Take yourself to a wide open meadow.
You're standing on high ground,
Facing eastwards,
With the setting sun at your back.
Behind you,
You can't see,
But you can feel the warmth of the sun on your skin.
You can feel the way it penetrates every cell,
How it feeds and relaxes every part of you.
Let the sensations of the warm sun dance over the skin of your back.
Feel the tingling of the aliveness and the warmth of the sun down the back of your body and then the skin at the front.
So your whole body is bathed in the sun.
You might let your memory wander over the memory of the summer behind you.
The real memories of the real times when your skin's been naked to the sun.
The fears of excitement in the air of the summer.
The buzz of insects.
The lushness of green on the leaves.
The boldness of the colours of the flowers.
And your own place in the summer season.
The ways you've allowed yourself to shine.
Gratitude for all that you are.
All that you've found in yourself and shown in yourself in the brave summer months.
And a gentle piece of forgiveness for the times you didn't.
And as you continue to face the east,
The sun behind you begins to set and the shadows in front lengthen.
And a welcome corner sets in.
Washes over your sun warmed skin.
The sun sets behind you.
Bright blue sky in front of you begins to fade.
The colour drains away.
You find yourself in a half light.
Between day and night,
Light and dark.
Soon the stars will begin to appear.
The moon will rise.
But not quite yet.
For now let your eyes adjust to the half light.
Let familiar shapes in front of you.
Blur.
Lose their definition.
Let yourself settle into the strangeness of things.
Let it take you inward.
Let it take you below the tingling surface of your skin.
Let it take you into the dark places of your body and mind.
The shadowed corners of your being.
Unexplored caves and crevices.
The moss covered caves.
The leaf shrouded nooks.
Places within yourself that you can hibernate and rest in.
Places that no one else needs to know about.
Dark pools within yourself where undreamt dreams swim like fish beneath the surface.
Maybe you already know these places.
Maybe you have names for them.
Maybe they're places you normally avoid.
As for now let yourself know that they're there.
Sit at the edges of them.
No need to dive in or to run away just yet.
Just rest for a while with the mystery of yourself.
At the edges of the known and the unknown.
The dark and the light.
The warmth of the summer sun.
Feel tingling on your skin.
As the fading light leads you towards the turn of the seasons.
