Blessed Autumn Equinox, friends!
The card I pulled for our reflection today is the 7 of Pentacles. An interesting draw, with certain poignant resonance this season. 7 of Pentacles reminds us to keep our eye on the long game. That this work of creating stability is a process to be tended and daily worked. The autumnal equinox is a time of bringing things to their completion. A time of preparation for the long time of darkness ahead.
Now is the time of the harvest. If you are feeling the particular sadness that is a natural aspect of things coming to an end, it may be compounded by the pandemic’s enforced barriers to togetherness.
For those with ancestors from the Northern Hemisphere, our bodies hold a memory of coming together at this time to work the harvest, to prepare for the long nights of the coming winter, and to celebrate with gratitude and appreciation the bounty of the earth.
Historically, at this time we have gathered ripe fruits to adorn our homes, tables and altars to celebrate the abundance of the harvest. We have burned bonfires of the old stalks and sheaves after the harvesting and storing of the grain to release and return to the earth what is no longer needed and to stave off a little longer the dying of the light.
The nights grow longer. This is the time of completion of any work left half done. It’s the time to prepare for our period of hibernation.
What is ready to be finished, shed, allowed to fall away like so many withered leaves...? What do we need to gather and store to sustain us through the dark nights?
At this time we make our preparations to go inward. We make our homes and hearts ready for this transition.
It is natural to feel sadness, loss, a sense of ending. But at this time of day and night in equal measure, let your melancholy also be blended with gratitude and sweetness of the fruits of your labors.
