Tuesday, October 15, 2013

season of peaches

 IMG_7075 this season when the leaves color and fall
has been filled with peaches.
Now only a couple of late roses bloom
and the last of the black eyed Suzys fade.
There are a few flowers and fruits as spots of color, but mostly the plants hang their brown and dried seed heads as the trees slowly change and drop each leaf one by one .
druid
Autumn envelopes us with her sharp angled light
of late afternoons and shorter days and coldness.

Now the sun shines directly from the west
into the cobwebs throughout the house.

Shorts and long sleeves and shawls and socks.
Finally some rain and today all is shrouded in a cloud.
A wistfulness bears hard on me and I dream of spring as I walk over wet leaves.
All the leaves have now dropped from the Ash trees. We are grateful for another year with them. Sweeping leaves and massive amounts of maple seeds from the deck is a daily chore.

And the wyrdness abounds.
I want to start putting out the dumb suppers now, the spirits seem restless and there is a heaviness to our actions, to this time, this season of dying off and letting go and ending.

Our ritual was seasonal and seemingly so long ago. Before the leaves were peak, when there were still peaches, when we we still striving for a new balance from summer vacation to back to school, from lazy and languid to never-ending, and from warm to cold.

We gathered as 2 families of 3 plus 1.
Each interconnected knowing and not knowing, nothing expected and perfectly together.

I balanced the egg, we had a fire for warmth, and snacks. And time mindfulness.

Moving past accomplishments, tragedies, and feelings of being lost and wandering aimlessly we refocused here. 
group meditation
I remember little except everything.
Meditation together on the cool earth,
our directions distinct with sunrise & sunset and the North punctuated with a loud boom blast, and the up with the warm sun directly overhead.
Peaches rolling spirals down to the well, jumping in to help with sacrifice,
heartfelt and tearful prayers of gratitude, questions and understanding.
Birds and water sounds throughout at definitive points and times.
Nothing is random.
All captured in too many pictures by an iphone happy kid.
the east where the sun risesthe westthat shining ball in the sky  this centerup
  sacrifice for the wellreflectionsfire to be
first flameflames, circles, spiralscentral fire
fire dragon
sacrificecirclesignites
final sacrifice
final sacrifice flame
final sacrifice flame 2 final sacrifice flame 3 final sacrifice full flame  final sacrifice flame face final sacrifice flame face dark
final sacrifice flame falling final sacrifice flame falling 2 final sacrifice flame falling 3fire face
flame from well to treemid-air flame
final sacrifice smoldersdropping vertical                       
our omens give one reason to pause, balance and think

from our Ancestors: Nathuz or the need
from the Spirits of Nature & Place:Thuriz or thorn
from the Gods & Goddesses: Isa or ice
for the season: Ehwaz or the horse
omens
the waters of life   behold the waters of life  
sacrifice consumed