Ode to the Land: Star-Tracks

By Kristine Karpinski

These lighter days and bright starry nights have brought increased activity from all the critters here.

Foxes playing in the snow in twos. Racoons playing follow-the-leader in family lines. Woodpeckers, mourning doves, blue jays and other winged ones gathering as a chorus of drum beats, melodies, and harmonies, offering the soundtrack of the day.

The deer have also been gathering more readily these days. When ‘deer o’clock’ arrives, we watch as the first two make their way to the birdseed sprinkled around the big cedar. Not long after, another two arrive, and soon it’s as if the call has gone out, and they are joined by many more. They stick around for hours gathered in conversation, contemplating, and celebrating the longer sunnier days, ushering dusk into darkness.

We hear them walking at night, lingering in the field, enjoying the sky of stars. They leave their tracks in the snow in designs that reveal some unspoken choreography. We like to think they intend to bring star-lines from sky to earth, dancing the constellations in the dark hours, allowing us a morning treat of star-tracks.

Perhaps this deer ‘magic’ is a way to acknowledge this time of year when we face the Orion Arm in the sky and can see some of the brightest stars.

The next time you’re looking up at the beauty of that night sky and the stars that guide our way through the tides of cycle, consider honouring them in your own way. A wink as they wink back at you, a blessing or a dance step or two, leaving your tracks to meet the deer star-tracks in the snow.

Kristine hosts a variety of offerings - Sound Nidra, Pysanky Making, etc. Check them out on our website.