In most of my almanacs, I have focused on certain plants or flowers or trees. I have been paying attention to micro-seasons, like the season of wingstem in the woods or stonecrop in the garden, or the time the robins start to sing in the spring.
But most micro-seasons, for many people, relate to sports or school or children or family or illness or death.
And with all those concerns, the seasons of nature often disappear or face into the background. Writing this almanac and thinking about the different phases of natural time, has, at the very least, offered a balance and an anchor for all the social aspects of my life.
I grew up in religious family with rituals I have either left behind or modified. But I have also found that closely watching the longer and shorter seasons of the year can compensate for the weakening of the spiritual, and offer support and stability for my search for the divine.
I feel something must be true and solid, and that I can find it when I look loosesly at what happens in the world as it spins across.
This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack. I’ll be back again next week with more notes on the seasons. In the meantime, watch Late Summer ride the circle into Early Fall.
