My Garden of Earthly Delights
What's on My Mind this Week . . .
Welcome to my Substack where I write weekly about whatever is on my mind and that can range from spiritual topics, to writing, to humor, and often the small details of life lived one day at a time.
As a sneak preview into the workings of my delightful mind, I want to share that I recently streamed the last season of Bosch: Legacy. While that may seem an unrelated tidbit of information, I watched that series on the edge of my seat, waiting for tragedy to befall one of the major characters. Intensely absorbed, I carried the characters and story lines into my dreams, and woke up this morning thinking of the famous triptych oil painting by Hieronymus Bosch entitled The Garden of Earthly Delights.
My fabulous dreaming mind took the name of the main character of a police procedural and brought me to the artist and his surreal and imaginative depiction of biblical themes. And that brought me to what’s on my mind this week. Are you still with me?
I am basking in the pinpoint light of a new moon in the sign of Taurus and that means that the month of May with its beauty and sensuality is arriving. It is time to think about creating my own garden of earthly delights. Each new moon signifies a fresh start and this one begs me to consider what that fresh start might look like as I step into the expanding abundance of the natural world.
I find my senses heightened at this time of year, especially my sense of touch. Many years ago I visited Paris in the month of May and found myself in the Rodin Museum where I was surrounded by sensuality expressed in stone. The urge to touch the pieces was almost unbearable, so alive they seemed. I walked out into the garden where I could experience the harmony of nature and art, a full sensory experience that brought me into profound presence.
Stone, bronze, wood, leaves, flowers, skin - all are meant to be touched. My physical self is a sensory communication channel with the natural world and with others, a channel that demands my attention as nature springs to life. I am being pushed to awaken to a richer experience of my garden - to get out of my head and into my body where communication comes not through thoughts but through the unspoken language of energy.
As a writer, I spend a lot of time in my mind and love where my imagination takes me. But it is a different kind of presence - one more of focus and organization than of pure experience. Each new moon I write wishes for what I hope to create over the waxing cycle. I am doing that today with an eye towards greater presence in my experience of life. I am writing down how I want to enjoy the sensual pleasures of daily life.
A friend told me today that this new moon in Taurus speaks to a full moon in Taurus coming on November 5th this year. She is planning on writing a letter to herself of what her life will look and feel like on November 5, 2025. She will put it away and then open and read it on the full moon. I like this idea and am going to follow her suggestion. I like the ritual of connecting my hopes and dreams to a point in the future when I can revisit and reflect on what I have created.
I invite you this week to consider how you might move into this season of sensual experiences. How might you create your own garden of earthly delights? What is it that your communication channel that is your physical self wants you to know? Have you been listening to it? And pay attention to your dreams. Even the softest whispers from your cells matter.
I’m wishing you the blessings of health and presence on this new moon. May compassion and healing go out to all in need.
With love,
Cathleen