The First, Faint Whispers
of Autumn
Do you feel it?
It’s barely there, when you step outside. It’s autumn, just dipping her toe into the water, just peeking out from behind the trees, sniffing the air. Is it time, yet?
There are a few scarlet leaves on the hillside that faces the front of my home. I can’t get a clear photo, they’re so far away. But they are there, and beside them, a few of their mates have turned bright lemon yellow. Mind you, it’s just a few leaves on a single tree amid a hillside painted in brushstrokes of green in every shade. Just these few, opening like Autumn’s eye, to take a look around.
The spiderwebs have begun appearing on my morning walks. I love photographing them.
I feel Autum’s kiss in the breeze, whenever clouds veil the sun, and early in the morning, around five, when the first robin starts to trill. Just before sunrise, I feel her there. She’s crept out during the chilly nights. They’ve been in the forties of late, our nights here in the hills of Cortland County NY. Forty-nine this morning, and I really felt her. She was out there, a shadow behind the darkness. I could taste her in the air.
There are tiny apples on the apple trees. The staghorn sumac is in full glory, its cone shaped fruit, furry and deep autumnal red. It’s really made up of tiny berries. That’s them in the photo up top. I’ve read that the berries can be brewed into a tea, and I’m going to try that soon.
The black-eyed Susans have come out to play, and my hosts are all in bloom. People cut off those blossoms! Not me.
Last year, I read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and spent the summer looking for actual sweetgrass on my lawn. And because I was looking for it, I found two little pieces, growing along the edge of my driveway between the stone wall, and the pavement, in this little foot-wide strip of neglected earth. I told hubs not to cut them down, and let them grow all the way until they went to seed and then I cut them gently and dried them and braided them. And this year, that little strip of ground is covered in sweetgrass. I remember Robin wrote that it actually grows better if you cut some of it, so I’m going to take a little bit today, to help it grow. I love the spiritual significance of purification, peace, and friendship it brings. I’ve read that one should never sell sweetgrass, but must only give it away.
We are entering the Season of the Witch, my friends. The season of magic. Do you feel it? There is power inherent in autumn. It’s different from the power inherent in spring and in summer. It’s deeper, richer, and maybe we connect to it more as humans because we are physical beings and the energy of Fall is quite physical. It’s the energy of harvest, the manifestation of all we’ve worked for. It is the completion of the spell.
This is a powerful time we’re entering.
Self-Care Review
It’s a good time to take stock of our spiritual hygiene and levels of self-care. How is our meditation practice going? Mine has slacked off a bit. Now is the time to begin or resume or upgrade our meditation practices. Fifteen to twenty minutes to start the day is beautiful.
Are we getting enough physical exercise? I realized as I took stock that I’ve been sliding into my sedentary comfort zone. Honestly, if I could sit all cozy with a blanket on my lap and a cup of coffee nearby, and just write all day, I would. It hit me yesterday, when I was very active, that I felt better than I had all week. Sure I did. TV off, and I was up and moving, and outside. So that has to become my norm again. And I need to get back to my stand-up desk with the treadmill underneath. I reminded myself just this morning that how active I choose to be today, at 62, will be how active I’m able to be at 70. I have slacked off.
Are we drinking enough water? We are spiritual beings in physical bodies, and how much we enjoy our time in life is directly related to how well we care for our bodies. We should be drinking half our body weight in water each day.
Are we eating as healthily as we can? See my other blog, EatLikeYouGiveaShit.org
Are we focused on positive things? Or are we glued to the news? I know it seems like a slow-motion end-of-the-world scenario out there, folks. I’m not going to talk about that here. (I talk about politics freely and passionately on Threads - @maggieshayne there.)
The way through it is to remember that problems only come to shine a light on what needs to change. The more we can focus on the solutions, the faster they will come.
Becoming hyper-focused on the news, which only runs the stories guaranteed to grab the most viewers, can actually help to create the opposite of what we want.
It’s healthier to channel our energy into the solutions, too. Instead of watching and worrying, or going online and bitching (as I do daily) get out there and volunteer for your cause.
But mostly, get away from the barrage of news, and if you can, get outside. Nature heals. She’ll drain all that stress and strain from your body in mere minutes. All you have to do is sit on the ground. Sometimes I like to sit against a tree trunk, or in a soft spot amid its roots where they arch up and down like ground-dragons.
It helps, it really does.
Take deep breaths, all the time. Monitor that you’re breathing fully. Care more about how you feel. Feeling good is the goal. Do the things that help you feel better, all those things I mentioned above. Meditate every day. Treat your body with reverence. And focus on the solutions, not on the problems.
Go outside. Bask in the summer, but watch for Autumn, peeking out from the tall grass’s nodding, seed-laden heads. She’s there.
Got Witches?
