It has finally arrived!

Within the wheel of the year, Autumn has finally arrived!  The season of change, beautiful change, has arrived.

The afghans are ready to come out and be placed in every room, and if I had a fireplace, the firewood would be properly stacked and ready. My tea cabinet is fully stocked as is the baking cabinet. I look forward to many evenings in the kitchen...filled with the aroma of comfort food.

Time to prepare the woolens and get out the comfy slippers. Oh, and did I mention I've already started Halloween preparations? Never too early to get into the spirit of things. As I always say... grab that bull by the horns.


I wish for you an Autumn season of comfort, happy moments, and love!

Magic Is In The Air...

Me thinks perhaps tis the Autumn underway...right around the corner.


The air is crackling with energy...sweet yet mysterious vibes. I feel it all around me. What exactly is surrounding me with such force that makes me smile in anticipation??

I bite my lip playfully as I look around me and wonder. What enchantment has nature put me under? For I know that the slightest hint of coolness in the air...the merest whisper of change in season casts a spell of splendor...

wistfulness...and contentment in all that surrounds me.

I light the scented candles. My kitchen smells of freshly baked oatmeal cookies (though I did bake brownies last night)...the rest of the house is scented in an aroma of crisp Autumn. It's tough to explain the essence. Let's just say that a whiff of it has you seeing colorful leaves in abundance, pumpkins on the steps, a stew on the stove, herbs harvested and hung to dry, and an apple pie freshly baked...piping hot.

This is the magical spirit permeating the house at this moment. This is my witch's brew for the season...this is the spell I'm casting for all who enter my abode. Enchantment is everywhere. Come visit...I'll have my cauldron on the fire. It'll be brewing a smile, warmth, a nice cup of tea, an afghan made by my own hands to keep you warm on chilly evenings, a book to take you away to other lands, laughter, soft music, a cat on the lap, and most of all...comfort to lull you to the land of nod when the lights go out.

Change

I hope the weather has been as delightful for you as it has been for me. The evenings have been quite lovely with just a hint of coolness to remind me that the season of comfort is upon us.


The picture above has inspired this post. Such a lovely message it conveys to me. Acceptance... I have accepted the changes in my life...and I do not like change. However, I have stared down the big elephant of change. We now see one another, eye to eye. I can now place my hand upon this creature and say "It's okay...you were inevitable. I just needed time. I accept you. I've made my peace with you."




Funny though...change comes in so many ways. A dear friend who has known me for about 5 years recently asked me...."Who are you really? You are not the Jan I met five years ago. I see many facets of you, all these glimpses of a different woman...many women in one you." I begin to wonder...is it really a change or is this finally the true me emerging from my cocoon?



No matter....I love me and shall embrace this woman I have become.



As for change...welcome!!!



Look out world!!!

Tired

This is a different typpe of post. But I need to just let thinkgs out right now.  I am tired, so very tired right now.  I am trying so hard to hold thinkgs together and it not going so well. I am so confused and do not know where to turn or where to go.  I can't even write it down....so sorry.  I'll be back leter with some more upbeat posts

Harvest Moon

This Full Moon is the first of the Harvest Moons. Harvest is celebrated throughout the fall. This is also a time of balance, the autumnal equinox is September 22. Let this be a part of your life and let it be reflected in your rituals and spells as we approach the equinox. The flow of energy is resting, Light and Dark are in balance.


September Full Moon is a time to clean up clutter: physical, emotional or spiritual. The dark and cold are approaching, now is the time to put things in order and finish tasks and projects.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Lord Tennyson


Tears, Idle Tears



Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,

Tears from the depth of some divine despair

Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,

In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,

And thinking of the days that are no more.



Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,

That brings our friends up from the underworld,

Sad as the last which reddens over one

That sinks with all we love below the verge;

So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.



Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns

The earliest pipe of half-awaken'd birds

To dying ears, when unto dying eyes

The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;

So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.



Dear as remember'd kisses after death,

And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feign'd

On lips that are for others; deep as love,

Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;

O Death in Life, the days that are no more.

Sonnet From the Portuguese

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.


I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion out to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints,- I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!- and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning