Plan B Forum

Today we reach the cross-quarter midway between Equinox and Solstice, marking the end of the harvest season and the time when the earth turns to sleep in the lengthening dark. It is a time to consider the thinness of the veil between the physical world and the world of the spirit, between the seen and the unseen, between dream and reality, between life and death. It is a time to find comfort in the memory of those who have passed from this world, knowing that they live on within you, and that their legacies will live on through those yet to be. The Wheel of the Year turns, requiring that we pass through a season of darkness and death to reach a season of light and renewal on the other side. Blessed be.

who wrote this Sue; I really want to see how the entire earth is approaching the end of the annual "harvest season and the time when the earth turns to sleep in the lengthening dark."

Is this apocalyptic mumbo jumbo or just an ignorance of a southern hemisphere?

Sue U wrote:Today we reach the cross-quarter midway between Equinox and Solstice, marking the end of the harvest season and the time when the earth turns to sleep in the lengthening dark. It is a time to consider the thinness of the veil between the physical world and the world of the spirit, between the seen and the unseen, between dream and reality, between life and death. It is a time to find comfort in the memory of those who have passed from this world, knowing that they live on within you, and that their legacies will live on through those yet to be. The Wheel of the Year turns, requiring that we pass through a season of darkness and death to reach a season of light and renewal on the other side. Blessed be.

Yeah, whatever...

It's also Halloween, and Tati has decided she's going to go trick-or-treating one last year; (she's going to be Wonder Woman...at 14 I think she's a little old for trick-or-treating, but I vastly prefer having a child who's holding on to some aspects of childhood rather then one who wants to let them go too early...her brother is going as Sponge Bob)

Big RR wrote:who wrote this Sue; I really want to see how the entire earth is approaching the end of the annual "harvest season and the time when the earth turns to sleep in the lengthening dark."

Is this apocalyptic mumbo jumbo or just an ignorance of a southern hemisphere?

It was part of a greeting emailed to me by a friend; I don't know if she wrote it herself or got it from somewhere/someone else. (I did change the title from "Samhain Blessing" to "Meditation for Today," though, mostly because I see use/appropriation of the Gaelic as a kind of faux-historicism.) In any event, I thought it was nice, and reflects some of the spirit that I find very appealing in neo-paganism. I don't see where it says anything about the "entire earth," and obviously people in the Southern Hemisphere are now at the opposite point on the Wheel. Maybe if I had retained the title that point would have been more clear, since the concurrent seasonal holiday in the Southern Hemisphere is (nominally) "Beltane." Also, I can't see where it is in any way "apocalyptic" or even "mumbo jumbo" (unless you consider even the mildest reference to human spirituality to be "mumbo jumbo"). To me, it just seemed to be an appropriate counterpoint to the broader celebration of Halloween, putting a different spin on the significance of the day.

Way too heavy for this early in the morning...

the spirit that I find very appealing in neo-paganism.

So Sue, are you going to paint yourself blue tonight and dance naked in the moonlight?

If so, please upload it to YouTube...

Sue U wrote: Today we reach the blah blah blah and the time when the earth turns to sleep in the lengthening dark.

Do you not Sue? It's difficult to comprehend which portion of the earth (whether planet or dirt) is not included in the absolute term "the earth".

Lord Jim wrote:Way too heavy for this early in the morning...

It's nearly lunchtime, you slacker!

So Sue, are you going to paint yourself blue tonight and dance naked in the moonlight?

If so, please upload it to YouTube...

Not something you'd want to see, I can assure you.

Sorry Sue, I haven't had my second cup of coffee yet. The "apocalyptic mumbo jumbo" I was referring to was a tongue in cheek poke at the part that said the earth was approaching to sleep and lengthening darkness. Since it said that the earth (which I interpreted as the entire earth) was approaching this darkness and sleep, I questioned whether it was a warning of an impending apocalypse--mumbo jumbo was just icing on the cake.

Certainly we in the northern hemisphere are approaching a period of the end of the harvest, longer nights, cold, and a period in which the earth (which produces the bounty for us) metaphorically goes to sleep. And inevitably this will be followed by the light and renewal of spring. And the cycle continues. An interesting reflection, even though I read your title and the last two words as being sarcastic and inviting more of the same. No offense to you or neo-pagans intended.

Well, those nicely expressed sentiments being juxtaposed with Sue's avatar are discombobulating.

The older I get the more the changes of season mean to me. The transition referred to in the quoted paragraph is more mechanical for me, and takes place on the night of November 2 (this year), when we switch back to Standard Time. This is definitely the Season of Darkness beginning now, but it also means that we are in full prep mode for T'giving, Christmas, & New Year's.

"Season of darkness and death" hah! That's what I started calling winters in Portland Oregon where the sun goes down early, gets up late, and in-between barely breaks through the overcast.


Yrs,
Rubato

This looks like a good place to insert the classic, epic, anthem of this season...

~sigh~I associate a lot of great memories with this song...

In fact, since the trick-or-treating is being handled by Little Sister, and the Queen Mum is doing the candy at the door thing, (so that Lady Kelly and I can have a "date night" out at the Cliff House...)

I may very well crank this up on the DVD player while we're alone, before we leave...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Van Morrison's timeless Harvest Season, adolescent horndog inducing classic:

Moondance:

In fact I'm thinking that after dinner, we may walk down to the beach and find a spot to enjoy the October Sky...

It's Samhain, a celtic festival day marking the end of the harvest and the entry into winter. The RC church co-opted it into "All Saints/Souls Day" and its also the Dia de Muertos in Mexico and other Mexican cultures. It's also thought to be the time when the veil between the physical world and the spirit world is at its thinnest.


So watch out for the fairies, ghosts, goblins, skeletons, and high priestesses today . . . .

Los Muertos.

So watch out for the fairies, ghosts, goblins, skeletons, and high priestesses today . . . .

That's good advice Guin...

Take it from me, there's nothing worse than being blind sided by a high priestess...

Looking again at Sue's post to start this thread, it looks a bit like a description of the other bookend:

Phil: When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.

I like that movie.