Blessed are you, autumn

It is Autumn, that season of magical colors, crisp weather, ripening nights, and harvest. Autumn resonates so deeply with my spirit-- it is the time of year I feel most present, alive, and joyful. I love the drawing inward that the season invites. I love the juxtaposition of warm hearth to cool air. Autumn and spring are, in my imagination, the most liminal seasons-- they are the magical and mysterious "in between" times that occupy the space between the extremes of winter and summer. But Autumn really seems to top even spring. And magical things seem to be in the air-- costumes, and fires, and landscapes that are wilder than any artists imagination. It certainly doesn't hurt that we live in Virginia, where fall is as stately and drawn out as a formal dinner.

It is the last hurrah of the year, the time to gather the summer's excess and prepare for the winter's scarcity. And around here we have been preparing by cleaning out the house, planting flowers and bulbs, and enjoying the deep rest that such exertion invites.

Blessed are you, autumn,
chalice of transformation,
you lift a cup of death to our lips
and we taste new life.

Blessed are you, autumn,
season of the heart's yearning,
you usher us into paces of mystery
and, like the leaves, we fall trustingly
into eternal, unseen hands.

Blessed are you, autumn,
feast of thanksgiving.
You change our hearts into fountains of gratitude
as we receive your gracious gifts.

-From The Circle of Life: The Heart's Journey Through the Seasons