I doubt that many of us have been in a boat at night to see a lighthouse in the midst a storm. Conversely, most of us have experienced both outer and inner storms in our lives that steered us toward and away from the dangers that lurked in the night. Every season of our lives brings us opportunities to navigate from darkness to light to darkness and again to light. Autumn is the season that calls us into the darkness, the light, the short days and long nights. It’s part of the ineffable mystery of life and death.

For many, Autumn touches the darkness in ways that other seasons don’t. It ushers us into a sanctuary where candles are lit in prayerful hope while darkness and cold begin to touch our flesh, bones and souls. The flowering of our lives begins to whither and die. The many leaves and harvests of our lives begin to fall away as they are consumed by the forces of Nature. It’s the beginning of the end of a life we’ve known through the incubation and birthing of Winter, the growth of Spring and the fullness of Summer. 

As a lighthouse, Autumn shows us the way to the end of our Life’s journey. It undresses us slowly in our fourth season and helps us understand the temporary nature of life. Different storms show up when, in our sixties, seventies and eighties the winds shift, the clouds roll in more often and the cold is felt in ways that direct us into safe harbors for longer rests. In the Autumn of our lives, like in Nature, the attachments to the leaves of previous seasons loosen, the fruits are harvested, the wine is aged.

As a storm, Autumn sometimes shows up gradually over time so we hardly notice it until it’s right on top of us. We’re sailing along with clear skies when a storm blows in with a bankruptcy, an unforeseen disease, a fall, a lightning strike or a loss of mobility which directs us immediately to a safe harbor. The other day, in the first week of September we had a monsoon rain with hail and high winds blow through. Most of us were in a safe harbor and it didn’t last long but the wisdom of uncertainty showed up.

What I’m pointing to has to do with the seasons of soul that are part of our outer, inner and True Nature shared by the whole Earth community. It’s the ever present rhythm of birth, life, death and new life. It’s the great equalizer in all of creation. Autumn speaks clearly through the lighthouses and storms of this season that come every year, in every life. It’s our ‘wake up call‘ to the energetic flow of Nature, moment by moment and an ongoing reminder of the finite and infinite energies we all share.

The trees, plants, earth, air, water and other life forms on the planet know the seasons and act accordingly; all but we humans. We have divorced ourselves from our innate mental, emotional, physical and spiritual roots and are, in many ways, being called to ‘wake up‘ to our interconnectedness so as to cooperate with the rest of creation. Autumn, starting with the month of September shows us the light and darkness we’re all apart of and points to the death that’s essential for new life to follow.

September then becomes the seasonal doorway to awaken us to the end and beginning of a whole new way of being and becoming as we give it attention. The trees create magic in their leaves as they change color and eventually shed them for the new growth that will follow. Here, the Soul of Life, Essence, Isness, Suchness, Mystery, and Being is unveiled. The curtains are drawn open for us to explore the depths of the unseen, unknown, unappreciated cycles of Life. Here all things converge to renew.

This creative evolutionary process magnifies the grand and comprehensive  nature of the Universe. In it we are able to reflect on ourselves within creation and come to a conscious Self-awareness of our interconnectivity with the ever present Holographic universe where the Whole is greater than the sum of its parts and each part contains the Whole. Here we see how the ‘seasons of soul’ include us all in daily life as well as in the totality of Life’s ever renewing trajectories. Here we find the storms and the lighthouses that help us come to know the integral nature of All Being, including us. 

• Spend some significant time in Nature this week to recover your sense of wonder at the sacredness of this season of soul leading you to greater wisdom. . . .
• Ponder the image of the ‘Autumn of your Life’ as you observe the leaves changing colors and the trees shedding their cover. Notice how Autumn informs you of your own place in Life’s drama; of mortality and immortality. . . . 
• How do you see Autumn as a lighthouse and as a storm in relation to your Life? What  similarities and differences do you notice as you relate September and Autumn to the season of your life?
• Allow yourself to dance with the wind and the trees as you follow the trajectory of September, October and November this season. What are the messages you’re receiving from our common unity?