Autumn Equinox

The autumn equinox occurs today at 6:04 p.m. in the Pacific Northwest. Summer is over and darkness will again catch up to the light.

Now the rains have begun (hallelujah!), Canadian geese are on the move south, the leaves are turning and beginning to drop, and night temperatures are cooler. Everything in nature is paring down, and moving energy to the roots and into the earth.

This is the second balancing point in the year; in the fall we might gently shift our attention from the physical side of life to the spiritual and mental, to indoor projects and thoughtful pursuits. As the nights lengthen, we have more dark time available, to be alone and to think; to become clear about our intentions; to nurture inner seeds that may not sprout until spring.

Mark the Start of Autumn:

1. Journal queries

2. Fall possibilities list

3. Wise Medicine Collecting

4. Autumn nature tray

5. Make a straw doll

6. Fall cleaning

1. Journal queries:
Center, and consider the balance in my life.

How well do I balance my physical, mental, and spiritual needs?

How can I balance my personal needs with my commitments to the outside world?

 

How do I balance my various priorities so they get the appropriate attention?

Think also of the balance in the world; meditate upon what this half of the year will bring, dark and light, and how best I can take right action in the world.

2. Fall possibilities list:

I give myself permission at the start of each fall to try something absolutely new - start a new study of an unfamiliar subject, practice a new way to paint, focus on a new inner challenge, dream of outlandish notions, or experiment with new ways of organizing my days. Today I will make a list of possibilities:

1. Mixed media studies with my painting class
2. Study mysticism and the Quaker Path with others
3. Learn a disco dance, and practice daily
4. Daily medicine art practices
5. Plan toddler "God talks" with puppets
6. Re-read Braiding Sweetgrass with my family

3. Wise Medicine Collecting:

We all have ancestors who were gatherers, who collected from nature to fill their family's larder. These were people who knew the best place to collect nuts, berries, and grains; knew how to leave enough to ensure a new harvest in the future; and knew how to show gratitude and thanksgiving.

Somewhere along the way my ancestors lost the wisdom of how to collect wisely and began to take more than they needed, and lay waste to the environment. 

This history is part of what I need to heal from, and I've designed a way to do it that I call Medicine Collecting, which is just a way to gather food and materials that is sustainable and honorable. One example is how I gathered straw this fall for my straw doll. To be clear, I used to routinely collect decorative wheat from a craft store, wrapped in cellophane - not very sustainable or honorable. Now I gather it sometimes from my garden and sometimes from nature.

It's also true that people still do make a living collecting wild herbs and foods in nature. To learn more about it, visit the Fair Wild site. 

Each part of my wise Medicine Collecting process is healing:

1. Observe - Keep your eyes open whenever you go outside to really see what nature has to offer. This week I found wheat and grasses along the river, and in an alley, as well as the clumps that came up in my garden from seeds in my straw mulch.

Part of observation is deep examination, drawing or meditating on the subject to get to know it better. This is a drawing I did of a wheat stalk I collected from garden.

2. Research - Know what it is you are collecting, so you don't accidentally take something rare or endangered (or poisonous).

When I looked up the straw I use for mulch and duck bedding (above), which sprouted in my garden, I found that it was probably wheat, and also that it was most likely not organic. I could do better.

This is most likely wild wheat, planted by birds in our front yard. 

This is most likely a wild grass, collected in our alley.

3. Collect sustainably - Only take a portion; leave some for the animals and birds and some to fall to the ground to reseed the area.

4. Give thanks - Say a little prayer or thank-you to the Earth and the Creator for providing.

4. Autumn nature tray:

Nature trays or tables are a place to celebrate the changing seasons, and the natural cycle of the year. We put away the nature tray last spring, because it wasn't garnering much attention from our grandson. This week we set it up again, for fall.

We enjoy two parts: Collection and observation (this is Medicine Collecting for kids!) Our grandson loves to collect nature objects - sticks, leaves, pinecones, rocks - not all beautiful, but who am I to judge? Our nature tray is a display of his collection with some additions from me. Eventually our walks will help him to sharpen his observation of what goes on in nature, and he will become more discerning about what to collect.

Observation is rather ceremonial - we visit the tray when he is here, light the candles and touch or play with the objects, but they live on the tray.

Supplies: Tray or low table, cloth (I used brown for Autumn), candle or two, natural objects (wild grasses, feathers, sticks, leaves, nuts, pumpkin), appropriate seasonal figures (animals, or a ghost)

5. Make a straw doll

2017 straw doll

Wheat and straw weaving is an ancient art form, done all over the world, as a symbol of the harvest. 

The custom in Europe was to make a straw figure out of the last sheaf of wheat that was harvested, so the spirit of the grain had a place to live through the winter. Then it was planted again in the spring.

I usually make a simple figure with a few pieces of straw and scraps of fabric.

Supplies: Straw, carpet thread, scissors, water, cloth scraps


1. Collect a handful of grain, and cut to 6-1/2-inches, leaving some of the grain heads longer. 

Tie them together just below the grain heads with carpet thread.

2. Soak a couple of shiny pieces of straw in hot water for about 15 minutes, and flatten them out with your fingers. 



Wrap the flat pieces around the head, and tie at the neck with carpet thread.



3. Tie a few short pieces together at both ends, trim them, and insert them under the head for the arms.

Tie them in place, wrapping thread in a X across the chest.

5. Finally, add a few scraps of bright cloth for a vest or skirt.

2022 straw doll, with wheat collected from garden and yard

6. Fall cleaning:
Fall cleaning has an entirely different feel and focus than spring cleaning. In the fall we finish up, pack away, and "batten the hatches" -- we put away all the outdoor stuff, air out the sweaters, and prepare for winter.

This next week I will start my fall cleaning in the back rooms and back yard. I plan to:

• Sort and pare down my clothes, store away summer things, and get out my sweaters.
• Sort out one box of keepsakes and store in the shed.
• Put away the lawn furniture.
• Clean and repaint the window frames outside my bedroom and sewing room.