Illumination Wellbeing Center

04/07/2026

04/06/2026

Affirm: 'I approve of myself at all times—I am good enough just as I am!' 💚

04/06/2026

Sunny, little wind, slightly warmer.

A.M. to Buffalo – to shop for my birthday present, on Bertha’s (bless her) insistence. Record to D.C.V.D. for exchange – fortunately they had another copy, and Mrs. Sara suggested we take up to the second floor to try it on a good player there. We did so, and rejoiced to find that this record had no serious flaws – The salesman there seemed very interested in the record.

To Kleinhan’s where we bought three shirts and three ties for my birthday. Then to A.M.& A.’s “Yankee Doodle Room” (what a name!) for lunch. And then home, I went to the studio, and got the “God in the Woods” picture ready for mounting – While I was engaged in this, Bertha came out, in her orange scarf and blue coat, and said Mart had called and would [unintelligible words] we come over at once. So we did – David was all excited – Said he had learned the Mendelsohn Wedding March, which he proceeded to play for us – his little playmate (the girl next door) came in & he became excited playing in front of her and us, and so made some mistakes, otherwise he played it quite well – After that played one of Chopin’s Preludes. Peggy & Tom came too, & then Hank.

To Lenten Service in the evening.

For bedtime music I played the “Seven Last Words”. This record has but a few “ticks” altho mainly sounded splendid – It is superior to the string quartet version.

Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, April 4, 1962

Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), Glory to God, 1949; watercolor on paper, 47 X 27 1/2 inches; Image from the Burchfield Penney Art Center Archives.

04/05/2026

GODDESS of the MONTH: 🌞ĒOSTRE

As the earth awakens, Ēostre, the spirit of the dawn dances in the Eastern sky. She whispers songs of Spring and draws the Sun upward on his journey. He hears and answers with “three joyful leaps”* as he rises to join her dance.
Beams of morning light pe*****te the water in the wells and streams. It becomes holy and full of virtue. There is a stirring within the shells of new laid eggs. The brown hare leaps upon the warming earth in response to the joy of the skies. Spring deepens upon the land.

Think on the symbolism inherent in this dawn deity.

🌤How could you incorporate themes of a new day for new beginnings into your own life?

🌤How might you partner with light and work in tandem with the elements of nature and the people around you?

~ Rebekah Myers
copyright © April, 2018 by Rebekah Myers
Her Circle Woven

*quote from Deutsche Mythologie by Jacob Grimm

Art: Justine G Cappelli, “Eostre”
The Chicken Legged Workshop - Art by Justine G. Cappelli

Ēostre or Ostara is a Germanic dawn goddess for whom the Germanic month and the festival of Easter are named (Northumbrian: Ēosturmōnaþ; West Saxon: Ēastermōnaþ; Old High German: Ôstarmânoth). The last days of March through April were considered to be the Ēostre-month.

🌤This concept is universal.
Dawn dieties in other cultures include:

Tefnut: Egyptian goddess of the morning dew.

Anpao: Sioux spirit of the dawn with two faces.

Liwayway: A Philippine Tagalog goddess of dawn.

Eos: Greek goddess of the dawn.

Austra: Latvian dawn goddess.

04/03/2026

'I practice forgiveness daily so that I am free to move beyond the past into the present moment.' 🤍

04/01/2026

03/31/2026

03/30/2026

I am not killing your tree. I am not a fungus, a moss, or a disease.

That gray-green crust on the bark of your oak. The leafy stuff on the branch. The dusty pale coating on the fence post. You've been searching for tree disease treatments for three years.

I'm a lichen. And your tree isn't sick. It's certified.

A lichen isn't a single organism. It's two organisms fused into one — a fungus and an alga living together as one body. The fungus provides structure, protection, and mineral absorption. The alga provides food through photosynthesis. Neither can live like this alone. Together they form something that resembles neither.

I grow on your tree. Not in it. My body attaches to the bark surface. I don't pe*****te the bark. I don't steal nutrients. I don't block light from the leaves. I don't cause decay. I'm using your tree as a surface the same way a bumper sticker uses your car.

Here's why I'm actually a good sign.

Lichen cannot grow in polluted air. Air pollution kills me. If your tree is covered in lichen, the air around your property is clean enough to support me. Ecologists use lichen presence to map air quality — more lichen species in an area means cleaner air. Your lichen-covered oak is a certificate of air quality you didn't know you had.

The tree you think is declining because of me is usually declining because of something else — drought stress, root compaction, pest damage — and I happened to be on the bark when you noticed. I was here before the decline started. I didn't cause it.

I grow a millimeter or two per year. The patch on your oak branch that's the size of your palm has been growing for decades. I was here before the deck was built. Before the house was painted. Before you moved in.

🌿 What to do about lichen on your trees:

- Nothing. Leave it. Lichen on bark is not a problem and removing it accomplishes nothing except damaging the bark surface underneath

- If a tree covered in lichen is declining, the cause is underground or internal — root damage, compaction, drought, boring insects. The lichen is a bystander, not the culprit. Investigate the roots and soil before blaming the surface

- Lichen on a fence post, stone wall, or garden structure is the same organism doing the same harmless thing. It adds texture and character and indicates clean air

- If lichen suddenly disappears from trees in your area where it used to thrive, that's a signal worth paying attention to — it may indicate a change in local air quality

- Lichen on fallen branches is a building material for hummingbirds and gnatcatchers. Both species press lichen flakes onto the outside of their nests with spider silk for camouflage. The lichen on your oak may end up on a nest in your yard

Don't scrape it off. Don't spray it. It's not the problem. It's the proof that the air is clean enough for it to exist 🌿

03/30/2026

Yesterday I saw a robin discover a worm, and pull it out. As he ate it, he rolled his eye skyward with intense satisfaction.

Tonight to Fields before Bentley’s – the frogs and toads – a strange rustling in the leaves – what was going on? – As I looked at the ring around the moon it became a huge opening in the sky, beyond which was another world –

The wind fluttered – grass under moonlight – pale moonlight falls on the sleeping flowers –

Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, March 30, 1917

Charles E. Burchfield, designer, Robins and Crocuses, 1923, Birge no. 1490, wallpaper mounted on board, 20 12 x 19 58 in. (52 x 49.8 cm), Manufactured by M. H. Birge & Sons Company, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Purchased with funds from the Buffalo Foundation, 1973

03/30/2026