SEPTEMBER- MONTH OF SACRIFICE
By Anna Franklin

This month marks the completion of the grain harvest. Until recently the seasonal harvesters would elect a Harvest Lord empowered to negotiate with the farmer over terms and conditions on behalf of his fellows. As a symbol of this office, he would often wear red poppies and bindweed around his hat. He would be served first at mealtimes and addressed as ‘My Lord’. Originally in ancient times, he would have been the sacred king, elected for symbolic marriage with the land.
The corn harvest was fraught with tension. The weather might ruin the harvest, the work was hard and the final capture of the Corn Spirit had to be treated carefully to ensure a full rick. As late as the twentieth century, the harvesters followed customs that would have been familiar to the ancient world. The corn was cut in decreasing circles, the Corn Spirit ever retreating into the remaining ears. There was a reluctance to be the one to cut the final ear and be the captor of the spirit, so sickles were thrown at it from a safe distance. The final severance is called ‘Crying the Neck’ or Mare’.
The last stalks were woven into a corn dolly or kern maiden, sometimes called the Ivy Girl which embodied the spirit of the corn and was kept to ensure fertility. It was often tied with red thread as a form of protective magic. Sometimes the corn dolly was given a chair of honour at the harvest feast and would either be kept in the farmhouse until the next harvest or buried in the field with the crop sowing.
The autumn equinox is a time of balance and a dual festival, celebrating the harvest safely gathered in, but also the sacrifice and death of the Corn Lord who enters the belly of Mother Earth, and rules as King of the Dead until Yule. Light and darkness stand in balance, with equal hours of night and day; but the darkness is gaining, and with it, barren winter. WE must look to storing up the provisions and bounty of the earth. We give the Lord and Lady sincere thanks for what they have given to us, but also recognise that this is the time when the Lord leaves us as he dies with the last cutting of the last sheaf of corn and begins his journey through the underworld.
This is a time of great transformation. The expansive, active part of the year is over and its time to turn inwards. Each festival of the year in its eternal spiral can be viewed as an initiation into a new mode of consciousness. At Herfest we enter into the death of the God. Through that death comes transformation, regeneration and rebirth. It is only through this process that spiritual illumination comes



NATURE IN SEPTEMBER
By Ron Fox

Hi folks,
September marks the beginnings of autumn, the cereal crops are mostly gathered and we start to harvest our apples, pears and other similar types of fruits.
Soon the leaves will start to change colour before there blown away by autumns increasing winds. Although we’ve had a bit of a wet blustery august, nature knows that its real effects will be saved until the trees, plants, and herbs are ready to submit to dropping their leaves and finery in readiness for the winters sleep to come. This reminds me of a poem I wrote a while ago.




The Ebb and flow of Wind

Wind the ebb and flow of air
Its effects seen in ripples and waves shown in shadows of all things cast in light.
These moving shadows shown upon the background of life’s canvas wakes us to the presence of its being.
Watch it flow and sail within our lives.
See its movement, the dance of life it brings to trees, plants and all that feel its touch.
It plays giving life and movement to the fires smoke because all things are one and the same, connected and part of the all.
Look and learn to understand the ebb and flow of wind, life’s breath, its connection to all who share it.
Do not be only content to feel its presence, see with more than just your eyes, its touch light and strong upon all things is the Goddess and God breathing life upon the earth.


I often feel a sense of calm and completeness around this time; nature begins to turn away from its expansive growth and prepares to turn within. The amount of daylight begins to lesson and life begins to resin itself to a time of rest and completion.
The year starts to wind down as do we, the cycles of spring and summer are now past autumn and winter yet to come. Not only is it a time to give thanks for what we’ve been given learned or achieved but also to contemplate on what could be.
Nature gives us the last of its bounties ending in a last flurry of colour; autumn leaves, sunrises and sunsets a wonder to behold.
As summer wanes, now is a good time to plant prepared bulbs into bowls for some colourful displays at Yule and early spring. Plant out the spring flowering bulbs around your borders and into containers, giving priority to daffodils because they begin their root growth earlier than other types of bulbs.
A prepared burst of colour at Yule and early spring serves to remind us of the brightness lost but also yet to come.
Having just past Herfest the autumn equinox, a time when the light and dark hours of day and night stand in balance. Once again we have the opportunity to feel and contemplate on this time of balance within nature and our lives, a time of quietness before the tide of the year once again move us along.
May the reflections and bounties you receive this year be as uplifting and colourful as an autumn sunset.

Blessings Ron Fox

HERB OF THE MONTH/SEPTEMBER

Hi folks,
As I left August with found memories of sunshine and butterflies such as peacocks and red admirals feeding on the buddleia in my garden my thoughts turned to September in the knowledge that at this time many surrounding energies are starting to wind themselves down. As each day passes the realization that nature is starting to become quieter, time to slow down, to think and contemplate what the year has brought so far. We approach a time when our energies begin to spiral inwards away from the expansive time of year, the god enters the underworld, perhaps a good time to start an internal exploration of our self and our surroundings.
Having said this my heart is always lifted when I catch sight of a Rowan tree showing its red berries, they light up their surroundings and our spirits at a time when many plants and trees are showing decline in their readiness for autumn and winter to come. As an aid to meditation and journeying the rowan is a wonderful tree to sit beneath to contemplate what has passed or needed. In spring its flowers remind or represent to us the return of spring, its white flowers seen as a form of the Goddess returned in her purified form, awakening the land to a time of growth. Around this time of year its red berries not only signify death and decline but also the power and life-force of some thing. The festival of Herfest is a time to give thanks for what nature and the Goddess and God have provided, the colour red becomes more prominent, a signal of ripeness, when the seed of something has reached its fullest potential in that particular season of growth, it carries the full power and energy of that thing, The strength and power to protect, heal and bring re-birth. In ancient past and in common folklore the Rowan was recognised as a tree that could be used in many ways. The Druids, knew it had the power to heal the human spirit, time spent in its presence uplifts and calms.
The Rowan sacred to the goddess Brigid and Brigantia were both associated with spring, birth, the arts, spinning, weaving and healing, Rowan wood used to make spindles and spinning wheels. Brigid/Brighid was also a triple fire goddess her name coming from Breo-saigit meaning ‘fiery-arrow these also traditionally made from Rowan, the white purity of spring endowed with the red berried fire of late summer. Used to symbolize the rebirth of spring, in autumn for protection, healing, and enchantment, druids burned its leaves, berries and wood as incense on fires to call spirit or to use it as an aid in divination. Being classed as a sacred tree in the past puts it in the front line for magic concerning the land. Irish legend tells of dragons and serpents guarding the Rowan, these understood to be the powers and energies of the land, Rowan seen as a guardian of the land and in this respect a tree to be planted around sacred sites of worship and Druidic groves.
From these types of association we see how the Druidic orders came to use the three Rowan arrows as a symbol of Awen, the three rays of light representing divine spirit in the form of knowledge, wisdom and inspiration. If we return to the red colour of the berries and this time of year red is associated with death and life force, hence the its use in many spells, used in folk lore to keep away evil spirits or baneful energies, it was thought a good idea to grow or keep a part of this tree for a variety of reasons, that the good fairies resided in these trees.
In Scotland and Ireland cattle and sheep were driven out to summer pastures with Rowan switches in some places these were kept above a fire place lintel ready for the drive home before winter. A stick or bundle of Rowan could also be hung above their byre.
Hoops of rowan with red berries were also tied to cow’s tails to ward of illness, misfortune and bad spirits. In other parts sheep and their lambs were driven through loops of Rowan for protection and good health.
Writing here of the Rowan reminds me of a time when I was helped by this tree spirit in some healing magic a year or two ago.
My daughter had been unwell with an illness that was not responding to treatment, returning from time to time in its severity. Her doctor seemed unable to find a root cause or treatment to cure to what was wrong. On a visit to her we took a walk through the grounds of Bath University College a few days after Yule. As we walked I noticed some greenery very high up in the bare winter trees, so high I had trouble making out what it was. After walking around the lake we started to make our way home, a blackbird flew up from our feet and noisily made its way to a row of Rowan trees. There were quiet a few of these trees in a line, but only the one in the middle was full of songbirds feeding on its red berries making quite a racket surely to attract our attention. The tree it’s self almost shone with its invitation, I took the hint and we made our way over to the tree, on one of its branches was some mistletoe, another sacred plant of the druids.
Of all the trees that were lined up in a row this was the only one with mistletoe growing on it, I had been given my answer to what was growing in the tall trees, this tree spirit had plainly made its self known to us.
I took a small piece of the mistletoe and gave it to my daughter and told her to return here at some time and ask the tree spirit for healing. This she did, and within a week or two her illness was finally fully diagnosed, the following treatment bringing to an end the problems with that illness. Magic works in many ways through nature, where there is need and also clear reason and intent, to recognise what is offered, what nature has to teach or share with us, that a nature spirit may help you in some way.
To learn to be aware and listen to them, perhaps make a start by sitting under a Rowan tree; you never know what might become of it.

Blessings, Ron Fox.

Thank you Ron. It's a good lesson in how we need to open our hearts and minds and be aware of what is around us, and listen to what we are being told.