Final Harvest

I'm sitting on my futon with one of my three felines listening to Loreena McKennitt's Nights from the Alhambra. Tonight is a new moon and tomorrow is Samhain, a pagan's New Year in other words. I always love this particular sabbat. Even if I don't recognize any other sabbat with a full ritual, I make an effort to recognize this one.

I think my deep and abiding love of Halloween has a smidge to do with it.

This year though I have not sat down to compose my own ritual. I have a vague idea in my noggin about the way things will go and what I want to address, but I've rather enjoyed the prologue to the ritual. I've put the last of the garden to rest. The whithered vines, the fruits that never ripened, the weed blocker, and the drip system sprinklers have been pulled and stowed. The Brussels sprouts have been washed, cut, and are now drying on the counter. It's not as big a harvest as I was hoping to get from four stalks, but it was such a lousy growing season around here it's no wonder. Poor garden just never had a chance to really thrive between the pendulum swings of temperatures and the frequent hailstorms. It sucks that we just never got all that we hoped, but we've got a decent batch of Brussels to keep veggies on our plates for a bit.

 And who doesn't need a bit of Van Gogh really?

I also worked with my hubby to get a little more painting on the house done since today was lovely weather. Bright sunshine, blue skies, and moderate autumn temperature made the detailing and trim work quite pleasant. Although, cats are lousy house painters. You'd think the ones with the bushy tails might have a natural ability, but it really just means a mess to clean up when they get paint on their fur. The last thing you need or want is a kitten with red paint on its tail running through your house. Despite that adventure, the front and the back doors are red and the support eaves are red. It's nice having the accent color start to add to the overall effect--feline interference notwithstanding.

This is Claus. He's not good at painting, but he's adorable. Yes, he has only one eye because his previous humans neglected to give him his eye medicine. They suck.

I hollowed our pumpkin yesterday, so today I made up the seeds. I found a recipe for bacon pumpkin seeds on one of our favorite paleo blogs. Consequently, I cooked some of those and cannot wait to munch on them. Nom nom nom. You have to stir them every 5 minutes, so I delayed starting on this blog in favor of setting out my week's wardrobe for work. I also got some candles in the holders for tonight and cleaned up my ritual area in the basement. It needed some incense cleansing, so that happened. It's much more palatable now and Hissy, our female kitty, knows that it's ritual day. She was all over me as I cleaned and cleansed. She gets rather excited when I actually do a circle. Besides, I'm fairly certain she senses the Samhain veil lifting. The other day I saw her sitting by Poof's grave just curled up in contemplation over his stones. He was her favorite, so I am sure she was lamenting the addition of Claus von Annoying Little Kitten IV (her name, not mine). I trust she'll be with me in the circle as I remember Poofus.

Look at him. Stunning feline. I miss him still. These last few days I swear I've seen him around the house. I know it's just illusion, but it's unsettling the number of times I've thought, "Poof?" and then it turned out to be something else.

Samhain is all about remembering those who've passed on, acknowledging the cycle of life and death, welcoming the coming dark of winter, and casting out all that just serves your life no purpose. I've been toying with that idea a lot as I went about the business of today. With the new moon in Scorpio and the sabbat, it's got me mulling that idea of living the life I want to live. Cast out what doesn't work and live fully with what does. Living according to my personal truths, stripping away what I may have thought was truth when it was only falsehood, and really allowing my own certitudes flourish. What are my certitudes? I want nothing more than to live in accordance with the cycles of the earth, to live in peace with the other beings with whom I share this world, and to live a life where I speak my truths, but listen to others. Listening doesn't mean believing, but it does mean I have to open my ears rather than prepare my argument against.

May your ancestors be close, your cider be tart, and your New Year be brimming of all that fulfills you.