Autumn Blessings

This past summer has offered me a bouquet of challenges and insights. So as fall evolves, and the leaves let loose, as the blooms fade, as the fruits and seeds take center stage, I welcome the deeper harvests of autumn, of letting go, of planting for some mystical future, of mulching with and composting that summer bouquet.

Prayerful ceremony roots the lessons, messages, and my own intentions in ways that I can revisit in these early days of autumn so that I may stay grounded in the vision I am dreaming and manifesting as I tend to the many urgent and practical tasks that nourish and sustain. Tasks like...

... fermenting tomatoes in hickory smoked salt for a delicious and nutritious beverage, or quite possibly a first frost Bloody Mary...

... honoring the abundance of Nature with beautiful feral apples, gifted by a generous and inspired spirit, put by in dried form, and in hibiscus-lime-apple jelly...

... garden tomatoes, jars and jars of puree for soups, stews, sauces, juices...

... preserving the bounty in every way I know, fermenting, dehydrating, canning, that I may Know My Food, and know that it nourishes and sustains Nona Gaia first, and me only as a bonus...

... preserving prayer, blessings, intention, healing energies and so much more by collaborating with Nona Gaia and her rooted children, my most sacred ancestors, by making magic together. Simple magick.

Holy, sacred tasks, one and all.

Peace.

Drop Down, Ease Up and Take Care

This is the month of quickening. For me, anyway. I mean, I was away from my gardens for only a few days while attending the Women's Herbal Conference and when I returned the tomatoes that had been stalled in green - among other things - had burst into ripening. So now, the pace of harvesting and preserving revs up again. And this reminds me, yet again, how important Self Care is, and that it's vital to make time for it now, in this season... and, let's face it, in every season, especially in these times in which we live. ::nods:: 

That conference I mentioned was exceptionally Good Medicine for me. It reminded me of behaviors and activities that truly nourish, nurture and sustain me. Holistically. Like what, you ask? Well, like making time to look up into the evening sky to invite the starlight into my being... to hold a loved one (or a stranger), to just hold them, to be held, and to hold space for others to hold and be held... to make time to drum, alone, sure, but especially with others... to walk in prayer, in a labyrinth, through a garden, along a woodland path, or down a hallway... to raise my voice in Truth, in song, and in story - with the stars, with the drum, with the silence, with the plants, the trees, the pollinators, with my Self, and with my Tribe... 

These are a few Medicines that I will be nurturing this month, specifically as forms of Self Care. For me and for you. With that I invite you to open up to September, the month that ushers in Autumn, the month that quickens, even as it reminds us to drop down, ease up and take care.

Peace.