Gifts of the Season

So much to celebrate! Samhain. Halloween. All Saints Day. Dia de los Muertos. We are turning into the season of darkness. The veil between the here and the hereafter is thin. The ancestors and future generations are mingling in my dreams. There is much to notice and honor.

For weeks, the world has been golden. The leaves on the trees had turned a deep yellow. Surely they reflected the sunlight but they also seemed to glow with a light of their own.

The sunlight has shifted. This is most obvious at sunrise which happens later and later each day and at sunset which surprises me by arriving earlier and earlier. But it is also less strong, casting a more indirect light on this corner of the planet.

Just this week, the earth and sky transitioned from this golden lingering of early autumn to the late autumn that portends winter. The morning frost is thick and a light skim of ice forms on top of the compost lid nightly. The ground holds almost as many leaves as the trees. 

I am grateful to join the season in turning inward. It has been a generative growing season. The garden yielded a summer’s worth of vegetables and we still have an overflowing basket of winter squash and bags of carrots. While the pandemic has grounded us at home, my family has found new strength in our connections with one another. And throughout the summer, I have finished my new book, Arriving Here: Reflections from the Hearth and Trail. It will be ready for release within a few weeks. The flurry of creation is coming to an end and the season to reflect and digest is arriving. It may be true always, but in this fall season, I am recalling a poem by Hafiz that reminds, “Now is the season to know that everything you do is Sacred.” 

I will share more about Arriving Here in the coming weeks — and I will certainly let you know when it is available for pre-order!

In the meantime, I had the pleasure of being a guest on Suzanne Radford’s podcast. A certified forest therapy practitioner and communication coach. Suzanne expertly guided our conversation from the present moment, to the past, and into the future. We explored the open spaces of awareness, the intimacy of connection, and more. Listen here – and consider subscribing to the Nature Pod for more opportunities to explore the gifts of the natural world with Suzanne.