Happy Harvest Season
anthony bruni
Happy Harvest Season
Sat Sept 22 marks the autumnal equinox ending the summer season for us in the northern hemisphere. If we want to be a bit more precise at 6:54 post meridian (PM) pacific time sept 22, the phenomenon of the sun crossing directly over the earth's equator will occur. Humans have been celebrating this demarcation of time since Stonehenge was still just a prehistoric blueprint. Probably much longer. The equinox is often confused for the day where there are equal parts day and night (that would be the equillux which happens the 28 of sept this year) which I also believe deserve our observance. But no matter what solar phenomenon we use to moor our concept of natural time to, observing our changing relationship to the sun is a crucial part of staying grounded in the natural world
Clock time can be a difficult to escape from in modern life. Our phones are constantly exposing us to a clockwork rhythm. As I type this the bottom of my screen tells me it is 8:58. Life wasn’t always like this. Before trains, time was broader and more personal. It was morning, or it was time to eat. There was little need for most people to know what exact portion, within 60 seconds, of the day it was. However for railroads to effectively coordinate stations in different cities people needed to harness the intelligence of the clock. Modern life as we know it would be impossible without clocks, but as we synch up more and more with gears generated time, the easier it becomes to lose our relationship to the natural rhythms that bonds us with all other life on the planet.
Us, modern humans no longer face imminent death for defying the seasons as most people would have throughout our 200,000+ years of being Sapiens. Ignoring these realities still comes with a price though. Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD, is part of our medical mythology*. Of course, in reality, this disorder is just part of the natural order that becomes harder to see the more we become civilized. This is not to say fully experiencing the seasons is easy, but to say it's as normal (or natural) of a process many of us will ever do.
Let's think of think of being a wild animal. As days shorten heat and food become scarcer. Wouldn’t this add stress to staying alive? Would this stress not increase the quantity of cortisol in our wild animal avatar? Presumably, this increase in cortisol would cause an increase in fat, which would provide needed insolation from the elements. Of course when we undergo this same process its labeled a disorder. Probably by a committee who too attuned to the clock and too removed from the sun.
Because we are in such a disconnected culture I do encourage everyone to take the time to observe the solar crossing of the equator. I welcome everyone to meditate on how we are all connected to this celestial event. When I say we I don't just mean people or even just animal. Plants directly feed off photons all acknowledge the fluctuating seasons. Growth rings in a tree, are caused by the tree growing faster or slower depending on what season they it is. This fluctuating growth cycle creates darker and lighter colors depending on the tree's rate of growth, providing us with a literal ana(log) record of past weather patterns. As the plant growth follow the sun cycle herbivores follow the plants. Predators follow plant-eaters. We all gravitate towards the sun
The word season itself comes from the Latin word sationem meaning to sow or to plant. This eventually became time to sow. Each season has its own unique challenges and gifts. I welcome everyone to mark the changing of the season with your own rituals whatever that may be to begin the process of germinating new practices during these transitional times.
Anthony Bruni
* I use mythology not to mean something not true. I use it to mean a collection of metaphors that when connected together forms a conceptual framework in which a culture can store its shared knowledge about the world.