I wish you wonderful adventures ahead.


I didn't include the Metta prayer last time, but in the wake of the LA fires, here it is again and I hope you will join me in saying it aloud each day.


Metta Prayer


May I be peaceful. May all beings be peaceful.


May I be happy. May all beings be happy.


May I be safe. May all beings be safe.


May I awaken to the light of my true nature. May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature.


May I be free from suffering. May all beings be free from suffering.


Namasté,

Jeanne

















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" I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” ―J.B. Priestley
" I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” ―J.B. Priestley
New Beginnings Abound

This week is the beginning of a new month, a new year and a new lunar cycle. A trifecta of newness!

"The magic in new beginnings is truly the most powerful of them all." -Josiyah Martin

As the new moon cycle begins, I feel ready to put my full energy into paying close attention. How will the lunar cycle affect my creativity? Each year there are 366 dawns and dusks and 13 moon cycles. The lunar cycles today are very similar to ones that ancient civilizations viewed in the sky; how powerful it is to recognize we are connected to all of the cultures who have come before us.

As I pay more attention each day to being present, I'm equally aware of my connection to my ancestral lineage. Part of my 13 Moons practice will be to strengthen my appreciation and stewardship to all the living, sentient and other-than human beings I share this world with; we are all interconnected.

Winter Solstice Celebration

As I considered how to celebrate the Winter Solstice, I thought about what it meant to pre-industrial civilizations who faced the cold and dark of winter and the very real prospects of starvation, illness or death. For several days around the longest night, communities banded together to feast and share food and drink. Often they stayed awake all through the Solstice night, keeping the fires lit to ward off evil and gathering to tell stories against the darkness, a time when fears were strongest and the fires and the presence of others offered comfort.

I decided to take bits and pieces from what I had read about Winter Solstice practices, to take time to honor my ancestors, the land and beings I share it with and to celebrate the shift from the longest night to the promise of the light returning.

Among other things, I brought in live evergreen boughs, which symbolize eternal life, since evergreens never turn brown or lose their foliage. We decorated a live tree. We kept the bird feeders filled with seeds and I strung garlands of cranberries, apple and orange chunks in the spruces for them. I filled the kitchen with fragrant spices as I baked gingerbread to honor my German heritage. We gathered together as a family and feasted, laughed and forged stronger bonds.

As Winter Solstice neared, a new friend sent me a link to the live stream Winter Solstice ceremony that is held at Newgrange in Ireland. Newgrange is a massive passage-grave about 26 miles outside of Dublin, Ireland. It was built as a burial crypt about 3,200 BC, which makes it at least 1,000 years older than Stonehenge.

I woke up around 3:30 AM and started watching the event unfold online, listening to the narrators talk about the site's history while waiting for the sun to rise. Shortly before the sunrise was anticipated, a group of people selected by a lottery were quietly led through the narrow corridor to the chambers that once held the cremated remains of important people (possibly the tribe’s leaders), who lived in those lands.

The opening to the burial site directly aligns with the Winter Solstice sunrise and at that particular time sends a ray of sunlight through an opening above the doorway. The light, over a period about 17 minutes, reaches down the long, narrow corridor into the burial chambers. It was a masterpiece of construction accomplished by a stone-age civilization, using only stones and stone age tools to build with.

I loved the experience of projecting myself into another time, another part of the world and a place where artifacts of ancient civilizations still coexist with the new.

I finally went back to bed around 5 AM. When I woke, I felt a deeper connection to the ancestors.

Year End Ceremony of Honoring, Releasing and Beckoning


I attended a powerful session led by poet Holly Wren Spaulding and ceremonialist Georgia Wall where we wrote about what we wished to release at the year's ending, to honor what we might imagine into being, and desire to beckon into our lives and creative practices in the New Year. The writing exercises and quiet contemplation filled me with gratitude as I recognized how much has shifted in my life and art practice this past year, and I now look forward to 2025 without fear or hesitation.

Here are a few of the questions we wrote about:

What will you honor as the year end? What have you imagined into being?

What will you release as the year ends? What no longer has a place in your life?

What would you like to beckon as you approach another year? What do you yearn for?


The Prospect of a New Day, A Fresh Try, One More Start



Here is a link to a lovely story and poem on YouTube as you enter 2025. May it be a year filled with kindness and compassion for all beings.

The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper and Carson Ellis














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Canandaigua, NY 14424, USA

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©2024 by Jeanne Beck. All works copyright of the artist.

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