The Blot:

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Winter Finding (Festival of Harvest End) again emphasises the wheel of nature. The autumn equinox is reached and a period of decline ensues as summer ‘dies’ and winter approaches. We give thanks for our food supply and begin to assess our achievements, look into our hearts and prepare for the future spring that will come after we have endured the winter. Life’s rhythm is still strong, but dissolution can also be clearly felt now.
We hail the Gods and Goddesses of fertility and fruitfulness- of life: Odin, Frey, Thor, Sif, Freya and all the Aesir and Vanir and recall the sacrifice of Balder as not only symbolising the year’s drawing inwards to regenerate itself until Yuletide, but also as symbolic of our need to gather ourselves inwards; for we are a part of nature and of the great cycles that bring balance and harmony. The dark times strengthen us and contain within them the holy spark of life. We are reminded that religion, the social system and the whole of life were naturally seen by our ancestors as being on a great continuum - the beauty of which was trashed by the influx of the alien creeds into this age of rampant materialism and greed. Yet we recognise that ages pass and that a new revolution in the hearts and souls of our folk will give rise to the usurping of this corrupt doctrine and a flowering once again of the folk soul; otherwise we shall perish and be returned to the substance of Mother Jorth.
The corn mother is presented as a symbol of our hope for renewal and our debt to Mother Jorth. Our Gealdor is Jera, the rune of harvest. After the work of ploughing, sowing and harrowing, the harvest is reaped and its quality is dependant upon what we have sown. But a good harvest also means sacrifice and loss: to create we need to know how to cut and there is no lasting ideal state. Hence there will always be sickness and health, war and peace because inherent in life is the struggle to evolve around the wheel of life, which holds ‘life’ and ‘death’ in balance as integral parts of the whole.
Jera can be particularly attributed to the goddess Sif, to whom corn dollies and the harvest festival were originally attributed. As a Goddess of the annual cycle’s expression at this time, the cutting of her golden hair represents the bounty of the annual harvest.
At another level, this symbolises the destruction of the Golden Age by illusion - the increasing grossing of the energies towards a heartless machine that results from subscribing to the alien creeds. But also, the cutting at harvest will make it grow back stronger in the next cycle since its fullness has been reached. Similarly, when the age turns- in the fullness of time- the experience of the hardships we face and overcome at all levels will make our folk stronger and lead us inexorably back into a new Golden Age.
Remembering September:
We begin to feel a crispness in the air and a sense of gathering, preparation and organisation for the future dominates. This is a time for knowledge- of gathering information- and a more intellectual focus on life: it is no accident that school and college terms begin in September! There is both an outer and inner harvest- a time for letting some things go whilst retaining that which will help us through the next phase and planting new seeds for that cycle.
Thus it is a purging and cleansing time that engenders sorrow as we leave summer and aspects of ourselves that no longer serve us. As we begin to assess the results of our endeavours, we need to acknowledge our achievements- but just as importantly, notice what hasn’t come into fruition and be prepared to discard it. We also need to begin setting new immediate and long-term goals and this must be done with a balanced attitude: be realistic about what is achievable in any given time-span and make careful but solid progress. An effective analogy is to see a goal as an ‘elephant’ and to dissect it into manageable parts which, when worked with according to your plan, will reap the results on time.
Physically, September is a time for strengthening the body in preparation for the cooler weather to come. Add a little more protein and fat to the diet and foods should be predominantly cooked rather than raw to begin warming the body. Steam vegetables and add nuts for extra protein. As usual, check out seasonal vegetables such as green beans, parsnips, carrots, tomatoes and pumpkins for the best food choices. Add herbs and spices, which have vitalising properties of their own. It is also a good time to work a little harder at any physical exercise you are doing- or maybe to try something new. Have an autumn house-clearing and tidying session in preparation for ‘battening down the hatches:’ this is part of ‘letting go’ of that which no longer serves you and the all-important process of attuning to the season. It also helps ‘clear space,’ allowing for effective and vitalising energy flow to pervade your life at all levels."