Michaelmas? & a wobbly wheel

March 29

In days of old in the northern hemisphere, Autumn Equinox was sometimes known as Michaelmas, 29th September. It is difficult for me to juggle and sort days into some kind of wobbly wheel of the year here in the Southern part of the world. If we could actually exchange exactly, today would be Michaelmas. From what I read, it is a Christian observance of St. Michael and the Feast of Angels. But it is also a cross quarter day when darker nights and colder days begin - although here, you can never be too sure if that will happen either! Sometimes Mother Nature has a final fling and gives us some unbearably hot days... such is weather.
reading more:
"In British folklore, Old Michaelmas Day, 10th October, is the last day that blackberries should be picked and so says the Irish proverb: 'Michaelmas Day the devil puts his foot on blackberries' ”.
I don't have blackberries growing, but I will next year!!

I will wash my the threshold today with a mix of cinnamon and geranium oil, something I was told to do when I was in Glastonbury. In my previous home in Katoomba, I did this religiously every Wednesday. A ritual I must begin again.

Easter is coming up this weekend, and it takes me back to remembering about my own conversion to Catholicism, about 28 years ago. It was just after my mother in law passed that I went along to Easter Vigil Mass. The church was full, with standing room only in the back vestibule, so I stood there, with Sophie in a pram, listening to the Litany of Saints being sung, candles being lit and bells being rung. Tears began to stream down my face and I was bathed in white light. It was if I was standing on stage under a spotlight, it just kept pouring down over  me. I looked around and no one was aware of what was happening. I call it a moment of Grace. It was not the only time things like this have happened to me, but they are a story for another time. At that moment, I decided to convert to Catholicism and so my journey began. And ever since then I have struggled with it. with my faith and my path.

you see, I follow two totally opposite paths. The Catholic one, albeit loosely and the one of my ancestors. I won't call it pagan because I don't like putting a label on this. It is the way of my ancestors and how they followed the wheel of the year, with celebrations, foods, rituals, the Moon. Seasonally.
Combining these two is difficult. However, I seem to have come to a place of having it work, for me.

at the end of the day, each of us has to be true and happy with what we follow and believe. Because when it comes down to the bottom line, not one of us truly knows the truth of life, religion and spirituality, we only know our own truth.  And I am happy with where I am spiritually. I will still question and search, because that is who I am, never stagnant, always changing.

back to Michaelmas.. and the Michaelmas Daisy.. I don't have one growing, but I will find a plant and plant it in my garden

"The Michaelmas Daisies, among dede weeds,
Bloom for St Michael’s valorous deeds.
And seems the last of flowers that stood,
Till the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude.”

tomorrow we have Full Moon and I shall sip my brew in my Spiritual Sanctuary under the protection of a tree ally.

and with the coming of Easter, I hope to go to Easter Vigil Mass, with all the bells and whistles and maybe to a Sunrise celebration at a lookout with the Nuns. 

And then.. I look forward to Hallows.