Hermits love this

Noticing Snowdrops

I love this hermit card from the wild unknown tarot. Inward looking yet still a lamp outwardly

I have been watching, drawing photographing and journaling about snowdrops.

I go out and look at them most days. I write down what they are doing. The act of noticing something so small and simple feels medicinal to me and helps me in the dreary weather.

When the flowers first appear, the buds stay closed a while, they seem to quiver and I wonder how such fragile flowers put up with the cold.

After a few weeks they open into neat snow coloured bells. I have learned that Snowdrops are Schneeglöckchen in German which can be translated as little snow bells.

I imagine these first bells to be at the full expression of their “snowdropness” but I am surprised when they open further. Snowdrops look a bit odd at this point. They split into three, like helicopter blades or little alien flowers.

Finally the petals thin and fall to the ground or are eaten by insects.

I used to wish the winters away and but now I notice I want the snowdrops to stay. Not so much because I love winter. It is more that the seasons seem to turn so quickly the older I get and when the snowdrops go then this part of my life goes with them.

I did not know I could feel loss watching snowdrops. Is this an expression of the Japanese philosophy of ‘mono no aware’. The bittersweet transience of beauty? I have never been to Kyoto to watch the cherry blossom fall but at least I have watched snowdrops closely now.

For now, each snowdrop is a tiny lantern in the grey drizzly month of February. And my slow day to day noticing of one simple flower brings me in touch with the hermit card. When I stand still looking down at tiny flowers, with nothing else to do for even a few moments, I am the monk in his mountain hut looking for signs of spring.

Journal

Choose a flower and watch it change over time. Draw it, take photos, take notes and notice how the plant makes you feel.

What are you noticing about the season?

Claire

Paid subscriptions are currently on pause. This post is for everyone and you are free to share it. Thank you for understanding.