Raven and Fire: 100 Days (69)

Day 69:

I took a walk up high point this morning. A raven flew by as I was sitting on a rock and breathing. It uttered a very sweet little gronk as it passed, which is how I knew it was a raven. Crows caw. Ravens gronk. It probably wasn’t talking to me, but I took it as such, anyway. I also heard and saw a blue grosbeak (visible as a black dot in the tree) on my way back down the hill.

On one of my early drafts of a 100 Days of UFOs list, I had included Tidy My Altar. I had meant to get to that long long before today, but May Day, the fire festival of Beltane, seemed as good a day as any to renew the altar energy. I had several little odds and ends to burn when I was done, so I put them all into the little cauldron and set them on fire.

There were chunks of resins in there—dragon’s blood and copal and myrrh, and some wax. I was hoping it would burn, and was startled when it burned intensely for at least half an hour. I think the message of my Bel fire to me is to tend carefully to my rage. To tend all my energy, I suppose. I had to move the cauldron from the stump to the fire pit, and then all the leaves in the fire pit caught fire, too.

I made another eye for the granny square sweater.

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Renewal: 100 Days (67)

Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 67:

I finished the shrug today! I love the feel of these sleeves, and the way they drape! I am definitely going to use this stitch pattern again, and bamboo yarn whenever I can get my hands on it. I stitched the black around the granny square eye. I’m still not totally satisfied, but I feel like I am getting somewhere. Just in time, because I need to get into the next UFO with a will, so I think it’s going to be granny squares for the next little while.

Renewal
by Beth Weaver-Kreider

When the snake women—
lamia and gorgons—
and the dragon women
shed their skins,
we gather them
where they have fallen
beneath the witch hazel trees,
to adorn ourselves
in their cast-off rage
and we remember
our power.

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Earth Day: 100 Days (60)

Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 60:

I’m so grateful for my colleagues. Got a nice pep talk from a neighboring teacher this morning who helped me shift shame into possibility.

I finished the white panel of the bamboo shrug this evening. Here is where I so often abandon a project. I had a vision when I started, and the shapes of these four panels just don’t seem to fit like I intended. Ugh. I’ll strategize tomorrow or this weekend.

Meanwhile, I am still caught in the web between Beauty and Rage.

Motherless
by Beth Weaver-Kreider, 2026

end stage patriarchy
and the men are drugging the planet
checking her eyes to see she’s asleep
before they ravage her

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Beauty and Rage: 100 Days (59)

Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 59:

Busy day with a few bright moments to breathe in the flowers and drink a cup of tea with beloveds. Three granny squares and a tiny poem.

Beauty and Rage
by Beth Weaver-Kreider

Somewhere on the page of my day,
somewhere on the brightly light stage
is the balancing point
between beauty
and rage

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Rage: 100 Days (54)

Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 54: 

About three more rows tonight, and two reluctant sweater models. The blossoms are pawpaws, fully open now from the little globe I photographed earlier in the week.

Rage
by Beth Weaver-Kreider

Call that volcano Women’s Anger
and that one Awakening.

Feel the tectonic shift of plates
beneath your feet
the earthquake of women rising
lifting mountains
opening rifts with their rage
shaking the foundations
of the houses you built
to cage us

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