Fall is a special time of the year for the Wisdom from the Woods team.
Ginny experienced “Part One: The Healing Journey” in September and October 1996. Ginny and I had a writing retreat in Door County, Wisconsin in September 2016. Finally, Wisdom from the Woods came off the presses and we had our book launch in September 2020.
The setting around Wisdom from the Woods builds on the magnificence of the changing of the season…the turning and falling of the leaves. Ginny shares from her days in the Door County cabin…
“The colors are coming, more every day. I watch the leaves crescendo their beauty, only then to let go and fall to the ground. What an experience to watch and feel! Do they know what they are facing? Or are they shocked when, in their greatest glory, they suddenly feel the tree letting go of them? Or do they let go of the tree? …the symphony of color reaches its radiance of diversified richness: yellow, orange, red, gold, brown.”
For many of us, fall signals other special seasonal rituals—a cup of warm apple cider with a stick of cinnamon, our first pumpkin spice latte, buying the perfect pumpkin with just the right stem, or perhaps planting chrysanthemums in autumn tones of sienna, magenta, persimmon, ochre, and goldenrod.
We know some will be cheering for their favorite football team…Ginny and the Green Bay Packers have a special love affair! And for the gardeners, they will collect a final harvest of fruits and vegetables from the late summer season.
Northerners will enjoy building their first fire as the temperatures become chilly in the evenings. Those of us in the south look forward to our first “cool front” that might allow us to enjoy a walk outside in a long-sleeved
hoodie.
One of the key messages of Wisdom from the Woods is to experience and express gratitude for the beauty of the seasonal earth. If we are observant to the turning of the seasons, we can enter into their rhythms deep within our own hearts. We can ask reflective questions.
Ginny and I are enjoying the book Sacred Time by Christine Valters Painter. She tells us “Autumn enters into the great release of the earth, harvesting the gifts and releasing what is not necessary.”
How can we be intentional about fully living into this Fall season?
Here are two suggestions:
1. As we suggested for summer, make a list of activities or associations that define autumn for you. To make it even more fun, go back to childhood and recall favorite experiences that you could recreate this fall. Could it be going to a state fair, carnival, or festival? Collecting different kinds of falling leaves? Making your favorite recipe for pumpkin bread? What would bring you the joy of the season?
2. Spend some time in reflection. What is your inner-self asking you to release, change, or surrender? Let the changing and falling leaves be your inspiration for the changes you want to make in your life during
these months.
Historically, autumn is a time of preparation for winter. What preparations are calling your soul?
Enter into this beautiful season with awe, gratitude, and joy! More Wisdom from the Woods…
“The trees with their story and costume of leaves show us the process each year. But we, through our multiple deaths and rebirths, experience the costume or design of our lives over a long, long period. What are the trees telling me?”