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Reflections From Our Co-Pastor
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Autumnal Equinox
It seems appropriate for us, who speak so often of the Incarnation, of efforts to save our planet, of our congruence around moving away from anthropomorphic understanding to an understanding of wholeness within all of creation, to notice and even celebrate the Autumnal Equinox today. Enjoy steeping yourself in Autumn with a prayer and reflection from Edward Hayes in Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim. 2008.
Autumn, you celebration of the harvest
and the crowning of human achievement,
rich textbook of wisdom,
teach me to not take anything for granted but to be grateful for all.
Wise Old Woman, teach me to take stock of the darkness within me
and to acknowledge the great store of good that is also within.
Teach me to balance the light and the dark
as our Earth is now a balance of day and night.
Amen. †
“For thousands of years we planetary pilgrims have welcomed the sacred event of the autumn equinox with fires, songs, and celebrations. Day equals night and light balances darkness, as on this feast a season of completion and contentment begins. This is the harvest season; the fruits of summer are stored for the coming winter. Full barns, overflowing granaries, well stocked freezers and cupboards give cause for rejoicing and feasting.
In spring, our ancestors bowed in expectant wonder before a fertile Mother Earth about to become the rich womb out of which would rise a harvest of life. But in fall Maiden Earth becomes an old woman withered and spent by summer’s growth. Our primal parents’ celebrations of yellowed autumn’s harvest was tinged with fear. In their anxiety they wondered if their food supplies would last through the long winter. Might evil spirits, envious of their warm comfort and well-stocked cupboards, come and attack them? The sacred fires of this season were to purge away evil, to banish the fears of winter hidden behind the horizon.
Yet, Old Woman Autumn held the secret to life even in withered old age. The last sheaf of grain to be harvested from the field contained her ageless spirit. It was carried into the home so that the old woman of vegetation, the grandmother of green energy, might live through the dreaded winter months. The season of colorful leaves, autumn is a time for giving thanks. Annual celebrations of the Jewish Sukkoth, the Moslem Ramadan, and Thanksgiving are among the feasts that decorate autumn with sacredness.” P 73.
Awareness of the day, the change of seasons, the lighting of a candle, and the daily strengthening of our connection with all creation can help us grow together in this, our evolutionary stage. As we read in Isaiah 55:1-2:
“Ho, all who are thirsty,
Come for water,
Even if you have no money;
Come, buy food and eat:
Buy food without money,
Wine and milk without cost.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
Your earnings for what does not satisfy?
Give heed to Me,
And you shall eat choice food
And enjoy the richest viands.
From: The Jewish Study Bible. 2004
Image by Kerstin Riemer from Pixabay
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