Light and dark come into balance once again tomorrow as we mark the autumnal equinox here in the northern hemisphere. Each year the Earth offers us a ‘celestial reminder’ to pay attention and honor what’s coming, to make ready for the march toward the gathering dark.
Winds from the north have increased and newly yellowed leaves are swirling to the ground in surrender to the seasonal shift. I always appreciate this time of cooling, even while darkness falls earlier and earlier each day. The land seems to sigh with relief at the chance to shift into a slower pace, inviting me to do the same. Of course, there’s a lot for us humans to do still as we prepare for the next season. (We haven’t yet figured out how to get the downed trees to sort themselves into tidy piles of nicely split firewood, for example.) The garden is still in since there hasn’t yet been a hard freeze. There’s garlic yet to plant. All of my potted plants are outside, where they’ll stay until I really can’t leave them out there anymore, lest they perish in too-cold temperatures. Motors need to be winterized, the wood stove cleaned. We’ve got to finish residing the garage. There are many things left on the ‘make ready for winter’ list.
But there’s also time to meander paths through the woods, noticing the way the world becomes a holy and golden thing—at least some parts, just for a little while—in autumn. It’s a time to embrace the fire that always burns deep within as the great wheel turns toward shadow. It’s an opportunity to look for beauty in the turning, in how this time of surrendering to the season invites us to look for the holy golden things right alongside the fearsome beasts that sometimes creep along the edges of our consciousness. It’s a time to drop into the sweet darkness of a new season.
HOLY GOLDEN THINGS
Go the where the trees
reach high in witness
where big bluestem
bows down in prayer
where wild aster
looks you in the eye
and fallen leaves crunch a welcome underfoot.
See how goldenrod
readies itself for the turn
when the world becomes
a holy golden thing.
Notes:
The poem ‘Holy Golden Things’ is included in my forthcoming collection titled JUST WILD ENOUGH, and the text on that last image is the last line of a poem in SLOUCHING TOWARD RADIANCE.
The St. Croix Valley Local Author’s Fair is on Saturday, September 23th from 11-4. Join 10 regional authors at Pleasant Valley Orchard (17325 Pleasant Valley Road, Shafer, MN 55074) in the restored barn for book readings, giveaways, and Q&A sessions. They have great apples, & baked goods, farm animals to visit, and a lovely walking trail to enjoy.
Heidi Barr | Author 