Holly King's gaining strength

Holly King, the archetype of darker and colder half of the year, is growing now stronger than the counterpart, Oak King, ruler of lighter and warmer season.

Northern lights were seen all over southern Finland last night. This morning I also noticed that end of the harvest time (Brown bear month) is nearing, there are still apples in trees, but most of them have already dropped (those which we have not eaten). Also, sky had some beautiful Cirrus clouds foretelling of a cold front coming during weekend.

natural curiosity

Children have a natural curiosity on nature.

They wonder tirelessly those things we "adults" often keep self-evident. My daughter, who is now 5 years old, is a keen birdwatcher. She collects nowadays every feather (no matter how dirty or small) she finds from a street or from a forest and keeps these treasures in a 'jewel box' in her room.

For different reasons, this capacity to wonder small things often diminishes when a human "grows up". I often think for different reasons why this happens. On the basis of what I've learnt recently (partly after reading some writings on Jungian psychology), mostly this differentiation from the wonders of our Mother Earth could be due to the overgrown egocentrity of a modern human mind. The products of industrialised society we have created, pull us like magnets to consume and to take advantage on short-lived enjoyments. We detach from surrounding natural universe and block within our self. Well, I guess everyone recognizes some of this occassionally in our own personal behaviour.

Don't let your consumer-ego take over, the birdwatcher's still hidden within every one of us.:)

near the balance of scales

This is my first blog entry here! I'm a Finnish musician and a backwoodsman (spiritualwise), so I consider myself as some kind of a druid.

I will write on a variety of subjects, subjects which are very 'grounded' or 'earthy', in other words, a bit of my inner world. I have a strong need to this as I write songs as my main hobby and it's often difficult to describe the related thoughts and philosophies behind the music. You see, I'm keeping also one other blog, diary of my band (you can check it under my profile), and I'm sure that these two blogs are going to have - and actually they should have - some interconnection, I guess we'll see it later.

We are nearing the balance of scales: In a couple of days, day and night are of equal length. Autumn Equinox, or Mabon (plus some other names are used too) will be held on the 22nd of September. The final struggle between lighter and darker half of the year will end to the victory of the latter and we float again towards Samhain and/or Halloween (+other names).

The word 'seasonal' describes this year cycle period well. Even though Autumn Equinox, one day in September, does not nowadays mean a thing for most of the people in humankind, we could at least try to adjust our diets in to seasonal products. All greens are now cheap, fresh and they're abundant. It's really the best time to bake apple pies and roast vegetable dishes or whatever you fancy.

I have a privilege to grow things in my own garden and I also have four apple trees (though don't have to "grow" them, as they do it by themselves). During September, I sometimes eat around 5-10 apples a day. As a little kid, I used to hide hours hiding in the garden shadows eating gooseberries. Thanks to this, I guess, my stomach is very resilient.