01.02.2020
Musing on the wheel of the year as she creaks around once more. Lughnasadh in the south is harvest season, a time of preserving and preparing and gratitude. But here we are swamped in heatwaves and bushfires and smoke. The land and sky changed forever by greed and stupidity and no one learning fast.
The cross quarter sabbats are periods of observation that call our attention to the changing earth. It is a subtle shift, imperceptible to those hijacked by a virtual post modern existence, visible only to those connected to the land they walk upon.
Of course with climate change and man made notions of time and energy, I often wonder about the progression of the wheel over the centuries. Certainly for our ancestors, weather and seasons would have been vastly different to where and how they fall now. Their very lives depended on knowing and noticing shifts in earth and wind, water and weather, plants and animals and the sky. But it seems only a recent concession in our terribly modern world that our survival as a species still depends on this relationship to earth. We tread far too heavily upon her.
Anyone connected to the land - whether through their garden or trees or any practice of observation - knows that nature has been moved off her spot. She is struggling to maintain her rhythms in the face of so much human interference. This shows in random flowering out of season, changes to weather patterns especially rainfall, rising sea levels and temperatures around the globe.
We are being shoved into new extremes and that is pushing these ancient correspondences into unfamiliar territory. Nature yet prevails in the face of relentless pillaging, thoughtless consumption and mindless dissociation. But she urgently requires a more dedicated stewardship and care.
Begin-again as the wheel creaks. Wherever on the wheel you find yourself transforming, follow the lead of the natural world about you. Watch her movements closely and learn well these ancient lessons in life, death and rebirth. Our lives depend on it.
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
~ Wendell Berry
Over in the coven, we have ritualised this stewardship of the earth. The time for debate on climate change has passed. Action in our everyday lives, choices and way of existing in tandem with nature is the only way forward. Join us to enhance your connection to the earth and practice natural cyclical magic.