Something Old and Familiar

Lughnasadh begins my favorite time of the year. There is something that resonates deep within me about the harvest season, something old and familiar that is comforting. I have never been able to put my finger on it. Maybe it's the feeling of completion at the end of the growing season? Or the comfort of prosperity and bounty?

The harvest season has a particular energy that comes from gathering, a building to a crescendo. There is a feeling of the unknown, an impending reward that titillates the senses. There is a satisfaction that is reassuring. I'm certain this is all encoded in the universal DNA of those of us whose ancestors were hunter/gatherers and farmers, that it still exists within us no matter how we make our living and spend our lives. There is a memory of that time and place in each when harvest was the result and reward of hard work and being close to the Earth. We all feel it, but it's difficult to place because we've been distanced from those ancestral roots.

I also think it has to do with the anticipation of the annual opening of the Veil, which begins as a vague, far-off  hum and steadily builds until the winds of the Otherside blows upon us.( I've mentioned it before in this blog :http://amethjera.blogspot.com/2015/09/do-you-hear-what-i-hear.html ). For some reason, the realization that the Veil is opening feels like it's earlier every year; perhaps it's because I'm getting older, or become more sensitive and conscious to it...or both. Maybe it's the Shift the lightworkers have been talking about. Whatever it is, I don't have any negative feelings about it, just the observation that it's become more noticeable.

These past few months I've been happily immersed in reading and studying, revisiting many books previously read, to come out of it with a new level of understanding- some where the understanding is deeper or more profound, and some where my understanding and viewpoint has totally change. My Spring and Summer have been spent working and investing in Me, something I have haven't had the resources or energy to do in a long time. While it feels indulgent, it's also been necessary. My usual set time of the year to go to the place of Deep In-dwelling is during the Winter months where I curl up and keep warm with candles and tea, accompanied by my cat companion. Doing this work in the Springtime and Mid-Summer parts of the year, reading by early morning dawn and the extended afternoon light of day changes my perspective of this work. One thing of interest is that it allows me to put down the books and go out into the world to experience something  immediately; another is that I connect with a different source of energy  and of spirit of place. Because of this change of my daily schedule, I am currently meditating at night. Right now, as I write this, I am listening to white noise of the tree frogs, crickets and katydids. The sounds of these night creatures lulls my brain into alpha rhythm quicker and easier than when I am fighting the distractions of the day. (Yes, I know I should just let go, but that's easier said than done. My monkey mind doesn't just chatter,the monkeys
scream and swing from trees.)  The harvest of this time will continue to feed my soul throughout the Autumn  when I am engaged in celebrating the holidays in the next few months; I will be able to throw myself more fully into the spirit of those festivities beyond the activity they require.

For now I continue to read, editing material, and making new pages for my BOS (which I hope to have updated by Samhain!) Further editing of those pages is needed before I copy materials for the Book of  Rituals I'm making for a friend who's an interfaith minister. It's time consuming, but I love the creative process. And I love Lois, so the time is an investment in our friendship and shared ministry. And, it keeps my mind off all the vitriolic ranting about the current political shits how that has contaminated our consciousness, and although I have an opinion about that, and occasionally weigh in, I don't want to be consumed by it like so many. Likewise the perpetual and nasty bitch fest in our NeoPagan community- I have little that I want to contribute because it's become so negative and self-serving that it's an embarrassment. I like to choose my battles rather than be sucked into something that soul-sucking.  For now I will turn my attention to this turning of the wheel, this season that is old and familiar, and wait.