So of course the day I wrote my last post we had a huge amount of snow, so I didn’t get to plant my Imbolc apple tree after all. That joy will have to wait till after the thaw, and then some, till the ground has warmed a little. The weather during the period of the recent pair of eclipses (Jan 26 and Feb 9), traditional harbingers of general difficulty and climatic weirdness, has been intense in many places, including snow and rain paralysing transport in the UK and a hurricane in Spain and SW France. And in Australia the terrible, terrifying fires, a combination of a very hot summer and some very crazy people. I want to extend my thoughts and prayers to everyone there and to say that there is a lot of coverage in the UK of the traumatic events Australia is suffering, and that many people around the world are sending their support and empathy energetically. I think this is the positive angle of our shrinking globe – yes, we get inundated with tragic news and it can feel overwhelming, but if we turn that overwhelm into prayer for those in need, maybe it helps lend some psychic strength.