The fall season

The Last Harvest. The Earth nods a sad farewell to the God. We know that He will once again be reborn of the Goddess and the cycle will continue. This is the time of reflection, the time to honor the Ancients who have gone on before us and the time of 'Seeing" (divination) . As we contemplate the Wheel of the Year, we come to recognize our own part in the eternal cycle of Life.

Further, it is my belief that the Circle begins to collapse back inward after the Summer Solstice. One old folk belief about marriage (although much ignored today!) was that weddings should always be held in the waning half of the year, because that is a time when days are getting shorter, nights are getting longer, the wind is getting colder, and we are naturally drawn back indoors, to the warmth of the hearth and safety of the home, protected from the approach of winter's chill. Conversely, it was considered highly unlucky for a bride and groom to take their vows in the waxing half of the year, when days are lengthening and warming, and our natural instinct is to move away from the family-oriented life of hearth and home, and to ramble and roam through a wider community. The month of May was especially perilous for weddings.

So my model is that of a Circle which begins as a single point at Yule, and expands until it reaches its widest girth at Midsummer, encompassing the entire local community. But from that point onward, it begins to shrink again, in the same increments as before, but reversed, until it once again dwindles to the seed-point of Midwinter. Thus, the Circle of blessing and purification expands and contracts on a yearly basis, mirroring the spiritual heartbeat of our lives, our planet, and our solar system. It may now be guessed that the true and proper title for this article should be, "The Ever-Pulsing Circle". May it forever protect you within its circle and strengthen you with its pulse.