Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Is Harvest Always Gathering?

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad. ~Edwin Way Teale
Ray of sun blessing White Oak Creek


Is Harvest Always Gathering?


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Video Text:

As I walked through the mist of a mountain forest moving toward the change of season to Autumn, I considered what message the season would bring to me. Softer than the sounds of my steps and the stretching, rubbing of my pack and my gear, I always perceive the voices of those who communicate with me not through my ears, but through some deeper part of my self. When I am not trying to hear, distracted by the effort of my motion, they communicate, though not always in the abstracts of language. Sometimes there is suddenly a shift of my mind, seeing with new eyes. And I know that change was their communication.

For people and most animals still in some degree of unison with the seasons, harvest time—Fall—is a matter of storing sustenance for the barren time ahead. Whether this storage is within or outside the body, the call of the season is to collect, gather, hold onto. Winter is seen as unproductive, so all the work of achievement must be done beforehand.

I had the sense that this call was not precisely appropriate for me this season. Around me that morning the message began to seep into my consciousness, consider what the call to trees—and surely any perennial plant—might be. They do not feed off their stores during the winter, nor do they need to. Therefore their ritual of Autumn would be completely different. Their definition of ‘harvest’ would be unique to their coming experience.

Within my nervous system, for the first time I started to perceive the voice of this call unique to those not drawn to scurry about gathering as if for the last meal.

“Release. Relax.”

I was becoming increasingly comfortable with a message completely contrary to what my animal kin were hearing! With every step through the forest, mist brushing by my face, I sank deeper into the message that felt so natural to me at that moment—I sank into the call of the trees. This new perspective that I was grasping of ‘harvest’ took hold and brought new revelation beyond words.

They seemed to say to me:

Release the explicit, the outer world, active pursuit.

Reside in the implicit, that which continues on beyond term, beyond need.

Rejuvenate for another time.

Move into a state of dormancy,

pass with the least impact through the harshness of that to come.

Disengage active consciousness,

Dwell more focused in the greater Collective consciousness

Effortlessly, you will be prepared

To show forth great bloom and growth in the proper time.

For all who celebrate harvest in whatever varying manner, Be Bountiful and Prosper!

Blessings all……CG


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4 comments:

Eirini said...

Release...the path of least resistance...oh,I needed that message,CG! Thank you ever so much for it.....What a powerful message!And thank you for delivering it to us in your own voice!

CG Walters said...

May your life bring you a harvest of joy, dear friend.
love and blessings,
CG

Catherine Foresight said...

I've always thought of the winter as a time for turning inwards to get in touch with my inner wisdom and prepare for moving outwards once more in the spring

The idea of harvest as release is a new one. Releasing what is no longer needful is the perfect preparation for looking inwards and taking stock of where I am

Thank you for this concept

CG Walters said...

Thank you for your presence, Catherine.
blessings and wonder,
CG