Harvest Time - not just a moon phase

The symbolic feeling of 'harvest' is a mix of exhaustion, worry, relief, success and abundance. All year long we work towards what we hope to see come to fruition and then after LIFE throws all her curve balls, we re-evaluate ourselves as the last summer days pass into Autumn.  For me, this means harvesting all that I've learned, making a list of the things I'm proud of, the things I've learned and then also physically prepping for the winter; a very complex process. 

It first starts with a big cleaning and purge of items. Just as I do in Spring, I start to trim, purge, cut, prune and pluck everything I want to keep and to cut all the rest back.  Growth requires that we 'empty our cup' in order to receive more and it's only because we can only hold so much within ourselves in a healthy way. We simply cannot have it - or be it - all. So, we plan our 'crops' and plan our projects and begin to harvest herbs. 

Physically and literally, I cut all my remaining herbs before a frost and start to make herb butter to freeze, bushels to dry and going to all the nurseries in town to take the plants off clearance.  Making my own sage bundles to burn, burning the plots for the spring seeds and writing things down that I cannot seem to keep track of. 

I then arrange my alter. I try to change things up with each moon phase and focus on waning and waxing. This Full Moon is all about what we want to manifest and the category of change is OWN IT NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE; meaning there is no holding back on those to-do lists for life. 

I get out my 'big bad voodoo daddy' agate skull, Nazca, and put him atop a bag of sea salt to cleanse.  I offer some skins and shells to the diety and I anoint my alter space with smells, flowers and oil. New candles (I buy plain ones wholesale and use market or paint to decorate each one) and light/let burn on the Moon peak - letting all my manifestations come to light. 

I try and go out into Nature and do some major grounding before a big shift like this one, and we're talking BIG. Mother Nature is going to continue her SHAKE of chaos, extreme weather will continue and therefore we harvest and THANK her for all we might have.  I walk the land around me and gather mushrooms, take photos of the spider webs decorated in water dew and start prepping soups for the cold Autumn days. Harvesting chive, parsley and other garden herbs by buying OILS in bulk and making my own Garlic Olive Oil, Chive/Oregano Oil, Dill Butter and other simple delicacies. 

These above are black truffle mushrooms, an easy starter for those foraging in MN and easy to miss if you're not looking.  Fried up in butter, salt and pepper and they taste like sweet cooked onions. 

Meditation - whether it is napping more, doing more yoga, trying to find a new routine or just cleaning more often and taking the stairs over the elevator. This Fall has brought us a ton of impulsive energy for DEEP change and physical healing. We're noticing our energies drain and pull, but our body IS feeling better and now we're going to hibernate until we can emerge in 2019 OUR BEST SELF.  So, decorate your space for meditation, however you like to do it - and put it on the daily to-do list to quiet the mind so you can hear the messages of the Universe more clearly. 

With 2 degrees Aries, a lot of the Astrology energy in the air is going to have people ready to release emotional stuff all over the place. New love, new careers, new conversations, new directions and people yelling their truest of true.  Open your ears, take an extra dose of patience and hold on tight for the awakening that is about to happen for our world view: