Celtic Musings

 

Autumn a time for reflection 

 

As we start to enter the darker days I always get a sense of pleasant anticipation. I look forward to the cozy days full of comfort and peace. 

 

Curling up with a book in front of a blazing fire. Listening to the rain patter on the windows. Healthy comfort food like stews and crumbles made from fruit picked from the hedgerows. 

 

Tucking the animals in for the night in their cozy beds and walks in crunchy fallen leaves with misty breath escaping in clouds from our smiling mouths. 

 

In ages past this time of year was a time of reckoning. Had there been enough preparation to get the family through the barren winter months? Had the harvest been good enough? It was a time to appeal to the Gods and the end of one cycle and the start of the new one at Samhain. 

 

It was a time to reflect and draw into oneself. This is something that many of us in our busy lives do not have time to think about. With families and jobs to manage many will be on the seemingly senseless countdown towards the festive season and all of the financial and emotional outlay that, that involves. 

 

It would be helpful to many to just take a few minutes, stop, sit and reflect on where we were last year and where we are now. What changes have there been? Have we walked the path we intended or have we strayed off course? What do we want to be doing and what do we need to do to achieve this? 

 

Take some time during the darker months to take stock and make some time for yourself to gather your thoughts and thus enable yourself to go forward with purpose. 

 

 

Whatever you want in life you can have. However, everything you want has a price. You must be willing to pay that price to have what you want. 

 

Sometimes you will know the price and sometimes you will not. However, the times that you ignore the price or try to pretend that you do not know what these are the times that you should consider most strongly. 

Is the price of what you desire worth it and are you truly prepared to pay that price? 

 

Remember - “An harm ye none do as thy will” applies to yourself as well as everyone else around you. Take care 

 

Energy attracts energy. Sometimes you will meet someone and you will either instantly feel attracted or repelled by them and they have not even spoken a word to you. You are reading their energy or the very core of their being at the most basic level. 

These strong feelings are very important and it is wise to pay heed to them. You could be remembering their soul from when you played in the fields of time and space before. Your soul is recognising their souls signature and energy. 

 

Or, they may remind you of someone you like or dislike, if it is a person you dislike or know them to have not very nice traits, then your unconscious mind is telling you to pay attention to this. Similarly when someone reminds you of someone you like your unconscious mind will have picked up on something they did or a mannerism they may have that is exhibited by a friend. Generally, I have found that this means that I will like this new person too. 

 

 

One thing that I have found that can still my mind after a busy day when I am having trouble getting to sleep is to pick a topic and then think of words that begin with that topic. Usually, I find myself drifting to sleep whilst being stuck on the letter K!!! 

This game stills the whirring thoughts that are disturbing my peace and helps me to breathe calmly and relax. 

 

 

I have a favourite place that I can go to in my mind if things start to get on top of me and I begin to suffer from overwhelm. I have a wonderful grove of Scots Pine close to where I live. I often take my dogs there. At any time of the year, this place is calm and peaceful. The trees stand sentinel over the forest and the light shines down in shafts at certain times of the day. It is a beautiful, serene place full of the scents of the forest, dappled light and the gentle sounds of the birds. I can picture myself there in an instant and my breathing will slow and I will start to feel at peace once more. 

 

 

 

I wonder how many of us continue along a path that is no longer right for us because of fear of missing out on some imagined future? Do we cling to a long since forgotten hope that things will improve, and waste our actual better future by staying stuck where we are? 

 

I think that many are not actually scared of being on their own but are actually scared of losing this false future. After all, have you not invested much time in this current situation so far? Should you ‘throw away’ all of this investment? Or would it be better to spend the time you have remaining in this life actually living a real life rather than pretending and clinging to false hopes? Just a thought. 

 

 

 

When asked “what is your favourite season?”, it’s not an easy question for me to answer. Every season holds a different joy for me. 

 

Spring when the light starts to lengthen each day and the buds on the trees start to show fills me with excitement and anticipation of new things to come and I await my garden coming into life. 

 

Summer with its beauty and long warm days, time spent outside and picnics by water with fun and laughter are full of love. 

 

Autumn with the colours changing and the sharpened air, the excitement as we come to the close of the year, Samhain and fires in the evenings always holds a special place in my heart. 

 

And Winter with shortened days, log fires and curled up with a book listening to the rain on the window panes and the wind howling. Long evenings spent with family and crafting. This is a creative time for me.