In September, I read books by Marija Gimbutas and Herbal Rituals by Judith Burger. I passed the time smoking mugwort and mullein under the harvest moon. The new moon in Virgo brought me feelings of groundedness in my artwork. I’ve carried crystals and stones of smoky quartz, wishing stone, pyrite, clear quartz and obsidian in my bag.
Messages from the Cards and the Moon
Patterning in my tarot cards was often driven and goal-oriented cards, all centered around masculine energy, moving through stagnation and finding clarity. They were cards that reflected my desire to finish old and new projects. The cards gave me the push I needed to come out of a creative fogginess and shed an internal dialogue that was getting me nowhere. The full moon in Aries had me longing for spontaneous day trips and adventure.
This month’s magic has been filled with rainstorms, late nights creating to trance inducing music, my only companions the waxing moon and Venus rising in the cloudy sky and a silently weaving spider in the window. This spider is my constant and crone who is a reminder of crafting with sacred intention. We had many late cool nights walking around downtown enjoying our neighborhood and the historic buildings, hiding out in the used bookstore or the rock shop. We visit the river one last time, it is cold and abandoned. I grieve for it, thinking of a recent large polluting of these waters.
Harvests and Honey
Farm explorations of picking apples and raspberries, savoring the balance of tart and sweet that lingers on my tongue. I listen to the hum of bees pollinating, bringing life to the hills and peace to the mind. The bees are a deity of their own when a colony dances in sync together. I am visited under a willow tree by a mother deer and fawn. It is the answer I needed to a question I have held in my heart for too long. I hold space for my daughter during a touching sidewalk bird funeral after a walk to the neighborhood vintage shop. We offer some nearby flowers and a song.
Of Ancestors and Dreams
As we ride the spiral down into autumn I feel the call of ancestor reverence. Memories of my grandmother haunt my heart during the anniversary of her passing and I feel her strongly while I listen to stringed instruments vibrating through ear buds, evoking respect for her musical gifts — of which I was never blessed with. Goldenrod and changing leaves wave and bend in chilly breezes across the bluff faces. I collect fallen willow branches and hang them from the walls, adorning My abode with its sweet perfume. My dreams are vivid but I forget most of them upon waking, left only with emotions. This is unusual for me.
Preparing for the Season of Magic and Rest
The autumn Equinox balances me out a little and has me hopeful that this season of magic will bring me a little rest and perhaps more ancestor exploration. I visited with my grandpa who is the keeper of the family history and asked him many questions about his life. I heard stories about how hard his family worked, how they lived and farmed. I hope to learn more about my maternal line in the next months. The crisp autumn wind has finally come to these hills, invoking memories full of warm colored leaves. I become more present in my day-to-day as the temperature outside drops, lifting some of the summer haze from my mind. With this lifting I have laughed and loved hard during these final days of September. I look forward to what October will bring.
