Autumn

Autumn evokes many images: leaves of gold, brown and red swirling down in the crisp air; pumpkin patches and apple orchards filled with ripe fruit; warm, soft sweaters and blankets donned as the weather turns cooler. It is time for the joy of harvesting, gathering both food and the community for celebrations and feasting: sharing, generosity, thankfulness, and hospitality. There is an underlying awareness of survival needs: shelter, preserving, storing for the lean times; reaping, culling, hunting.

Autumn is contemplative: we slow down, hibernate, and take time for reflection, for assessing the experiences of the year. We face ourselves and our past, feel the presence of our ancestors and gain wisdom about maturity, old age, withering, and dying. We meditate on mortality, reminded that death is part of life, and appreciate ephemeral beauty. Energy releases from embodiment to Spirit; the hours of darkness grow longer, magic is in the air and the veil to the Otherworld becomes thin…