November. I let go and trust, the light within guides my way (Jilly Shipway).
Autumn into winter
buzzing Ivy flowers & snowberries
yellowing gold into red
Leaves fall and we Remember
Darkness deepens
temperatures drop
First frosts arrive and Fires are lit
Time of Candles and lamplight
Mulching
Burning
the old makes way for the new
November was Slaughter month, Blōtmonath, or “the month of blood sacrifices.” It’s likely this late autumnal sacrifice would have been the time any older or infirm livestock that seemed unlikely to see out bad weather ahead would be killed both as a stockpile of food, and as an offering for a safe and mild winter.
The old is given up
and melts dissolves mulches down down down, back into the body of the earth
1st All Saints’ Day
1st New moon in Scorpio
2nd All Souls’ Day starts traditional period of hallowtide ending with Martinmas
5th Bonfire night
8th Chinese start of winter – Lì dōng
11th Remembrance Day – St Martins day or Martinmas – First calendar day of European winter
15th Full moon in TaurusBeaver or Mourning moon
Celtic – Dark moon.
Medieval- Snow moon.
Native American-Tree moon.
Cherokee- Trading moon
Me – Remembrance or Ancestors moon
15th Jayanti – Sikh celebration of Guru Nanak’s birthday
16th Japanese micro season land freezes
22nd Sun moves into Sagittarius
22nd Chinese period of Xiǎo xuě – slight snow – it begins to snow but can’t accumulate on the ground.
26th Midpoint between Samhain & winter solstice – the darkest 6 weeks of the year from now mid January
1st December First siting of the new moon starts Kislev, the Jewish ‘month of dreams’. As this moon ebbs into darkness Hanukkah the Jewish Festival of Lights begins.
Don’t you imagine the leaves dream now
how comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
nothingness of the air and the endless
freshets of wind? And don’t you think
the trees, especially those with
mossy hollows, are beginning to look for
the birds that will come—six, a dozen—to sleep
inside their bodies? And don’t you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow? The pond
stiffens and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly brings out
its long blue shadows. The wind wags
its many tails. And in the evening
the piled firewood shifts a little
longing to be on its way.
Autumn shifts into Winter
The leaves fall,
fog drizzle & mist shroud the land
and the first frosts descend in the deepening darkness.
Starlings chatter as even the light grows cold
Nature’s calendar November
Last Days by Mary Oliver
