She got the Moon in her eyyyeayeiighs

With some of the responses I've been getting on my post about connecting with nature, I realized I needed to write about this.

Folks have got to understand that connection is not a feeling. "I feel such a deep connection with-" nope, that's not connection you're feeling; that's fascination.

Whether it's nature, or a culture, or anything at all, connection isn't transcendent. It's something you build with actual physical effort. It's a relationship.

Let's say there's a stray cat outside, and I want to have a connection with it. So I go inside my house and meditate on the cat, visualizing myself sending out rays of love to the cat. I look at pictures of cats on the Internet. I collect cat memorabilia and pray to cat goddesses. But when I go outside and try to pet the stray cat, it runs away.

This is because I never built a genuine connection, or relationship, with this cat. I'm a parasocial admirer, at best. To the cat, I'm a weird stranger.

But let's say I put cat food outside, and I stay out there while the cat eats, and slowly get closer to the cat as it becomes more comfortable with my presence. Finally, I give the cat light touches, and it gradually learns that I am safe. And we become friends.

Now I have a connection with the cat, because we have a relationship. I feed the cat, the cat eats my food, and we're in each others' social networks.

"But what if I can't build relationships like this?"

It's okay if this is impossible for you right now. You're not going to be a Bad Pagan or a Bad Witch because you can't do something that is literally impossible at the moment.

But, if a connection is something you want to have, at some point? Get studying. You want a connection with nature at some point? Okay, then start studying ecology. Learn about the rain cycle. Learn about environmental damage. Find materials about the plants and animals in your area.

What about a culture? Okay, go learn about its history, go learn what kinds of problems its people are currently facing, and work on perceiving them as real, complex people instead of whatever stereotype you have in your mind right now.

Taking everything you're told at face value.

Deciding you don't like/won't use/will change some of what you're told.

Realizing that most of the historical claims you're reading are absolute bullshit. Everything is a lie!

Getting more into actual history and rejecting anything tainted by historical inaccuracies. Folk magic!

Deciding not to base your practice on actual historical accounts of witchcraft which were given under torture.

Learning to enjoy useful bits of technique while ignoring related historical claims.

Appreciating people who admit that they just made up/figured some shit out and there is no lineage associated with it.

This is one of the things talked about, that the idea of untouched habitat is imaginary because it ignores the animals (including people) that were here and actively affecting the area. Many of those people and animals have had their communities fragmented and disrupted and many of the large herbivores and carnivores have been completely extirpated.

Going backward is always an illusion and always impossible. We have to look at what we have now learn how to move forward in a better way and decide what our goals for restoration are. Our goals should be ethical and include the community, the people, and the animals, that are here now and they should be sustainable for the land, the people, the community, and the animals.

Original

The tool bag is now orbiting our planet just ahead of the ISS with a visual magnitude of around 6, according to EarthSky. That means it is slightly less bright than the ice giant Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun. As a result, the bag  —  officially known as a crew lock bag  —  is slightly too dim to be visible to the unaided eye, but skywatchers should be able to pick it up with binoculars.  To see it for yourself, first find out when you can find spot the space station over the next few months (NASA even has a new app to help you). The bag should be floating two to four minutes ahead of the station. As it descends rapidly, the bag is likely to disintegrate when it reaches an altitude of around 70 miles (113 kilometers) over Earth. 

(But those big heavy gloves can't be easy to work with, and things do get loose even when you think they're secured...)

From 2008:

...Anyway, that was then. This is now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Those interested might also want to keep an eye on Heavens-Above.com, which will almost certainly shortly start publishing separate tracking info and/or ephemerides for the tool bag. (They did this the last time.)

You can also put your latitude and longitude in here and get ten-day info about when you can next expect a good pass of the ISS in your area. (If you start an account with them and add the info, personalized data—I think with customized alerts—is also available.)

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Native bees are a hidden treasure.  From alpine meadows in the national forests of the Rocky Mountains to the Sonoran Desert in the Coronado National Forest in Arizona and from the boreal forests of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska to the Ocala National Forest in Florida, bees can be found anywhere in North America, where flowers bloom.  From forests to farms, from cities to wildlands, there are 4,000 native bee species in the United States, from the tiny Perdita minima to large carpenter bees.

Most people do not realize that there were no honey bees in America before European settlers brought hives from Europe. These resourceful animals promptly managed to escape from domestication. As they had done for millennia in Europe and Asia, honey bees formed swarms and set up nests in hollow trees. Native pollinators, especially bees other than honey bees, have been pollinating the continent’s flowering plants since long before the arrival of honey bees.  Even in today’s vastly altered landscapes, they continue to do the yeomen’s share of pollination, especially when it comes to native plants…