Saturday, August 25, 2012

Tackle It Tuesday, Blue Moon



Dear Haijin,


Another week has gone by … I feel a bit sad … I had hoped to see more contributions to last weeks theme Aurora Borealis, but … well I will not complain. It’s holiday time, maybe other business to do or just no time or no inspiration at all. Of course it could be the theme, or maybe Blogger isn’t easy to find by other weblogs such as wordpress. I don’t know. It makes me just a bit sad … I hope this weeks theme will bring back the spirit to Tackle It Tuesday.

The theme for this week’s Tackle It Tuesday is Blue Moon. Blue Moon is a phenomenon that occurs not so many times. It’s a second full moon in one month.
I am close to the Wiccan tradition and live with the lunar calendar. It is amazing to see that sometimes we have twice a full moon in one month. In the Wiccan tradition we call that Blue Moon this will occur this year in August. In August we have a Blue Moon (on August 31). Blue Moon is for Wiccans worth a celebration and it will be a great celebration.
Credits: Moon above Seta
Basho wrote a haiku on this event of the Blue Moon. It occurred in the Autumn of 1692 as we may belief, but I did some research on this and came to the conclusion that in Basho's lifetime a Blue Moon had occurred twenty times. According to the year in which the following haiku was written, the Blue Moon, wasn't in Autumn but on April 30th (or in March, as we follow the lunar calendar).
In 1689 a Blue Moon occurred on August 30th and as we know, according to the lunar calendar, this has to be July and that's in the midst of summer. I think Basho was impressed of the Blue Moon and wrote this haiku later. Until now, in my lifetime (1963 - now) a Blue Moon occurred 20 times.

Matsuo Basho has written a wonderful haiku on this event of the Blue Moon.

the full moon
even coming twice in a month
the moon of Seta


As I already said earlier in this post this event will occur on August 31th. And of course this is a wonderful theme for this week’s Tackle It Tuesday, because this will be in this week. I hope the weather will be good and the nightsky will be clear to watch this event happen. I love the full moon and if it comes twice in one month … awesome …

Credits: Blue Moon

wonderful event
another full moon in one month
awesome


awesome
to witness this Blue Moon
wonderful event



Well … this was my post, contribution to this weeks Tackle It Tuesday. Come enjoy the fun and be part in this meme. Be inspired. The Linky Widget will appear Sunday August 26th around 8:00 PM.

Please leave a comment after linking your post. Thank you all for your support on this meme Tackle It Tuesday. This theme will close on Monday, September 3rd at 11.59 PM

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Path of the Honeysuckle #1

Also shared with: The Poetry Pantry of Poets United


Dear Haijin, visitors, friends,

I would like to introduce to you a new series of blogposts which I have given the title "The Path of the Honeysuckle". As you know Chèvrefeuille is French for Honeysuckle (or in Dutch: Kamperfoelie) and Honeysuckle is a wonderful flower with a very nice sweet perfume, but it also has a deeper meaning. In her deeper spiritual meaning Honeysuckle is the path of wisdom to find your inner self.
Maybe Honeysuckle did do that for me, but there is of course another reason why I have chosen the 'nom du plum' Chèvrefeuille. I try to write my haiku in the classical Kanshicho-style (as performed several years by Matsu Basho (1644-1694)), but I am also a big fan of the classical way to take another pseudonym as a haiku poet. Well ... that's not everything yet. I was born in a city called Kampen (that's here in The Netherlands) and I love the Honeysuckle. In Dutch Honeysuckle is Kamperfoelie and so I thought I am born in Kampen so I have to choose a pseudonym which I associate with that city. So I took Chèvrefeuille for a 'nom de plum'.
My first haiku I wrote was a haiku with Honeysuckle in it, I can't remember the right one, but I think it was such as:

midsummer night -
the scent of Honeysuckle
tickles the senses


It's a nice one I think and it's a haiku with some deeper meaning. In this one I think the deeper meaning is in tickles the senses. Why? The scent of the Honeysuckle, so sweet and delicious does remind me to my first encounter with my lovely wife. She had a perfume called Chèvrefeuille and that scent made me mad and tickled my senses ... smiles.

In this new series I will try to publish old and new haiku in which I am going to search for the deeper, spiritual meaning in it. As you know from the Tackle It Tuesday preview, back to basic a deeper meaning is one of the classical (and modern) haiku rules. So enjoy this new series ... and if you have a comment on it please share it with me. Thank you.

Chèvrefeuille

Monday, August 20, 2012

Tackle It Tuesday Aurora Borealis


Dear Haijin,

Welcome to another Tackle It Tuesday This week's theme is Aurora Borealis or the Northernlight. I think this one is a lovely one to write haiku about. As you could have read here Aurora Borealis (Northern hemisphere) an Aurora Australis (Southern hemisphere) are quite remarkable phenomena through the magnetic field of our wonderful planet Mother Earth. It's really a wonderful sight when this phenomena occur as you can see on the picture below.

Credits: Aurora Borealis (Alaska 2010)
Look at those nice colors and shapes. This one is made in 2010 somewhere in Alaska. (The site to which the link beneath the picture goes is (unfortunately) in Dutch, but you can find some more pictures there of the Northernlight.
It's a treat of Mother Earth ... and I love it. I myself saw this phenomena once in my country (The Netherlands). On the next picture you can see Aurora Borealis occurring above the country of province Groningen in The Netherlands.

Credits: Aurora Borealis above province Groningen The Netherlands
It's for sure a great sight.

treat of Mother Earth
coloring the skies
Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis
a palette of colors 
treat of Mother Earth

Aurora Borealis caught in a few words ... what a sight ... isn't it?

Well ... be inspired through the pictures and the haiku to write your own. Enjoy the fun and let me smile.
This theme will stay on 'till Monday August 27th 11.59 PM. The linking widget will be open around 10 PM tonight.

Please leave a comment after linking. And if you have a suggestion for a new theme/prompt please share it with me (with us).

The last theme of August starts 27th and will be Blue Moon, it's wonderful happening when a second full moon occurs in the same month . I will post a new Tackle It Tuesday Preview soon.

Warm greetings, be inspired,

Chèvrefeuille