Greetings friends and welcome.
Welcome to this seasonal journey with the kitchen witch and her garden.
An invitation perhaps to pause in the year to notice the natural world around you and take a short and sweet journey somewhere in between meditation and story and reflection.
These little in-between places are where we may find a little magic perhaps.
So as always,
Take your time.
We're going to take just ten minutes out of our day.
Now I'll guide you through a few ideas,
Images,
Reflections on perhaps how the kitchen witch's garden may appear to us in this season.
Close your eyes and rest,
Dear one,
For you have travelled far through the seasons and through the year.
The autumnal equinox is here,
Known to Wiccans as Mabon and also as Harvest Festivals or Harvest Home.
Here in autumn the morning mists lift slowly now as autumnal sunshine gleams on hedgerows and orchards bursting with crops.
The last golden rays of summer have departed to make way for russets,
Bronzes and ochres of autumn.
Crows call as they jump through harvested fields.
The time of the second harvest is the last gathering of the grain and the fruits that have ripened under the summer sun.
In the cauldron these fruits become syrups,
Chutneys and jams to stock our winter cupboards.
The forager might spot in the hedgerows elderberries,
Damsons,
Crab apples and blackberries.
And the apple trees are bowed with fruit and oak trees laden with acorns.
Conkers are beginning to peak from their spiny cases and transition hangs in the air as the light disappears ever earlier each evening.
This is a time to relish and celebrate the harvest whilst readying ourselves,
Storing what we need and preparing the ground for the winter and the dark to come.
The light of the sun in the wheel of the year stands in the West where the sun sets.
This is a time of farewell and gratitude for the summer that has been.
Enjoying the rewards of labour and respect for the land,
The autumnal equinox,
Like its opposite upon the wheel,
The spring equinox,
Is a time of balance.
Now,
Instead of looking to expand outwards into summer,
We begin drawing inwards,
Preparing ourselves for the winter to come.
And so,
My dear ones,
When you feel ready,
Perhaps we take some deeper breaths.
You may stretch and move if you wish.
Take your time in this season of gathering in.
Gather in your comforts,
Gather in your gratitudes,
Gather in your compassion and mindfulness.
Take your time to prepare in your own way as we tip over that balancing point of the equinox into longer nights and shorter days and an invitation to rest in the darkness.
I thank you,
As always,
So much for joining me here today and I look forward to seeing you again soon.
Thank you,
Blessed be,
And namaste.
