There are so many things to love about Autumn. The colours (obviously), the smell of wood-smoke, the anticipation of Harvest and other festivals held around this time of year. I love to watch the business of nature in this season, all the wildlife preparing for winter. Squirrels in particular always make me smile – rushing around gathering and storing. Occasionally they pause and look as though they are wondering where they put their hoard, then scurry off as though they had just remembered!
Every year I think I’ll be more ‘squirrel-ish’ and start preparations for Winter. Then, just like them, I pause – unlike them I pause for a longer time and all the good intentions of being prepared way before Christmas goes out of the window. This year will be different, I’ve promised myself!
Autumn carries that special responsibility of adjustment from the light, warmth, easiness of Summer and sunshine, to the colder, darker yet cosiness of Winter. She gives us the heads-up of what is to come, easing us into it with gifts of beautiful colours and a freshness that only Autumn brings – aids to enable us to face the on-coming transition with ease and the anticipation of Winter.
As Autumn arrives, so does the abundance of goodies to store for the next season. Apples, nuts and many other things to put by for Winter, whether freezing them, pickling them, bottling them, or whatever – wildlife aren’t the only ones to get busy this time of year. The excitement and satisfaction of doing all this and tucking into your own jams, pickles, bottled fruits and pies and tarts and other goodies is its own reward!
The first Reiki Principle – ‘Just For Today I Will Live the Attitude of Gratitude’ is certainly fitting in this wonderful season of Autumn. Gratitude for the beauty and abundance given at this time of year. The fourth Reiki Principle – ‘Just For Today I Will Do My Work Honestly’ also applies here. If we put in the work of gathering and preparation now, we will reap the benefits later in the year.
You do not have to live in the countryside or have your own garden for this to apply – foraging is quite the thing now and more and more people leave boxes of apples and other fruit and vegetables they have a glut of outside their gates with notices to ‘Help Yourself’. This brings to mind the fifth Reiki Principle – ‘Just For Today I will Show Love and Respect to Every Living Thing’. By leaving these boxes with the request to ‘Help Yourself’, people are extending love, respect and kindness to others and avoiding unnecessary waste.
The Reiki Lady 