October
October is a pivot month. At this latitude, October starts as Autumn and ends in Freeze-up--that gray, wet, cold period that lies between true Fall and Winter much as Break-up lies between Winter and Spring. So though it seems as though Summer has just left, I expect only another few weeks of Fall weather before another turn-of-season.
Seasons--the natural cycles--are important in pagan spirituality. The yearly but eternal cycle of birth, growing and fulfillment, followed by decline, death and regeneration, is a metaphor for the mysteries of life and death. My eclectic spirit draws energy from the dynamic pulses of the lunar cycle--ever-changing and yet eternal--but our yearly circuit around our star the Sun provides the slow,steady background beat to the lunar calendar.
So we mark out the circling year with sign-posts, pivot-points of time when our relationship to the sun changes. Solstices and Equinoxes; most cultures still find means to celebrate these turning points of seasonal change.
All of which is just a prelude to my saying that October--my birth month--is my favorite time of year. They say that wine tastes of its grapes, that the season of growth is forever captured in the vintner's product, which is why some years are better for wines than others. So I think October has marked me as her own. I love the sense of completeness, the faint air of melancholy that hangs in the autumn air. I love her frost-crisped mornings and glorious, sun-drenched afternoon before the rise of the Hunter's moon.
Seasons--the natural cycles--are important in pagan spirituality. The yearly but eternal cycle of birth, growing and fulfillment, followed by decline, death and regeneration, is a metaphor for the mysteries of life and death. My eclectic spirit draws energy from the dynamic pulses of the lunar cycle--ever-changing and yet eternal--but our yearly circuit around our star the Sun provides the slow,steady background beat to the lunar calendar.
So we mark out the circling year with sign-posts, pivot-points of time when our relationship to the sun changes. Solstices and Equinoxes; most cultures still find means to celebrate these turning points of seasonal change.
All of which is just a prelude to my saying that October--my birth month--is my favorite time of year. They say that wine tastes of its grapes, that the season of growth is forever captured in the vintner's product, which is why some years are better for wines than others. So I think October has marked me as her own. I love the sense of completeness, the faint air of melancholy that hangs in the autumn air. I love her frost-crisped mornings and glorious, sun-drenched afternoon before the rise of the Hunter's moon.
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