Equinox thoughts

     Today is another beautiful day in Southeastern AZ. I’m enjoying the feeling of Fall in the air. So far this year we’ve seen uncommon freezes in the first part of the year. Many people had frozen and burst water pipes (so many that the local plumbers were very busy and home improvement stores found themselves out of plumbing supplies for weeks), many people found that their trees and other garden plants died from the freeze. About the time that was over with the winds started, this year there were uncommonly high winds that lasted much longer than normal.

     Before the winds stopped, a fire broke out in the Huachuca Mountains and quickly got out of control, because of the high winds and very dry conditions. The fire destroyed homes and displaced many people, as it threatened to burn up the San Pedro valley and the town of Sierra Vista.

     Through all of this, the people in this area and many who are not from here pulled together as a community and helped each other find temporary homes for the evacuees, their families and animals. There were thousands of donations to the local fire departments, for the firefighters and the evacuees. I was truly impressed with the outpouring of help and genuine care for each other.

     Right after the fire was put out, the monsoons started and the people who were affected by the fire were now threatened with flooding. Without vegetation on the mountains the rains just ran off the mountains, gathering up debris and ashes to be deposited in the yards of those closest to the fire area.

     It seemed like Mother Nature, was pushing everyone in this area to the brink. I have a different understanding of it. I’ve seen this area filling with negative energy for several years now.

     There used to be several groups of Pagans, (Wiccan, Druid, Shamanic practitioners, and others) who regularly held ceremony in the mountains. These groups worked together to bring a sense of community and acceptance into the area. There were open circles on the Sabbats, regular community gathering at a local restaurant, and even an outreach group who worked with the Chaplin on base to provide a place for the pagan military personnel to be welcomed and celebrate.

     All of this fell apart… there was infighting, gossiping, and drama of all kinds. Several of the individuals and groups felt they were the only ones trying to bring the community together and ended up very burned out and retreated from the community.

     I believe that this destruction of the community was the beginning of this year’s natural phenomena. We stopped honoring the earth through celebrations, we stopped honoring each other, and the Earth Mother took it in her own hands to clear this area of the negative energy we inadvertently planted here. I realize we are not the only ones to contribute to this build up of negativity, but the Pagans in this area were and are the ones who forgot our way. It's been years since we've celebrated together or even actively shown respect to each other.

     This Friday is the Autumn Equinox, and I hadn’t thought about how I would celebrate, until today. I am going to do my own personal ceremony thanking Her for taking things into Her own hands and giving us the opportunity to connect with everyone (of all belief systems) in the area, as we pulled together for each other’s safety and well being.

     This area is not the only area affected by flooding, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, and whatever else… Earth Mother has been shaking out her carpets, and scrubbing her walls this year, all over the planet.

     I encourage everyone to take this time to thank Her (or whomever you believe is deity) for the work She has done to clear out stagnant energy, and take this opportunity to remember this is the second harvest festival… have we been reaping what we’ve sown? Reflect on that… I will be.

Have a Wicked Good day!
Molly