Leaves on Flowing Streams of Seasons

The second day of August is traditionally observed as a seasonal cross-quarter day.

A day between the major seasonal thresholds of the year, the cross-quarter days celebrate the high expressions of the seasons and function as a signal that the wheel of the year begins to turn toward the next season. The August cross-quarter day marks the festival of first fruits and the grain harvest, the first harvest. ]

The grain sacrifices its life so the community can eat and be sustained. In ancient agricultural communities, the grain was often anthropomorphized and depicted as "the corn king," a sacrificial figure that serves as a model for positive masculine leadership pan-culturally. As he is cut down, he impregnates the earth mother and will rise again in the spring. The seed will sleep and gestate in the earth and be born at the time of the spring sprouting to live again. 

Harvest continues to be a seasonal theme through the autumnal equinox, when traditional harvest festivals abound and offerings of thanksgiving and gratitude become the seasonal expression. 

Light is noticeably diminishing. 

It was shocking to me to notice a couple of days ago that the sun is setting now at around 8:15 pm instead of at 8:45. It's fully dark by 9 pm instead of darkening. There's something profoundly distressing for me when the light begins to diminish in the evening skies. I love summer's long days and the cool of the evening that seems to stretch on forever. 

My experience is that these days feel like they move quickly toward the cooler days that are coming. This morning I also noticed that some leaves have already changed color and fallen to the ground. 

One season flows into the next. And we flow with them. 

The Summer of Self-Love is a daily writing practice created to harness three months for thriving. The goal at the end is to host a dinner party. Sounds like an odd Hero's Journey, doesn't it? Most of them usually are.