Harmonizing with the Season’s Cycles.

An invitation to ease into fall and winter.

Modern society has us slaving under the delusion that constant productivity is the only way we are worth anything.

The truth is that nothing in nature produces all the time. Every tree has its season to leaf, bloom, fruit, and wane just as the moon. And all animals nap and luxuriate in restfulness as well as hunt, forage, mate, and play. It seems that only humans have attached (and not without cause) our worth to the activity of constantly “producing” and always doing.

Though it is without a doubt true that our ancestors often labored long and hard and lived shorter lives, it is also true that they had more time for rest and leisure as well, even in Medieval times. This was out of the necessity of moving with the seasons as opposed to living “luxury” lifestyles.

Summers and harvests would be busy, busy. Lots of light, lots to do, lots to prepare for the harder, colder months when the land was not bountiful and the crops were producing little yield. And it wasn’t just the temperature variations that drove them to making these adjustments—it was the light. 

Darker months meant less time outdoors, but also earlier bedtimes, and more time spent sitting and weaving, knitting, cooking, baking, and other indoor household activities that would occupy the winter months. It was also a natural phenomenon for elderly people to pass during these winter times. Less food, less warmth, less ability to maintain vitality in the face of the harsher conditions; it was not uncommon for bodies to “give out” naturally. 

And so we have the feast days: Lamas and Autumn equinox to honor the harvest, followed by Samhain, our modern day Halloween or All Hallow’s eve, which is only a few days away. On the pastoral calendar Samhain represents the end of the year, and is often thought of as the “Witches New Year”, or the “Witches Sabbath”. And though this has come to have sinister underpinnings (according to some), for pastoral and pagan people it was perfectly natural and respectful to honor their dead. They would even set places for them at table during these celebrations.

Pastoral people live closer to the land and therefore death out of necessity. 

Fall is not only a time for harvesting, but also often for slaughtering animals and processing meat. If you find this method of food preparation distasteful, fine. But please realize that we lived this way for thousands of years, and to now live in cities where the majority of our food supply is both processed and poisoned is not only unfortunate—but toxic. I won’t go on a rant about the virtues of locally grown and sourced everything, because I realize that living that way is actually a privilege now, not a way of life. The point I want to make is that it used to be a way of life for many people. And those rhythms are still a part of our collective psyche, whether we personally practice them or not. 

Here in my little mountain town, the first snow has fallen and the temperature has already dropped below freezing. The “thing” my silver Subaru does come winter—not start—it is now doing, and I have to plug in the block heater in to assure the ignition will turn over when I need to, hopefully. Aside from this mechanical shift, my body is acutely aware that this is the end of a season. I both want and need to be indoors more. Sunset came at 6:45 a few days ago, as opposed to the 10pm twilights we were enjoying mere months ago around Summer Solstice.

We are slipping into darker days.

It is good practice for our bodies, and our circadian rhythms, to try to honor the shift of seasons with our habits as well. Though we have the luxury of electric lights, try to not flood your interior space this time of year. Instead, try setting up floor lamps or table lamps in corners and come evening time, leave the overhead lights off. Light candles or fires if you are able. Try turning off electronics a while before bed to let your mind and body wind down. 

In neopagan circles people often talk about the “thinning of the veils” this time of year. Though this is a commonly used phrase in such circles, it may or may not have any actual “spiritual” merit. What tends to thin is the light. It’s been waning into a golden haze for some days and, now with the sudden settling of snow over the landscape, it has become dense and gray. Though I have no animals to take to slaughter, hunting season is in full swing and people who live in that way are stalking their game and stocking their freezers for winter. 

This is a good time to “take stock” or even make stock. Cooking is a kind of spell-making, my favorite—kitchen witchery. A pot full of veggies and herbs and rich dense meat, if that is your thing, is as good as and better than a cauldron full of mysterious things. 

Today I am going to fetch my first Sourdough “starter” and you better believe I am going to inquire as to its “history”. They can be passed down through generations and I have been wanting one for a long time not only for the quaintness of having a bread ingredient with a past, but also because it is the only kind of bread my body happily digests. And winter will be a wonderful time to try my hand at baking.

Pop up pictures of your relatives who have left this earth, if you feel so moved, or start up a conversation with your ancestors. As I have said in other posts, I call my “benevolent dead” to assist me in growth, healing, patience, and protection of my loved ones. But recently I have also referred to them as “dirt-bound bastards”, because they are both sources of love and nourishment and frustration for some of the harder patterns my bones have carried due to their misdeeds. 

We get to acknowledge this, this, and that. We get to honor both the light and dark and have no need to fear it. We get to be present with the shifting cycles within us and around us, and we get to do our best to not cling to summer or any other season that we might find preferable to the one that currently presents itself. 

We get to grieve and mourn as well as celebrate—and there is no bloody rule that says those processes must be separate. 

Feel free to share in the comments, if so inspired, some ways you honor the changing of seasons. And a happy fall, Samhain, and full moon to everyone!

Lotsa love,

~Justice