Out of the darkness comes light!

Oooo, mulching through the wet autumn leaves this morning got me really excited about the seasons! All the leaves that were bright shades of red, yellow and orange are turning a mushy brown on the woodland floor - creating a rich fertile compost for next year's spring fiesta. The Celts used to celebrate Samhain (or Halloween) as the beginning of the new year, and sunset marked the beginning of a new day. This got me thinking about the darkness coming before the light, rather than the other way around, as we have become accustomed to thinking. Whilst the Earth is in apparent slumber, on dark winter days, new life is burgeoning under the wet soil, ready to burst forth.

Connecting with the Earth's cycles makes me more aware of my own - not just my moon cycle but all the little cycles that go on unheeded. Why is it at particular points I feel like nurturing myself and doing loads of yoga, eating well, getting fresh air and feeling BUZZY? Then there are times I just want to eat heaps and heaps of rubbish food, switch off with a film, laze on the sofa. It's quite fun to start to pick up on triggers and why we do our habitual things. I'd like to say that through observing my own patterns of behaviour I've got far better at not succumbing to a huge bar of chocolate (or 2) but not yet....all in good time.... (anyway, isn't chocolate supposed to be good for you?)

As we surrender to the darker months of the year, I get a bit excited at the prospect of quiet evenings by the fire and feel far less sociable than I do in the summer. I like to think that we're laying the foundations for our own spring fertility by nurturing ourselves with nourishing food and loads of rest in the winter. Fertility goes down in the winter months - definitely a sign that we need our sunshine to make babies! I've been getting my regular dose of sunshine by getting outside whatever the weather, with a less-than-eager dog (who, at 13, increasingly turns her nose up at rainy days!) and turning my face up to the sky!

We are going to see a Chinese medicine practitioner next week. She's skilled in both herbalism and acupuncture and has had good success judging by her testimonials so we'll see what happens... Though I was rather enjoying the process of letting go and trusting that the Universe will provide, I suddenly feel like 'doing' something again, hence booking the TCM lady. Is the quest a mixture of 'doing' and 'being' and not getting too fixed on anything? So far, that seems to have kept our spirits high and ensured we feel spiritually and physically relaxed.

Keep getting snatches of a song stuck in my head over and over; 'bless the day/you came to be/heavenly...' It's a song I've sort of pre-dedicated to our as yet unconceived child so it's lovely that it keeps popping into my head unbidden.