Flag Oracle #17: How do you signal joy?
Waiting for the golden hour to wave a flag
Hello friends,
Like most people, I’ve been through many highs and lows in my life. Observing nature’s cycles gives me peace that the cycles of my own life are part of the plan. Without night, it would be hard to enjoy the day, and vice versa. Surrendering to the flow of time is one of the repeated reminders of the cards, and it shows up once again in today’s reading.
While hiking in Cataract Canyon 15 minutes before taking this picture, I encountered a State Park ranger who asked me why I was hiking with a flag. When I told him it was for an art project, he seemed relieved. I asked why, and he indicated that I could be using it to signal someone or something. Both the semaphore system and nautical flags were used to transmit messages over distances before radio communication.
When reached this viewpoint overlooking the Pacific, I vigorously waved “Fun Factory” around in celebration. It matched the California poppies that I had designed it to resemble and looked beautiful against the lupines and bright green grass. In this pure moment of joy, I signaled to the land, the ocean, the wind, and the sun that I was enthralled with the perfection of the day. No humans were in sight, but I felt seen by Mother Earth.
How do you signal your joy? Can you appreciate others when they do as well? The Joy Signal card represents an opportunity to express joy in the way you know best, and appreciate others’ expressions of joy as well.
The golden hour occurs every day in the hour before sunset and the hour after sunrise. How wonderful it is that a special light is bestowed on every living thing in equal measure twice a day! Long shadows and warm colors make the Golden Hour the preferred time of day for many photographers.
When making the photos that comprise the Flag Oracle, I timed the hikes so that I could walk along the Coastal Trail during the golden hour and capture the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. I became a close observer of how the angle of the descending sun changed the colors of the hillside—and my flags—minute by minute. On this February evening, the golden hue Perfectly Imperfect flag matched perfectly with the golden light blanketing the hills.
In the Night position following the Joy Signal card, Golden Hour invites us to remember that expressing joy is our birthright—and reminds us that no matter how we feel in one moment, the earth’s rotation will bring us to a naturally beautiful moment.
The time to signal your joy might not be immediate; you might have to wait for the right light to appear in your particular Golden Hour, which belongs to you as much as anyone else. All you have to do is show up with your perfectly imperfect joyful intentions.
The exhilaration of springtime
Last Saturday I took a hike on the same ridge where the above flag photos were taken. I wanted to immerse myself in the green hills, which will turn brown in the coming weeks as the new grass goes to seed. The blue sky, warm air, and waves crashing on Stinson Beach below brought on an exhilaration that I hadn’t felt in months. Even though I wasn’t carrying a flag, my entire body felt like a joy signal.
On Sunday evening I watched the livestream of a Phish concert at Sphere, a new concert venue in Las Vegas (thanks Mark for the heads up!). The first set brought on more exhilaration than my exhausted body could handle on a school night, so I saved the second half of the show for another day. I’m glad I did because the 2 hour, 20 minute second set was a long time to be in a continual state of astonishment.
Drew Carey said on After Midnight that the final show was like meeting the angel Gabriel and wrote on X that he “met God for real” at the concerts. Just looking at this image from one of the shows gets me more excited than I need to be while composing an email.
There’s a reason the Golden Hour is only twice a day: if it were all day, it wouldn’t be special. We’d blow out our serotonin receptors (which is exactly what the drug Ecstasy does) and crash.
I hope your week contains some of the exhilaration of springtime, that natural ecstasy that Earth offers with her blooming flowers, sprouting grass, and warm breezes. If the weather isn’t favorable, there’s always music!
Love, Lee Ann
Heartfelt Joy! I love the concept and the reality of the Golden Hour, that natural high, a time of fullness and joy. 🌞