In the United States, November is a month of change and predictable unpredictability. It brings forth a Time Change, an Election Day, a Veterans Day, a Thanksgiving Day, an end of Autumn and lots of cloudy cold nights and days. November ushers us to the close of the earlier seasons while opening us to another series thus placing us on the perpetual wheel of fortune for better and worse, richer and poorer, in sickness and in health. It awakens us to a permanent impermanence of birth, life, death and new life.

It’s said that wonder is the beginning of wisdom and that wisdom views life through the lens of meaning and understanding. What does it mean for us to live in circular time rather than linear time? What differences are created by having four seasons that overlap one another and return on a yearly basis? Do each of these seasons have a soul, a distinct energy vibration that influences us and our planetary ecosystems? How much attention do we give these changes and how much do they effect our behavior?  

I wonder about the psychosocial impact of having elections in November as well as time changes, veterans days, thanksgiving days, cloudy cold days and nights with less light and more darkness. I also wonder why we don’t seem to give much mental, emotional, physical and spiritual attention to these environmental and social changes. Could it be that we’re not aware of how influential the environmental changes are; that the changes are too subtle to be seen as new wondrous adventures?

This past week in Colorado there was four feet of snow in the mountains an hour west of Denver. In Denver there was four inches of snow overnight and the next day it melted due to fifty degree temperatures. In Missouri the other day, there was a gloomy light and gleaming darkness shrouding the passage of sun and clouds which created a tranquil yet melancholy tone. In Maine it was cold and drizzling rain while in Florida it was warm and windy. What endings, beginnings and unexpected wonders did these events spark?

As I reflect on this fourth season of the year, I’m also moved to reflect on this fourth season of life for the whole of creation. I see myself and others, like the earth, growing quiet, preparing a winter bed for new life that continues within and without. I see the birthing bed as covered with a white blanket that hides all that is beneath it. I see the  verdancy of life lying in repose, pregnant with new possibilities and potentialities in the season we call Winter and the unexpected wonders that are birthed here.

November news is filled with trees standing still like sticks and bones without their clothes. They open their arms with grace to embrace the stillness needed to awaken  the interconnectivity and knowing in our souls. Even in the midst of gusty winds and wet weather there’s a call for comfort in the warmth of our hearts. The air is full of greetings and good-byes with no worries and hurries to get in the way. November news speaks of something passing, something infinite, something calming. It invites us home to the hearth, home to thanksgiving, home to all that’s wonderful and wise. Home to repose.

As we live into this last month of Autumn, rather than lamenting the passing of the other seasons, let’s relax into embracing the wonder of November with all it’s glory and grit. Let’s make the gentle effort to slow down, to fill the hours and days with more meaning and deeper understanding. Let’s merge with the more mellow tone of November with its quality of wisdom in repose. Let’s embrace our knowing and not knowing, the limitations of life and unlimited wonder and wisdom that stirs the galaxies and shapes the stars.

• Allow yourself the gift of November’s glory and grit. On the cloudy days, rejoice in the grayness, the embrace of the hearth that lives in the depths of your soul. . . .
• Grow in understanding as you open yourself to the wonder of November. When you find yourself complaining, stop and drop into a deeper place of grace. Awaken to the wonder of the contrast, to the closeness of the earth and sky, to the silence of soul.
• Journal where you are in your endings and beginnings as we walk through this last month of Autumn and prepare for Winter. Awaken to the death and new life that is present in this time of transition and deeper understanding. . . .