Happy Autumn

Yesterday was the autumn equinox.

There is real cosmic and spiritual significance to this date. It is the time of year when the day is the equal time to the night. It is the time of harvest and the occasion to give thanks for the bounty of our mother earth and to recognize that death is also a time of rebirth. Take some time to think of where you are in your life and what you are thankful for and for all the abundance in your life. Know that for as much has been given us, as much as we have created for ourselves, we are capable of so much more and the adventure lies in the fact that greater things are on their way, whether or not we can see them now.

Symbolic of the equal night and day, it is a time to find balance within our lives. The autumn equinox is the perfect balance between light and dark. Without darkness there is no light and without night there is no day. So it is in our lives, find the balance in your life, take the time to let go of those things that cause stress and bring into your life those things which create joy and love in your life.

Last night some of my awesome girlfriends came over on very short notice and participated in an Autumn Equinox ritual, the writings above are part of what I wrote for that ritual. We welcomed the four corners of the earth and cast a circle of love and gave thanks for all of those wonderful things in our lives, for the blessings that abound in each of our worlds and for the time together. What a blessing my girlfriends are in my life. They inspire me, they energize me, they love me. I hope that they received some blessings from the ritual and from the time they spent in fellowship with other women at my house.

I know that I am thankful for so many things. Too numerous to count here, but at the top of my head comes Mike, my family, my incredible friends, my job, my house…then there are the non tangible things, butterflies and sunshine, walking in the fall air and going to the river. There are so many beautiful things in our world, everywhere you look, everywhere you see is beauty. Walking my dogs, gardening, working in my flowerbeds. All blessings. What blessings do you have in your life? Sure, there is tragedy, there is strife, there is heartache, there are tears. But how much would we appreciate all the goodness if there were no tears. Would we smile as bright if we had never shed a tear or felt our heart break? Would we treasure our family if we’d never know loss or anger or bitterness? No, probably not, we must have the darkness in order to understand and appreciate the light.

As it is with cancer or any other major crisis. Without those, we would never know that there are better things out there, things to be grateful for, things to treasure and hold dear. Our trials give us a perspective that we otherwise would not have. The challenge is to not get lost in the crisis and forget that there is light waiting for us, we just have to persevere through the darkness with hope in our hearts.

Happy Autumn. The blessings are plenty, like the harvest.