Mid to Late Fall: Honoring Our Endings

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

Samhain is behind us now and we’re in the depth of fall. It’s taken me a while to finish this blog post and for weeks I was determined to write about Samhain as the Celtic New Year celebration, familial ancestors, and trees as living ancestors. While I’m passionate about those topics, and they deserve a lot of space and time, I keep getting this nudge to write about endings. As I look out into the forest, I see so much space between branches where the leaves used to be. The grey sky is showing through. I keep noticing things I’d never seen before. A massive wasp nest blowing in the wind. An abandoned birds nest way up high in what was once a safe and sheltered canopy. This season gives us the clarity to see what we couldn’t see before.

We have the opportunity to see what is ending in our lives, what we must let go of, and what needs one last push to complete before the winter season begins. I have been deep in this space of reflection. Like the squirrels and chipmunks collecting their last bits of food before winter, I am making one last push to finish projects. And why? Because winter is coming and I have learned to love the season of beginnings, of rest, and of dreaming something new into being. The fall season is so strange. It calls us to start slowing down while we’re also in a frenzy of preparation for winter. Mixed feelings are inevitable. For instance, I started this blog just after the winter solstice of 2020 and as the year is quickly coming to a close I’m realizing this project is over. I’m finishing this blog post with an update on all of the projects that are ending, clarifying, and beginning.

What is ending ...

Along with the blog, some other things are coming to an end. I’ve had to say goodbye to individual outdoor ecotherapy sessions for the season. As the sunlight lessens and temperatures drop, I’m taking my arthritic joints inside and giving them some tending until spring. If you’ve been thinking about ecotherapy and would like to give it a try, please reach out to be placed on my list for the spring. 

I’ve also said goodbye to the outdoor ecotherapy workshops I started this summer. I learned so much about what resonates with people and how they’d like to connect. I’m digesting all of this information so that I can craft new offerings for 2022.

Writing this blog post has been a way of honoring the lessons I’ve learned and the projects I’ve completed this year. All of the ideas I had for seasonal posts are being thrown onto the compost pile. There’s some feelings of loss there. This blog has become predictable to me, a devotional space to share my love for the earth. But, it needs to end. Something new is brewing and it needs a lot of space, time, and nurturing. And so, I feel these feelings of loss right alongside excitement and inspiration. They tell me what I care about. I’m not sure what form this blog will take in the future, but I’m sure it will come to me soon. Really allowing yourself to live in accordance with the seasons is a wild ride. I hope you’ll follow my journey into the new year!