Mabon blessings - the autumnal equinox!

Isn’t it interesting that on the spring Equinox six months ago, the UK went into lockdown, and here we are on the autumnal equinox and the UK tightens its restrictions to try to control Covid-19 once more, and this for a further six months, taking us full circle to the spring equinox!

The timing is fascinating! Especially when you consider that equinoxes represent two of the cross-quarter festivals of the year, when day and night are perfectly balanced, the cross-over points between darkness and light and light and darkness, depending on where you are in the world and which season you are in.

Here in the west, the autumnal equinox marks the harvest, where we might reap what we sowed, and while the earth remains balanced between light and darl for three days, the days will soon get shorter and the nights longer as we are encouraged to hibernate.

This last six months have been life changing for so many, highlighting our fundamental fear around dying (more on this soon) and the fact that try as we might to ensure certainty in our life, life here on Planet Earth has always been uncertain and always will be, this is also part of the human condition.

And yet there are some certainties such as the sun rising each morning and setting each evening even if we cannot see it, the tides changing, the moon moving through her cycle and the seasons too, they have their rhythm. This is where we find certainty, in the rhythm of life and in our own rhythm, if we are able to feel into it and trust in it.

So in many respects there is something rather comforting about this autumnal shift, even though we can’t be certain exactly what it is ushering in for any of us, but it gives us yet another opportunity to trust in the process and go with the flow, and to appreciate the abundance in our lives, all the harvesting and the bounty this brings.

This balance of light and dark reminds us not only of balance in our own lives (how balanced do we feel?) but of the dualities of life, that we cannot have one without the other such as light and dark, harmony without disharmony, joy without sorry, and how we must find acceptance of all this and not be attached or averse to either way, because that will only lead to our suffering. It is therefore about a balanced perspective, of compassion, non-judgement and the ability to see all sides.

I can’t help thinking that Covid-19 has been helping us to learn more of this lesson. To get out of our comfort zones and our conditioned ways of thinking and start to shift the perspective a little, to appreciate more of what we have and stop focusing so much on what we don’t have, to find the positive in every situation, while appreciating the negative, and not getting attached to either way.

Here I have definitely felt a shift these last six months and I am anticipating further shifts ahead, heck we have another round of eclipses coming up at the end of the year so that will no doubt have an impact. But what I am finding is the manner in which I am learning more about my mind and it is becoming clearer the way in which we create our own reality based on our perceptions of the duality and whether we are therefore drawn to something or turn away from it and how we suffer as a consequence. Also kindness. I am learning a lot about kindness to self especially!

I am also appreciating the simple life, which I have longed for for a while and now finally Covid ushered this in so I am less distracted by the idea of getting off island and being so busy that my head is constantly thinking about the future events. This is a gift in many respects, the opportunity to be more present and I’m grateful to Covid for that.

So today I did celebrate. Sadly the sun was not shining for sunrise as I had hoped, but Eben and I collected leaves from the wonderful trees around Beau Sejour. I’m pretty sure this chestnut is one of the older trees on the island, like maybe 350 years old, E would know but he’s asleep so let’s just say its that old for now! It felt pretty cool regardless! I thought it rather appropriate that Eben was munching an autumnal apple when I took the photo!

We went home and we painted the leaves and made prints, which we are intending to cut out and send to family members around the world, Eben is desperate for some post to come back to him, so we figured we should get the ball rolling by sending stuff our first! This was fun, even though it did mean the paint went everywhere, but I suppose this is all part of the fun!

We planted acorns too. Many of you know we have established our ‘Plant A Tree Project’ and so we are making the most of any opportunity to grow trees that can be planted by others, children especially, in their gardens and spread our love of trees, and make the world a better place in the process…it’s the small things that become the large things, or so we hope!

We went blackberrying on our way back home from Saints for our swim this afternoon and I made a blackberry and apple crumble with apples from my neighbour’s apple trees and some gluten free oats and seeds. It was yummy!

I’m curious to see how life unfolds this next six months and as much as I love summer, I have finally accepted our retreat into the darkness of winter and shall embrace all the gifts that this brings. With any luck it might continue to shine a light into the shadows, not just individually but collectively too!

Mabon blessings! xxxx