Cusp of Autumn

We are on the cusp of Autumn, and I want to take time to prepare myself - body, mind, and spirit. I'm taking this whole week to bring my attention to the shift we are undergoing - attempting to slow down, simplify my schedule where possible, and celebrate.

Agenda:

1. Fall possibilities

2. Practice a Reverent Way of Being

3. Nature culture practices for fall

4. Fall art themes

5. Make bread

6. Fall vignettes

Retreat for Beingness

I'm in great need of a retreat - a quiet day alone to think, write, read, and work in the garden and the house. It's been a stressful week, with robbery, and lots of emotions and fights. I'm going to take this day one step at a time, and pause often to remember to just BE.

1. Read "The Power of Less"

2. Creative Visualization

3. Simplifying my shelves

4. Home sensations

Mid-September Garden

The September garden is cooler and calmer. The summer harvest is dwindling, and we have some rainy days to refresh the green. My fall planting is going well, and I can relax with the watering. This is the time to begin a little garden clean up, and preparing for winter.

Agenda: 

1. September garden tasks

2. Garden clean up and winterizing

3. September planting

4. Save seeds

5. Freeze tomatoes

Paitishem

The Zoroastrian community honors the six seasons of the year by celebrating six Gahambars; the word gahambar means "proper season". Each of these six festivals is celebrated for five days, and each honors one of the six material creations: The heaven, water, earth, flora, fauna and man.

Paitishem is the third Gahambar, celebrating the creation of the earth, the end of summer, and the harvesting of crops. It takes place each year from September 12th through the 16th.

1. Recite prayers
2. Make Iranian soup
3. Harvest and preserve

4. Read "The Power of Less"

5. Simplifying my week

First Quarter Moon of September

The first quarter moon is today; we are one-quarter of the way through the moon cycle. The moon is waxing - growing in light and energy, creating a time for decisive action. 

I use this September quarter moon's energy to make a transition to autumn zeal: A little wild, and focused on gathering-in, tying up loose ends, and building resilience.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal queries
2. Read the Power of Now

3. Choose awareness practices

4. Make a full effort plan

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is one of the most beloved of all the Hindu gods. He is the god of wisdom, beginnings, and success. His birthday festival, or chaturthi, begins on the fourth day of this waxing moon and lasts for 10 days.

Hindus believe in one God who has many symbolic forms. Ganesha is worshipped as the Lord of Beginnings and the Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order. He can remove obstacles, or he can place obstacles in the path of those who need to be slowed.

I plan to use Ganesha as a focus for my meditation for the next 10 days, give attention to my obstacles, and find a way forward through them.

Agenda for this week:
1. Journal about my obstacles

2. Read Powerhunch

3. Make a clay Ganesha
3. Make a Success Altar
5. Ceremony for beginning and success

September Transitions

September is a transition month - the last weeks of the sun-baked summer, and the beginning of autumn. September's element is earth, which grounds and gives strength. And I need grounding, because Autumn is a wild and energizing time, when seeds ripen, and the everything is at its peak of unruliness. 

Even though I am feeling the urge to draw inward, now is not the time to completely retreat. September is a time to be open, and to respond to whatever life brings me; I am looking under rocks and turning things upside down. I am sorting out the ideas that come to me, holding each up to the light to see if it’s a keeper, looking and listening for crazy wisdom. I am maintaining an unruly kind of discipline. I am celebrating each new day and the Truth it brings.

This is the season to awaken the wild woman within and break some rules! I ask the important questions and misbehave (with integrity). But I am happily aware that I will never have an orderly shelf-full of the Truth. Truth is a mystery- it shifts and twists out of my grasp, and hides in the shadows. I am comforted to know this, because it releases me from the need to have all the answers. My real work is to ask all the questions.

Agenda:

1. Journal query

2. Read "The Power of Less"

3. Beingness Routine

4. Pockets

New Harvest Moon

Tonight is the new moon. The Chinese call this eighth new moon the Harvest Moon, for obvious reasons.

The new moon is the start of the lunar cycle, a time of high energy and clear thinking. Historically, the new moon is when women took time to be alone; it's a time to retreat, set intentions, and initiate something new.

Agenda for today:
1. Journal queries

2. Choose a month theme

3. Set intentions

4. New moon altar and Harvest meditation 

5. Retreat Day plans

End of Ghost Month

Today is the last day of Hungry Ghost month. 

On the last day of the seventh lunar month, before the next new moon, the gates of hell close up again. Asians celebrate this day in a variety of ways - they might burn paper money and clothing again, and taoist monks might chant to drive the ghosts away or release them; and the Toucheng Ghost Grappling Competition is held in Yilan's Toucheng Township in Taiwan(!)

 

Today:

1. Release my hungry ghosts

2. Read PowerHunch

3. Make a floating lantern