Welcoming Autumn!

Happy Fall!

When I created this fall equinox mandala, I waited for about an hour for the sunlight to wane and the shadow to lengthen until the balance-point between light and dark was visually represented in the mandala. Yes, I could have scooted the mandala backwards or forwards on the deck to “force” the point to occur, but I waited and that was itself a gift of time that I often do not allow myself.

I want to live
my life
allowing space
to watch
sunlight and shadow
move to center.

As we emerged from our Cauldron Month, I received the Seed card from Womanrunes. This is a rune of waiting and ripening and is the perfect rune to consider during a time of processing and exploration. What did you find in the cauldron? What tender seed are you nourishing? What is getting ready to grow for you? To push up its first tender shoots of exploration and discovery?

Maybe this seems like an odd time of year to be speaking of new growth as the wheel of the year in the Northern Hemisphere moves towards autumn, but as we deepen into the shadows of the colder months of the year, I find my attention turns to those seeds we plant and nourish in our dark spaces.

“… we begin by making new metaphors. Without negating the light, we reclaim the dark: the fertile earth where the hidden seed lies unfolding, the unseen power that rises within us, the dark of sacred human flesh, the depths of the ocean, the night—when our senses quicken; we reclaim all the lost parts of ourselves we have shoved down into the dark. Instead of enlightenment, we begin to speak of deepening…”

— Starhawk, Dreaming the Dark

I also think of a time of rest. Of incubation. Of contemplation. Of renewal. What will happen if we allow ourselves to steep in the cauldron of our own wisdom?

Listen.
I am steeping in my wisdom
Stirring up my spirit
Savoring my flavor.
I am twilight
and shadow.
Deepen with me
and become the container
of your own emergence…

May you honor the stillpoint in the year today. May you hear the stillpoints in your every day. May you be patient with yourself as you change and grow. May you find the wisdom in both sunlight and shadows.

Autumn Resources: