Today, the earth rests in balance. Tomorrow, we begin a return to Darkness.
The autumnal equinox marks the moment that day and night are equal and neither light nor dark hold the throne. Here in the northern hemisphere, the land is preparing herself for a type of death.
As I reflect on our cultural relationship to ‘Darkness’, there is a general avoidance, fear, and suppression. In no small part, I believe this is because we have related Darkness to Death and our cultural relationship to Death is, at best, once of tolerance.
While Darkness and Death are allowed a place the table, by no means are they given places of honour.
Yet in order for life to exist, things must go into the Darkness and they must die. Farmers know this best. Decaying matter (in the form of compost) is essential to replenish soil; without it, new seeds won’t thrive. Even the farming tool, the scythe, was used for harvest at the end of the growing season. The scythe represents the natural order of life — plants must be cut down to feed animals. Death sustains life.
In Greek mythology, the god of time and harvest, Chronos, carried a scythe to reap all living things when their time came. In North American, he is the Grim Reaper, a fearful wight that takes life.
In other cultures though, this spirit is revered, as it both takes and gives life. In Guatemala, he is San Pascuelito, in Umbanda, he is Babalú-Aye, in Mexico, she is Santa Muerte, in Argentina, Paraguay and northern Brazil, he is San la Meurte. Death, healing and life are bound within the same body.
Author Clarissa Pinkola Estés writes on this idea in “Skeleton Woman” in her book Women Who Run With the Wolves. Estés refers to this as the Life/Death/Life nature: “a cycle of animation, development, decline, and death that is always followed by re-animation…In feminine imagery, the Death Woman, Death Mother, or Death Maiden always was understood as the carrier of destiny, the maker, the harvest maiden, the mother, the river-walker, and the re-creator, all of these in cycle.”
“All of these in cycle.”
As we move into the darker months, I urge for us to remember that we too move in cycles, that we too are intrinsically connected to the natural rhythms of the land and of the Life/Death/Life nature of all things. To respect the Darkness is to respect our own seasons. Much like the womb we came from, or the soil a seed sprouts from, this is a season of returning to Darkness. A season of letting go. An inner harvest.
Ask yourself: What are you reaping now that you sowed in seasons past? What can you let die so that you may replenish your soil for the next planting?
Even in death, there is life.
