The afternoon shadows call to me, they stretch out across the lawn and the paddocks before me. I hear a frog behind me; the breeze is gently blowing from the south-east. Afternoons like this are precious to my soul. Peace and quiet and the sounds of Nature around me. Butcherbirds compete, flies buzz around me, one wispy cloud in the sky to the east, crickets chirp from the paddocks in the north. The fruit trees are losing their leaves; the grass is damp under foot, still holding the mornings dew at its roots. I close my eyes, I breathe in the air. Tomorrow is the New Year, and the celebration of the Deepest Autumn when the sun is at 15 degrees of Taurus the exact point between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice, Therefore the cross quarter day.

Since I’ve moved onto the land I have no need for fancy names to celebrate the place where Autumn and Winter meet and come together on the round between Water & Earth. Here I sit very aware of the mud beneath my feet, things slowing down, and the rotting starts as the veil thins and death is sent in a message on a walk and hour before I started writing. As I approached a couple of gum trees, a top notch pigeon fell out of the tree and to its death before me.  I reached down and picked up his limp body, he has a wound to his chest and blood coming from his right eye; I embrace his warm fragile body in my hands with compassion in my heart. The messenger bird arrived at my feet in a very violent, confronting way.

I let the shadows take my fears as they stretch out before me and dissipate as the sun’s strength diminishes and takes them away. I thank Nature for the ritual, and the blessings of this place. In a few days forward it will be a completed cycle of a year since I came onto this land. The teachings are subtle and the lessons cherished as each day brings such joy , living as my ancestors did on the land away from the chaos soothes the soul and gives so much more to cherish. Deepest Autumn Blessings and may Tomorrow be the beginning of a great new year for those that follow the Earthwise Path.

Wise & Blessed Be

Astarte