Green Wiardries, Autumn Equinox by Maxine Rogers
The Autumn Equinox falls on September 22 this year. It is a time of perfect balance so enjoy it in these unbalanced times. I don’t know about you, but I was both pleased and surprised that NATO did not yet decide to start the Third World War by lobbing their missiles into Saint Petersburg and Moscow. I agree that both sides in the Russian-Ukrainian special military action are at fault but I fail to see how a war that would engulf us all would bring about peace at any price worth having.
The Autumn Equinox is all about the harvest. What worked well this year and what failed? The apple harvest is a bit scanty this year. Once our apples are picked, I will concentrate on getting compost, lime and bone meal spread under the fruit trees. This is very important, particularly for the fig trees which will not bear well without a heavy dressing of lime and bone meal in the autumn.
Our other harvests of this year are also to be considered. Have we been meticulous in our spiritual practice? Have we been kind to friends and the animals in our lives? Looking back on the year behind us, what would we most like to change about ourselves, our relationships, our communities?
The 22 will be a day of equal day and night, after which, every day we slip deeper into the dark and quiet of winter. Farmers love the winter which is our leisure time. This was traditionally a time to pursue crafts such as basket making, carving, spinning and knitting. These were things you could do indoors by the warmth and light of a fire when it was too dark to work outside.
The dark and quiet of winter is a time I look forward to for the greater opportunities this brings for reflection. This early autumn is a great time to prepare the garden for next year’s growing season. Beds should be weeded, limed and mulched to protect and enrich the precious soil.
A heavy layer of mulch keeps the soil warmer, protecting it and its inhabitants from frost. The layer of mulch provides food to the soil organisms and protects the soil from damage from the driving rain. Really weedy areas will benefit from a clipping, a layer of compost, a layer of cardboard or six sheets deep of newspapers and then some more mulch on top to prevent the paper blowing away. By the time spring comes, the cardboard or paper has disintegrated and the weeds are mostly dead except for the buttercup. The soil will be so loose and crumbly that the buttercups will be easy to pull out.
Mantras are to the human mind what mulch is to the garden. Mantras function as a protective and nourishing layer for the brain. How often have you known a person who indulged in harmful self talk such as saying, “I can’t cope,” only to believe it and not be able to cope? “I can’t cope,” is a mantra but it is negative. Forming a better mantra can change how we perceive events and make us better able to give things a try, believing that we can goes a long way to succeeding no matter what issue is at hand.
Mantras work best when they are simple, declarative statements of a positive nature. One of my mantras is, “I am serene and tranquil.” Now everyone who knows me will tell you this is a bald-faced lie. That is the point! But, by telling myself this mantra, I have become much more serene and tranquil.
I was trying to help a friend pick a mantra and explained the rules that the mantra should be short, and declare what you want to become. It must be phrased as a simple declarative sentence. She kept getting it wrong. One of her proposals was, “I pursue happiness.” That won’t work because it will have you endlessly pursuing something you cannot catch up to. A better mantra might be, “I am happy.”
One thing that makes most people happy is a good feast with friends to celebrate the season. We will be having some friends and family over and we will serve them roasted squash soup, hot kale salad with fried walnuts and balsamic vinegar, a roasted chicken on Yukon Gold potatoes, parsnips, carrots, red onions and garlic, all from our farm. For the dessert, I plan on making an apple cake as the apple harvest is the keynote of the season. We will be serving small glasses of the new apple wine which will still be fermenting and very sweet and bubbly.
The final act of the festival will be to light a fire and do the ritual of fire bathing by jumping over the flames. It is also the custom to write down the things you no longer want in your life and feed the paper into the bonfire while making a short prayer to your guardian angel to help you release what no longer serves you. I wish everyone who reads this a very happy and productive Autumn Equinox.
