Sailing upon the Black Northern Wind of Winter: When Autumn Equinox Arrives

This past week has been a doozy, roughly 15 hour days, outside in the sun, while engaging in career related work that is to be evaluated which is both physically and mentally tiring. As I was outside I was very much tuned into the current cycle of weather and energy. This is for two reasons. One, I am a Witch whose practice is aligned with the cycle of the seasons and I take extra care to know what is occurring. Secondly, the weather, that being the temperature, humidity, whether it was raining or not, the wind, the angle of the sun, and the amount of clouds in the sky, at any given moment has a direct impact upon the quality and likelihood of success for what I was doing. Subsequently the quality of success had a direct impact upon my professional career, both short term and long term. I paid VERY close attention for most of each day. So I was there when the shift happened, I felt it and I recognized it. 

Monday was a very hot day here, with the sun bearing down and little to no wind or shade. It was a typical Eastern North Carolina summer day. The wind was blowing steadily from the south, and it brought warmth upon its back. Tuesday morning started out the exact same way, but then at roughly 1100 it all changed, right then and there, and I was a mindful witness. The wind shifted directed, a complete 180. The black Northern Wind of Winter sailed upon winds of change and came strong like a horde come to conquer and plunder, the weather changed instantly. In that moment in which the direction of the wind shifted, a storm showed up, and then left, and then showed up again, over and over again all day.  The next morning the struggle of summer was over, the battle had been won and He had apparently begun his descent into the Underworld. The North-wind was steady, and the over-bearing heat of summer was gone, it was still warm out in spurts but if the wind blew it took it away and brought a chill. The new weather pattern was here to stay, summer had departed.

Most interestingly I recognized it happening but was unaware at the time that autumn equinox was at the door knocking. I had immersed myself so heavily into the mindset I uphold at work and purposely cut myself off from everything else, I had no clue. I had turned my phone off, no email, no Facebook, no contact with the outside world beyond what pertained to the process at hand; I barely saw my kids and wife upon returning home before going to bed and repeating the process the next day. I thought that the equinox was not for another week at least, I just believed that the chill heralding winter had come a bit early. It was not until yesterday, when I was standing outside at 0400 filling out my evaluation paperwork for the day, freezing my tail off, did I realize what day it was. The revelation came because I had to date the paperwork. It was at this point that I realized that for the past week I had stood as a direct witness to the change in the weather, acutely so, and only in retrospect knew it for what it was.

As I sit here now, I feel privileged to have experienced with such intensity the turning of the wheel. Blessed Autumn Equinox everyone!

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss
"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."