Autumn will heap the granaries high.
Whatever you reap, corn, wheat or clover,
Barley or rye, when autumn is over…
Whatever you reap you will be raising
Again and again. – Anne Persov, “Whatever You Reap”
And so the wheel turns again, back around to the very first of the sabbats I observed with a column; as I wrote last year, the day is for us non-farmers primarily an occasion to celebrate the shortening of the days and the impending approach of cooler nights. This has been an exceptionally mild summer, as I expected; the weather was quite chilly well into May, the summer days have been hot but not sweltering and even the Dog Days have lacked their characteristic bite so far. Usually I don’t turn off the air conditioners and open the windows at night until the last week of August (if not later), but this past weekend we had them open without interruption except for a few hours on Sunday afternoon. As regular readers know, autumn is my favorite season; this little taste of it is therefore very welcome to me, and refreshing to a weary spirit. Even if we do get some hot weather in the next few weeks, this mild spell is like a letter from one’s beloved: “Take heart; I am coming soon.”
I wish all of my readers a happy Lammas, and ask that whatever your beliefs may be, you all receive happiness and prosperity in great abundance.
