Fall Musings

The temperature is dropping, and the days are getting darker earlier. Just outside of town, the leaves have mostly fallen from the trees, a symphony of color, in radiant finale. Samhain is again nearly upon us, marking the ending of the months of light, and the beginning of the dark-time ahead. Once again, the television warns of impending terror, of bad-guy bogeymen to fear in the times ahead. The dark-time descends; perhaps that's why we call it Fall?

Let us call on our ancestors, on those who came before us, to lend us their guidance, their wisdom, their wiley ways, to help, aid and inspire us as we move forward from this moment in the stream of time. At this holy time of year, I call for the wisdom of my Great-Grandmother Anna, who lived through the Depression, the wars, the oppression, disease and the anti-semitism. She prospered, becoming matriarch of a good and strong family. I call for my Grandfathers, Harry and Ed, to remind me of the power of laughter, of song, and of family... and for my grandmothers, Muriel and Anne, to share their strong and gentle ways of being and their long-forgotten stories. These are the ancestors I knew personally; it is on their shoulders I stand tall. At this time of year, I choose to remember the beauty and goodness in them, and to honor their memories, through the veil of time. I call for the ancestral wisdom of those who lived in times of terror, through the Holocaust in Germany, through the pogroms in Poland and Russia, beyond and beyond, back into the source of strength. Send your words of hope, of having faith that the light will return. Send your light to keep us warm.

On Samhain night, I will go to the ocean's side and I will listen for my ancestor's voices, in the waves, and in the foam, and in the stillness.

There's a Sweet Honey in the Rock song that says: "Listen more often to things than to beings-- 'tis the ancestor's word, when the fire's voice is heard, 'tis the ancestor's breath in the voice of the waters. Those who have died have never ever left, the dead are not under the earth...."

On Samhain night, I will sing them my songs, and their songs. I will ask for their wisdom, and they will speak to me, in their own ways. I will remember friends and other loved ones who are no longer on this plane-- Jeff's parents, my high school friends, those who died at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, in all the wars, and I will honor their memory, as well.... and I will give thanks...

for the beauty of these moments, now,

for the community which cradles me in love,

for the gift of my husband and my daughter,

for the deep, sweet, loving connections in my life

for health and strength, and so much more....