May and Elixir Vitae

It’s the month of May on a warm overcast day. I wanted to get to the river’s edge with my dog, Belle, before the time of the perfume of tiny yellow flowers comes to a close. All along the Rio Grande, which is less than a little trickle in most places during our long drought, thankfully we still have cottonwoods and fruit-bearing mulberry trees and they are dripping with delicious edible berries just now. But it is the Russian olive trees in bloom that I didn’t want to miss, part of the understory of the forest, which we call in Spanish, bosque (pronounced boss-k). The Russian olive's leaf-out and flower almost simultaneously and so from a distance one can only detect the soft sage green leaves. Sensing a subtle scent, I approached the first one with a hopeful expectation.

Yes, yes, there were tiny flowers, some already dry, yet a few still very much alive. As we walked deeper along the trails there were many more and I was not disappointed. The flowers are so small individually, the circumference of an eraser head with the most delicate lemon yellow petals, many thousands upon thousands on each tree. Their aroma scents the whole of the bosque and permeates the air with a delicate fragrance that I adore.

Belle splashed along the river’s muddy edge as I smiled at our shared joy. Picking the darkest  ripest mulberries off branches and taking it all in like an elixer vitae, there is nothing like springtime when everything is in renewal. 

Once upon a time in another season, I was asked to read a story aloud at a birthday party themed: The Lady of the Moon, always told on the evening of the Mooncake Festival in mid-autumn. It’s an allegorical tale, with ancient, traditional Chinese roots. As it is a story of immortality and love, return of life and cycles, I felt inspired to share a version of it here:

Many moons ago, there were ten suns that circled the earth. Each day one of the suns took its turn to shine, but it so happened that one day all ten suns rose in the sky. A great heat began to parch the earth and all of its people, shriveling the trees, the flowers and drying up the rivers and lakes.The Yellow Emperor, ruler of the world, commanded his most skilled archer, Hou Yi, to shoot down nine of the suns with his enchanted bow and magic arrows. This he did! When only one sun remained the waters once again began to flow, flowers blossomed and the grass turned green again. Hou Yi had saved the Emperor and his people!

As a reward the Yellow Emperor gave Hou Yi a very special gift which glowed with a mysterious intensity; it was the magic pill of immortality. He was told however, that he must wait for twelve months before taking the pill in order to prepare himself spiritually for becoming an immortal.

Hou Yi went to share his joy with his wife, the princess Chang E, but before he entered their house, he hid the glowing pill in its straw- thatched roof. Chang E loved her husband but she was jealous of his gift. The next time he left their house she searched all of the places someone might hide something and drawn to a soft glow of light in the straw thatching she came upon the magic pill which she popped into her mouth!

Instantly her body became weightless and she began to float up into the air. At this time Hou Yi appeared and cried out, “You have taken something that was meant to be mine!” 

Fearing her husband’s anger she frantically began to fly about and across the heavens all the way to the cool jade-like surface of the moon.  And there she landed among a grove of cinnamon trees -- gasping for breath she choked and coughed up the outer casing of the magic pill of immortality.  As it popped out it became a Jade Rabbit with long pointed ears and a bright green body.

Just then Chang E was transformed into a three–legged frog as punishment for betraying her husband. However, because she regretted her selfish actions and longed to be with her beloved husband, one special wish was granted to her. On the 15th day of every month Hou Yi is allowed to visit her and only then is she transformed back into a beautiful princess. On this special evening every month, some say the moon shines even brighter because of the force of their love.  

Each day the Jade Rabbit sits under the cinnamon trees, pounding different herbs with his mortar and pestle preparing a recipe for the pill of immortality. If you look up at the full moon you can still see the rabbit there.

To this day, it is believed Chang E  lives on the moon with her companion, the Jade Rabbit, in a magnificent Jade Palace where she presides as Goddess of the Moon. It is said that if you ask a wish of the Lady of the Moon on the brightest full moon of the year, it will be granted.

The End