
Autumn Wild



“And then the sun took a step back, 
the leaves lulled themselves to sleep, and autumn was awakened.” 
~Raquel Franco
🍁
#CyclesandSeasons
#Autumn
Photo: Grass and Sky 
by Nancy Lankston

As the northern hemisphere moves into Autumn, there is a brief period of balance; where day balances night. It is here now. Autumnal Equinox has arrived.
The energies of Mama Earth are beginning to slow and cool here in the north. Every part of Nature knows that Winter is coming.
On some level, your animal body feels this shift, this turning toward cool, dark, slow, yin energies. Your body senses it just as the squirrels and trees and bears sense it.
Honor this beautiful transition with a small ritual; say a prayer of gratitude for Mama Earth and Autumn, cook squash or pumpkin, spread flower seeds in the garden, sit or walk among the beautiful leaves and seeds and nuts in the forest, light a candle at dusk. Honor Mama Earth in some small way for this season of transition.
Savor the shift.
Savor the yin gifts of Autumn.

#Cycles
#Seasons
#Transitions
#TurningPoint

The lesson which life constantly repeats is to ‘look under your feet.’
You are always nearer to the divine and the true sources of your power than you think.
The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive.
The great opportunity is where you are.
Do not despise your own place and hour.
Every place is under the stars.
Every place is the center of the world.’
~John Burroughs
🌎
#EarthWisdom
In this short video, Bob Randall, a Yankunytjatjara elder, explains that all beings are part of a vast family. He encourages us to care for the land and all living beings with unconditional love and responsibility.

“The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need, if only we had the eyes to see.”
~Edward Abbey
🌎♥️
Photo by Jonathan Pendleton 
on Unsplash

Here in the Northern hemisphere, we are entering into the Lughnasa festival days. Lughnasa (or Lughnasadh) is a traditional Celtic celebration time that marks the beginning of the harvest season in the northern hemisphere. Lughnasa was celebrated in early August all over Ireland and Scotland for centuries.
Legend tells us that the ancient Celtic God Lugh created this harvest festival time in honor of his Earth Goddess Mother Tailtiu. Traditional Lughnasa rituals included an offering of the first of the corn, harvest feasts, athletic contests, bull sacrifice, and ritual dancing. The Lughnasa custom of climbing hills and mountains has survived in some areas to this day.
Now is the perfect time to honor the abundance and harvest in your life. Offer up your gratitude to Earth and Sky for the good things that have shown up in your life this year. Honor everything from your garden harvest to new friendships, children’s milestones, new jobs, your health… any and every bit of abundance in your life.
#harvest
#abundance
#gratitude
#Lughnasa
#celebrate

“The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need, if only we had the eyes to see.”
~Edward Abbey
🌎♥️
image: Wild Mountain Bergamot
by Nancy L

“To connect with God, we first have to connect with nature, and to connect with nature, we have to awaken to the dark. That is why he (Rebbe Nachman) advised his disciples to follow a solitary path into the darkness outside the city, and to enlist the aid of plants and flowers once they got there. To follow nature and return to nature—that itself was the path to God.”
~Clark Strand, Waking Up to the Dark, 
Ancient Wisdom for a Sleepless Age