"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens." - Ecclesiastes 3:1
And just like that, the August Bank Holiday feels like weeks ago and Pumpkin Spice everything is heralding the start of commercial autumn.
Already the shops are filling their shelves with pumpkins and candles. Autumn colours are appearing everywhere and social media is full of cosy blankets, warming drinks, knitwear and carefully arranged photographs of a season that hasn't quite arrived yet.
Yes, Ber Season has officially arrived but autumn has not, it's still summer and there is still so much to enjoy.
The Wheel is turning, certainly. We can feel the movement. The days are beginning to shorten and there is a subtle change in the light. Some mornings carry the first hint of coolness but as I write this, the windows are open and the sky is blue. Summer has not finished with us yet and perhaps there is something important in allowing the season to finish.
We live in a culture that is always rushing towards the next thing:
The next season
The next celebration
The next holiday
The next goal
We are rarely encouraged simply to be where we are (I mean how will the shops make any money if we do that). However, right here, on this journey, simply where we are is exactly where we want to be.
By September, summer can already feel like something we have left behind. We begin thinking about autumn before we have properly said goodbye to the warmth, the long evenings and the freedom that summer brings.
But what if we didn't? What if we allowed September to be September and what if we noticed the pleasured that are still here?
The warmth of the afternoon soon
Enjoying a coffee outside
The last of the summer flowers
An evening walk without a coat
The abundance of the garden, the hedgerows and the market
The pleasure of walking to the gym in shorts
These things are still ours, we don't need to hurry them away.
Don't rush into autumn
The commercial world has become very good at making us impatient. Before one season is finished, it's already selling us the next and social media has only made this worse.
Summer becomes something to move on from and the marketing campaigns crank up their efforts to sell us all things autumnal and even dare I say... Christmas. There is always something coming but seasonal living asks something different of us.
Pay attention to what is here. Not what the calendar says, not what the shops are selling and what what everyone on social media appears to be "enjoying" (don't forget they get paid to sell you that pumpkin spice candle).
September is the season of perhaps...
Perhaps your veg patch is still producing
Perhaps the daytime is warm enough to sit outside with your book
Perhaps you can walk the dog whilst wearing just shorts and a t-shirt
Perhaps summer is offering you one more beautiful afternoon for lunch with friends
Receive it. There will be plenty of time for autumn with the leaves changing colour, the dark evenings and candles to be lit. There will be scarfs to wear and soups to simmer.
The Wheel will carry us forward to Mabon and Samhain before the celebrations of the Winter Solstice. We don't need to pull them forward, they will arrive in all of their glory and when they do, we can meet them fully because we haven't spent the previous weeks wishing ourselves somewhere else.
You don't have to rush The Wheel, it knows how to turn. Our job is to simply notice where we are standing and resist the urge to skip ahead.
Don't rush into autumn, look for summer instead and enjoy it.
Practical Magic - a gentle practice for today.
Step outside today, even if only for a few minutes and notice three things that feel like summer:
The warmth on your skin
A flower
A bee
The sound from the open window
Drying clothes outside
The ask yourself:
Am I enjoying the season I am actually in, or am I already rushing towards the next one?
There is no right answer, just notice how you feel.
Let the summer have its final words as autumn will have plenty to say when its time comes.
And The Wheel turns. And we turn with it.
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