Imbolc 2026

Happy Imbolc,

It’s a full moon and a cold night. Davd, Zen and I are sleeping out under the clear, bright sky, bundled in baby bunting and thick winter sleeping bag. I love this time of year, the first pulses of spring hidden away for us to uncover. I always think, “Wait, I’m not ready yet!” But it’s okay, there’s time enough still. Spring is not yet here; the cozy time of winter will linger on a while yet. 

This solstice brought deep sadness to us and to all who knew Joe Pachak. Joe was a great friend and inspiration. He was an artist and a naturalist extraordinaire, which as I ponder more and more, I realize are the two most important things in life. Wow, he lived his life well and we feel so lucky to have brushed our lives against his. We grieve for him deeply. We spent the solstice in Bluff, getting to know his family better, seeing his final resting place on his own land, and sharing stories and memories of dear, wonderful Joe. Oh, how we miss him.

Joe was the one (along with Von Del Chamberlain) who led Davd and I on this Axis Mundi journey. His sculpture Sun Marker at Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum displays light and shadow interactions at solstices, equinoxes and cross quarter dates. Davd started documenting his sculpture in 2012, and made a short film, also titled Sun Marker, as his senior project. That was what got Davd into time lapse photography and learning ways of capturing sun interactions and alignments. I well remember years ago, driving down to Bluff, envisioning this project, and coming up with the name for it. It’s been a beautiful decade plus of work. 

We are thrilled to announce the completion of our first film in the Axis Mundi series. Davd had originally put together about a two-hour-long movie, but with some test screenings this summer, we realized it was too long. He’s been back at the computer, editing away and we now have an hour-long movie. We’ve submitted it to several film festivals and are really excited to be getting it out this year. So far, we have one confirmed screening scheduled for the Amazing Earthfest in Kanab, May 7-10. 

After our summer solstice trip last year, Davd had put together a short video about our travels in Cornwall. We ended up not including it in our email because we wanted to polish it further, but we’ve decided to share it with you now. There’s no narration, but it’s a peek into some of the stone circles and dolmans we visited on our journey. https://vimeo.com/1102850892 We hope you enjoy. 

We’ll keep you posted when we have additional screenings scheduled for Axis Mundi: Vol. 1 The Order of the Cosmos. 

Light in the darkness, 

The Valentines