The colors of the leaves are changing, the warm summer air has long past and the longer days are now over. Once again it is time for nature to “let go and release” the beauty once held in its summer expression.

When the cool weather began, the days became shorter. Not only did the leaves on the trees begin to fade, most likely, with the increased darkness, your energy also slowed down.

To me, as winter approached, it felt like a natural or innate part of life to slow down and enjoy the shorter days by not working as long into the evening. If we are open to it, we will find that, symbolically, nature holds the key to what we do in our lives too.

As the days grow shorter, the darkness helps create the idea of shutting down earlier in the day. There are many who use the longer daylight hours to get more work done outside. Those professions are winding up for winter so they are extra busy right now – almost like trying to beat Mother Nature’s clock.

We are also preparing for winter around the house, like bringing out window scrapers and digging out snow shovels for easier access.

Question: Is this a learned behavior or an innate wisdom to feel nature’s changes and for being prepared?

Picture this: You live in the 4th century. The wind, cooler weather, color changes and darkness are apparent to you. You are busy preparing to end your summer growing season. The darkness is longer in your day, so you are extra busy completing tasks before winter sets in.

Imagine it’s somewhere around the year 373 A.D., before the church had influenced Ireland.

It is Samhain (Saah-win). Hubpages.com tells us Samhain was a harvest festival. It was the time of year that the Celts used to mark the changing of time, like from fall to winter or from the growing season to winter. It was also a time to cleanup in preparation for winter months. They celebrated this last harvest and season change with bonfires, costumes and they lit turnips.

It was a time to harvest and bring that harvest in for storage. Their gardens must have been pretty large, and they would have the need to store food for the winter, because Kroger was not just down the road. In my imagination I picture them tired, and yet feeling pretty good after a full day of working outside, standing around a fire, thinking about the end of a season and the ending of a full day of work.

The spiritual thoughts I would have is that they were “letting go and releasing” the old and unneeded leftovers from their growing season. A time of preparation for winter – a time of rest for the soil and for them; perhaps it is an innate wisdom that motivates us to be prepared.

During cleanup, they put the garden waste in a pile to create a bonfire. Remember, the days are now shorter and the fall sky always appears extra dark. Picture a bonfire on a big piece of property out in the country. There’s a little chill in the air, only the light from the bonfire, a whole lot of dark sky and their imagination.

In that environment you can easily see how a tired mind standing by a bonfire, hearing unidentified noises, or seeing a bat fly over every now and then, might be a little creeped out. It would be the perfect setting for allowing the imagination to create a scary real-life scenario and image of what many of us have been enjoying when we drive on Atwater Street right now.

It is Halloween on Atwater Street!

In the darkness or in the daylight, let the homeowner’s creative imaginations be something you enjoy.

As the days continue to grow darker, know it is a perfect time for us to renew our minds. Use this time to “let go and release” the old and unneeded in your life. Get beyond the darkness by busying yourself for the upcoming holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Remember, the darkness is always more pronounced and visible in the fall until the shortest day of the year arrives on Dec. 21, the winter solstice. (I marvel that it is so close to the same time the “Light of God” came into the world at Christmas, a true blessing!)

Remind yourself often that fall darkness is short lived.

Have a blessed and creative Halloween!

Linda La Croix

Unity Director at Unity of Lake Orion

See her Facebook page, A Spiritual Walk, or website, aspiritualwalk.com.