Autumn is in full, deep-hued glory and Samhain is very close: the end of nature’s year. As a winter soul, a wool obsessive, introvert, candle-appreciator, hearth-craver and hot chocolate enthusiast who likes wearing slippers and hats, this time of year gives me a tingle through my veins that brings my heart out in smiles. An end means that a beginning will follow – this will be nature’s New Year when life and the green of the land is renewed. But first there is the in-between time of winter, where the earth slows down and rests – and calls us to do the same.
To rest from the hard work of the harvest. We harvest so many things in our lives: projects that we work on, courses of study that we undertake, books that we read, goals that we strive towards, transitions in our lives like a moving home or a new pregnancy. And of course many of us do harvest from the land and from our gardens. I think that people often do not realise how many gardens they tend and nurture.
I have harvested a lot of learning this year, a lot of it related to a medical journey that we have been one with one of my children. I am yet to harvest the conclusion to some big decisions I have been having to weigh up. But it feels like my harvest basket is one filled with useful and nourishing skills, support and knowledge to take forwards. I hold these to my heart in deep gratitude and feel a sense of a cycle completing, ready to cast the seeds from its harvest into the myriad fields ahead.
Nature’s year is closing now, the harvest – of this phase at least – nearly in. I feel excited about where those seeds might land, and about just how they might grow. ♡