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

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

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

Haiku Heights 'green'

Haiku Heights

Another Haiku Heights is on. This weeks prompt is green a nice prompt I think, but not a difficult one. Let's go do it ...

Summer heat
Green leaves turning yellow
Already autumn

Already autumn
This tropical heat in the Low lands
Yearning for coolness

Well see you all next week.

Have a great weekend.

Tackle It Tuesday Preview Aurora Borealis

Dear Haijin,

A new Tackle It Tuesday Preview for next week's theme. Next week's theme is Aurora Borealis or The Northernlight as seen on the Northpole and Southpole (than called Aurora Australis or The Southernlight)

The Northernlight or Aurora Borealis

An aurora (plural: aurorae or auroras; from the Latin word aurora, "sunrise") is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere (thermosphere). The charged particles originate in the magnetosphere and solar wind and, on Earth, are directed by the Earth's magnetic field into the atmosphere. Aurora is classified as diffuse or discrete aurora. Most aurorae occur in a band known as the auroral zone, which is typically 3° to 6° in latitudinal extent and at all local times or longitudes. The auroral zone is typically 10° to 20° from the magnetic pole defined by the axis of the Earth's magnetic dipole. During a geomagnetic storm, the auroral zone will expand to lower latitudes. The diffuse aurora is a featureless glow in the sky which may not be visible to the naked eye even on a dark night and defines the extent of the auroral zone. The discrete aurorae are sharply defined features within the diffuse aurora which vary in brightness from just barely visible to the naked eye to bright enough to read a newspaper at night. Discrete aurorae are usually observed only in the night sky because they are not as bright as the sunlit sky. Aurorae occasionally occur poleward of the auroral zone as diffuse patches or arcs (polar cap arcs[), which are generally invisible to the naked eye.


In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights), named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by Pierre Gassendi in 1621. Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction. Discrete aurorae often display magnetic field lines or curtain-like structures, and can change within seconds or glow unchanging for hours, most often in fluorescent green. The aurora borealis most often occurs near the equinoctes. The northern lights have had a number of names throughout history. The Cree call this phenomenon the "Dance of the Spirits". In Europe, in the Middle Ages, the auroras were commonly believed a sign from God.

Aurora Australis or Southernlight

Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis (or the southern lights), has almost identical features to the aurora borealis and changes simultaneously with changes in the northern auroral zone and is visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America, New Zealand, and Australia. (Source: Wikipedia )

It's a phenomenon which I find wonderful ... such nice colors the night's sky gets when this occurs ... really awesome. So the theme for next week's Tackle It Tuesday will be Aurora Borealis, but you also may use of course Aurora Australis. I am looking forward to your contributions next week. Have fun reading this Preview and let your thoughts go over it ...

See you next week for a new Tackle It Tuesday issue.

Sincerely

PS.: By the way ... as a I already had thought ... Aleph ... was a difficult theme so this Tackle It Tuesday on Aleph will be open for another week. For Tackle It Tuesday Aleph you can contribute your haiku 'till August 27th 11.59 PM. Good Luck everyone.

Blue Monday

Blue Monday ... the wonderful weblog of Smiling Sally I knew already, but I never really posted something there or I was to late. I remember that I posted something around Easter 2012, but it was to late. So now ... I am on time I hope.

blue waves scatter
the seashore destroyed
clouds moving

clouds moving
showing a sky full of stars
still dark blue

still dark blue
dune grass rustling
blue waves scatter

Credits: Blue Waves

Well ... Sally I hope I was on time this time ...

The Mag #130

Credits: Francesca Woodman

I visited The Magpie Tales weblog today and ran into this wonderful Photograph. It's a mysterious one ... is this human male or female, maybe both or is it a mystical being such as e.g. a mermaid or merman. I can't figure it out. As I look to the hands of this being I surely would say it's a male, but I have read some post of other contributors to The Mag in which it's a female. So what to do?

a neuter image
can't figure it out
it's all humanity

it's all humanity
searching for the truth
finding it

finding it
wasn't easy to do
this is mysterious

this is mysterious
it's a male Venus with his shell
a neuter image

Credits: Sharon Sieben - Venus of Milo

Well ... what do you think of this one?

Tackle It Tuesday, Aleph

Also posted for: The Poetry Pantry #110 of Poets United

Dear Haijin,

Well ... another week has passed by, so a new Tackle It Tuesday has to start. It's a bit early, but I will have a busy week so therefore I thought ... let me post the new Tackle It Tuesday a bit earlier than I did the other episodes. Have fun and enjoy this new Tackle It Tuesday.
This week's theme "Aleph", based on the novel by Paulo Coelho, isn't an easy one. It's really a challenge I think to write a haiku inspired on this wonderful novel by Paulo Coelho. I have read it twice and I found it stunning, very spiritual, very intens and very personal. I can't remember that in his earlier novels he was the main character in the story. In "Aleph", he himself is the main character and I find that great.
I myself am a author too and I can recall the first novel I wrote in 2007 titled: "Netsach, the universe of the seven magical worlds` in which I unknowingly became the main character as my readers told me later.

In the Tackle It Tuesday Preview which I posted on August 8th you can read more about this wonderful novel by Paulo Coelho.

Credits: Inner Fire

lives collide
Inner Fire burns
in the Aleph

in the Aleph
searching for my past
with the one I love

with the one I love
in the middle of the Aleph
lives collide

This wasn´t an easy one, but I loved writing this cascading haiku inspired on `Aleph` by Paulo Coelho.

See you next week for another Tackle It Tuesday.
This one will stay on ´till Monday August 20th 11.59 PM

Have fun, be inspired and please leave a comment after linking. Do you have an idea for a new theme please let me know.

Namaste,

Tackle It Tuesday Preview, "Aleph"

Dear Haijin,

As promised a new Tackle It Tuesday Preview to inform you all about next week's theme "Aleph". "Aleph" is the latest novel by Paulo Coelho a Brazilian author. I am a big fan of his writings. He writes with a kind of spirituality and enthusiasm. Last year, when I was on holiday in Turkey, I have read "Aleph" and a week ago I started reading it again. It's a very personal story and again full of spirituality and philosophy.

Credits: Paulo Coelho

In his most personal novel to date, internationally bestselling author Paulo Coelho returns with a remarkable journey of self-discovery. Like the main character in his much-beloved The Alchemist, Paulo is facing a grave crisis of faith. As he seeks a path of spiritual renewal and growth, his only real option is to begin again—to travel, to experiment, to reconnect with people and the landscapes around him.Setting off to Africa, and then to Europe and Asia via the Trans-Siberian railroad, he initiates a journey to revitalize his energy and passion. Even so, he never expects to meet Hilal. A gifted young violinist, she is the woman Paulo loved five hundred years before—and the woman he betrayed in an act of cowardice so far-reaching that it prevents him from finding real happiness in this life. Together they will initiate a mystical voyage through time and space, traveling a path that teaches love, forgiveness, and the courage to overcome life’s inevitable challenges. Beautiful and inspiring, Aleph invites us to consider the meaning of our own personal journeys.

Synopsis of Paulo Coelho's "Aleph":

In Aleph, Coelho writes in the first person, as a character and a man wrestling with his own spiritual stagnation. He's 59 years old, a successful but discontented writer, a man who has traveled all over the world and become widely acclaimed for his work. However, he can't shake the sense that he's lost-and deeply dissatisfied. Through the leadership of his mentor "J.," Coelho comes to the conclusion that he must "change everything and move forward," but he doesn't quite know what that means until he reads an article about Chinese bamboo.
Coelho becomes inspired by the thought of how bamboo exists only as a tiny green shoot for five years while its root system grows underground, invisible to the naked eye. Then, after five years of apparent inactivity, it shoots up and grows to a height of twenty-five meters. Taking what sounds like advice he's written in his previous books, Coelho begins to "trust and follow the signs and live [his] Personal Legend," an act that takes him from a simple book signing in London to a whirlwind tour of six countries in five weeks.
Filled with the euphoria of once again being in motion, he commits to a journey through Russia to meet with his readers and to realize his lifelong dream of traveling the entire length of the Trans-Siberian railroad. He arrives in Moscow to begin the journey and meets more than what he's expecting in a young woman and violin virtuoso named Hilal, who shows up at his hotel and announces that she's there to accompany him for the duration of the trip.
When Hilal won't take no for an answer, Coelho lets her tag along, and together the two embark on a journey of much greater significance. By sharing deeply profound moments lost in "the Aleph," Coelho begins to realize that Hilal can unlock the secrets of a parallel spiritual universe in which he had betrayed her five hundred years earlier. In the language of technical mathematics, Aleph means "the number that contains all numbers," but in this story it represents a mystical voyage wherein two people experience a spiritual unleashing that has a profound impact on their present lives.


"Aleph" reads as a movie. The reader is part of the journey and learns to look at his (or her) own journey,  called life. "Aleph" ... well I can only say: this novel is worth reading.

Credits: Cover Aleph

"Aleph" is the theme for next week's "Tackle It Tuesday". I hope that with this information given in this "Tackle It Tuesday, preview" you, my dear Haijin and visitors, can write a haiku. It can be a classical or a non-classical haiku that's all up to you. I think ... this upcoming theme isn't easy, but ... please try to write a haiku on this theme "Aleph".

This new theme for Tackle It Tuesday starts on Monday August 13th. Come and enjoy the fun. Be part of this new Tackle It Tuesday.

See you all next week

Warm Greetings,

Book trailer Aleph by Paulo Coelho

Tackle It Tuesday, back to basic

Also shared with: Poets United's Poetry Pantry

Dear Haijin,

A new week for Tackle It Tuesday. As you all could read in "Tackle It Tuesday, preview" of last Wednesday August 1th, this week we are going back to basic. Back to the classical form of haiku as initiated by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694).



For more on Basho visit Basho Revisited (one of my other blogs on Basho). Basho is a haiku master and he is my role model and I see him as my master. This week's theme of Tackle It Tuesday isn't easy to me, because I write in the Kanshicho-style (a haiku style that's more similar with the Western way of writing haiku).
As you all could read in the preview there are a few basic rules for writing haiku the classical way. I will give them here again:

• 5-7-5 syllable count
• a kigo (a so called season word)
• and a deeper meaning based on the philosophy of the haiku poet
• and of course ... haiku is a poem that's based on a short moment, short as e.g. the sound of a pebble thrown into water

The classical haiku originated from the Renga (a chain of poems) and is based on the first poem of such a chain called hokku. The name haiku was given to this hokku by Shiki (1867-1902). Shiki brought haiku into the 20th century. He also is, next to Basho, Buson and Issa, one of the four greatest haiku masters. Shiki was very strict in using the rules of the classical haiku, but Basho became the most known haiku master through his deep devotion as a Buddhist.

Let's go back to this episode of Tackle It Tuesday, back to basic. To me the classical way of writing haiku is very difficult as I mentioned earlier in this post, but ... well I have to try ...

For my inspiration I have used a picture of the rough landscape of the Island Rab in Croatia.

Of course you also may use this picture or another one for your inspiration.

the rough landscape
reaches to the deep blue sky
so impressive

Does this one follow the rules? Let's take a closer look.

The 5-7-5 syllable count? Yes
A kigo? Yes. The deep blue sky is a kigo for Summer
A deeper meaning based on my philosophy? Yes it does. I am a devotee to nature and in this haiku the deeper meaning lays in the word impressive. I am always impressed by the wonderful creation of or world. I caress  the strength of Mother Earth's nature. This haiku says: be careful with our beloved Earth it's a great wonder.

Well ... do you like this one? I surely do.

This episode of Tackle It Tuesday stays on 'till August 13th 11.59 PM. Please leave a comment after linking and if you have an idea for another theme for Tackle It Tuesday ... be so kind to share it with me.

Next weeks theme will be Aleph. Aleph is the title of a novel by Paulo Coelho, an author which I admire.
I will tell you more about Aleph in a new episode of Tackle It Tuesday Preview later on.

For this week's Tackle It Tuesday have fun ... be inspired.