I’m breaking my somewhat unintentional hiatus to wish you all a special autumn equinox. The rhythms of the seasons have felt a bit out of wack for me as I’ve thrown my physical body into a completely different territory of the globe (I am writing to you from up on a hill in southern Austria), so I pause and reflect on what this quarterly turn feels like internally. The equal balance of light and dark on this day perfectly represents the output of energy I am striving towards. To reign in my energy, that has been pushed far outside of myself for the past few months, and call it back inwards. The end of this summer leaves me with the word: bounty. Italian prune plums, grapes and tomatoes galore. Everything is bountiful. The harvest immense. And now it is time to reap what has been sown as the wheel turns again.
Autumn equinox, or Mabon as it’s called in the celtic tradition, celebrates the descent into the quiet, darker months after the busy and laborious harvest season. Nowadays most of us aren’t farmers, but the theme has stayed much the same. Summer is busy, fast, hot, and socially intensive. It is exhilarating but it often feels like work (I can’t be the only one who feels this way). So with the turning of the wheel into a new season we can slow down and really let the summer sink in. Now is the time to integrate all of those new ideas that found us during the summer chaos when we just didn’t have the time to focus. Like with any transitory time, I think of it as an opportunity to process and to reassess where I’m at and see what can be let go for the next season of life. It’s a time to clean house, and I don’t mean that literally (although those household chores seem to get placed on the back burner big time during the summer). Now is the perfect time to cleanse the mind, body and spirit.
I have spent the past couple of weeks on my first ever family trip, and in Europe nonetheless. My dad grew up in Austria and this is our first time over here as a family, and my first time meeting his (seriously large) family. It’s like I’m finally getting to connect the dots and better fill in the pieces of what makes me “me”. I think about finding my roots and feeling rooted in place, which makes me think about roots in general. Root vegetables and roots we use in herbalism. Burdock, ginger, onions, sweet potatoes. Is it pure coincidence that my rooted feelings are so aligned with the entrance of autumn? Its welcome grounded-ness, its depth and darkness. Its breath of cold that makes warmth feel that much more cozy.
Just a few days ago we were staying in a 18th century stone house in a tiny medieval village in Tuscany with rosemary and sage overflowing in the garden. The weather was fussy there - hot, humid, and always threatening a storm. The result of that was a disturbing amount of mosquitoes, but as always, nature provided the ever plentiful plantain which covered the stone streets and soothed the bites. I love the way plants show up for you when you need them. It’s like the belief that the perfect herb for whatever you need to heal is the one you have in front of you (which I think to be perfectly true).
I read about this incredible tonic a couple of months ago while I was writing my newsletter on Lemon Balm. It’s an old german tincture recipe made by nuns featuring lemon balm and a number of other herbs. Being obsessed with herbalism makes travelling so much more fun because you get to find the coolest things. I bought it immediately when I saw it. I also was recently in a herb shop and perfumery in Florence and found an incredible skin cream that has propolis and bach flower essences in it, which I find amazing. Of course I also added that to my (rapidly growing) collection.
I leave you with a selection of photos that make me feel the bounty of life. I wish you all a beautiful first day of fall!
Ciao <3
:’) see you soon!!!