Samhain-tide Hiking

The Pagan Experience - Wk 4- October 26: Any writing for the letter R or a topic of your choice– I am keeping this familiar format on week 4 for those who have joined me from the Pagan Blog Project!

Last Friday, on All Hallow's Eve, I went out for a little stroll after work. It was spontaneous, a whim, a deep calling of the soul. Such days as that one...one is not granted with so many in a lifetime. The weather was so perfect, golden and crystalline, a pause in time out of time. A gentle breeze blew off the lake, ruffling the jeweled leaves. I saw no one, spoke not a word save with my heart and breathed in all the beauty of fall.

It was warm enough to get in the water, so I did. I rolled up my pants and waded across the clay-sand, gravelled bottom through crystal clear water. With my feet grounded in Earth and Water, I offered a song on my flute to the waters, to the sky, to the sun, to the waning autumn.

Here and now, at the end of the growing season, the dying time is nigh, and the light begins to fade. Pachamama is putting on a show to teach us to blaze, blaze brightly at the night and face death in all our glory, dressed to the nines. We let go, we let go, we heal, we commune with our beloved dead and we rest.

Last Friday, it was a day to be with the forest and with the waters. A day to be silent, a day to listen without speaking. To soak in the harvest wisdom of the brilliant leaves. To sense the eternal reflected in the shell of Grandmother Turtle. These creatures have abided through the millennia, not evolving, only...perfecting. Existing.

Wabi-sabi, imperfectly perfect. Too beautiful to crop, so I put  a heart on it.

Out on the land, we must go at these seasonal changes. It's imperative to taste the air, to fill one's lungs deeply with the pure breeze. Allow your mind to grow quiet, your ego to rest. No need for individuality now, sink into the life of the forest. Observe the changes in the plant and animal life, each to their particular cycle in the endless dance of life. Now the Earth shows its beauty in a final outpouring of life as death draws near for many. The Earth and much of its life will rest, going deep within during the darkness. Do you see it? Do you feel it?

I had no recollection of the length of the hike, but stubbornly pressed on until it looped back to the parking lot, some 5 miles or more later. At one point, I walked up on some does, only a short bowshot away. Turtles were still out on logs, and wings of many kinds were on the winds. No need to look up, wing-shadows dappled from the tree trunks. I am watched over from above.

I am truly blessed.