Intrigued About Season Syncing? Here’s What You Need To Know
For centuries communities have honoured the coming of Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn.
The equinox marks the point in the year when day and night are equal in length, and it usually happens in late March for the Spring Equinox and late September for the Autumn Equinox. Vice versa if you’re in the southern hemisphere.
There’s a reassuring and timeless rhythm to the natural world, isn’t there? Mother nature doesn’t need to put Spring in the diary or schedule a calendar reminder for the full moon. Isn’t it incredible that all this just happens?
Take the rhythm of an English oak tree for example. Her leafy style changes season to season, more effortlessly than even the most chic fashionista! She puts out perfect little buds in late winter before bursting into leaf in Spring. She’s full and lush all Summer long until Autumn arrives and her leaves turn to gold and ‘fall to the ground, fall as from far, Like distant gardens withered in the heavens’ — as the poet Rilke would say.
The bare oak stands silently in the Winter rain (still utterly breathtakingly beautiful even on the wettest most miserable winter morning!) Several long months pass by and then as if by magic, the little green buds appear on her branches, and the cycle begins afresh.
Journal Prompts
Q: What happens to the landscape as the seasons go by in your hometown or city?
Q: What have cycles taught you in your life?
7 Ways You Can Celebrate The Seasons Through Season Syncing
- Use books and the internet to find out when the Equinoxes fall this year and mark them in your diary.
- Pay attention through the year to the changing seasons where you live and work, and note your observations in your journal.
- Create a nature display or ‘alter’ somewhere in your living space. Choose things that are meaningful to you and speak of the season you’re in. These could be items from your home, or things you’ve found while out walking. If you have a small space, you can keep it simple; an acorn placed on the window sill in Autumn perhaps, or a rose next to your bed in Summer. This tip is particularly important for those of us who work in the city, where the signs of seasonal change are often more subtle. Many people took up walking and nature therapy over the last few years, putting seasonal fruit, flowers or plants by your desk can helps us carry on that connection by bringing nature inside with us.
- Prepare or order a meal that reflects the current seasons themes and local produce. For Spring try Veg Confetti. For Autumn I love this this butternut squash stew (so easy, warming and delicious) and these baked apples, which are in season in Autumn here in the UK.
- Tablescape (decorate your table) with seasonal produce and adornments
- Host a seasonal get together or picnic outdoors with friends or colleagues to mark the occasion.
- Choose a seasonal screen saver for your computer or phone. Better still, make a seasonal collage from magazine clippings and put it up next to your desk.
- Go for a short walk each day, even if it’s just a walk around the block for ten minutes. There is something so nice about feeling the changing season in the fresh air. You can read my guide to mindful walking in the city and the country here
Fun Fact: The planets move through 12 astrological ages, each lasting 2,148 years, and that’s known as a precessional cycle.
A Poem For The Equinox
Last but not least, here’s a small poem I wrote inspired by my walks in the Lake District. However you mark the seasonal change, mother nature really is quite astonishing isn’t she?
All This Love
The mountains have a language all
of their own,
the forests are old men tall
on stilts giving counsel,
the river is a crone swooning and
laughing through the landscape
the grasses are tubes of paint
that colour my eyes.
The sun wakes me up
the moon sings me to sleep,
what have I done?
Who have I bribed?
What kind of person have
I been in this life, or any other
to deserve all this
love?
Emma Mills, 2022
Can I Write To You?
