It's Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and Spring in the Southern, so it seems that the Earth element is a good one to focus on for both seasons... What do you do to celebrate the earth element? Some of mine are... Grounding.. (sitting on a chair, with feet flat on the floor, finding your center... for most people it's between their navel and tailbone, and imagining roots going down from your base chakra and your feet) Earthing Walking barefoot both inside and out (most floors are made of wood, an earth item) Gardening.. planting seeds, harvesting produce, cutting flowers) Wearing earth colors such as black, green, brown, gold, beige, red. Working with crystals Using salt in spells and rituals Buying produce at a local Farmer's Market Walking in a park, on a beach, in a forest Working with clay Drumming Knot tying and macrame Bring plants, flowers and wood items into your living environment Creating with rocks Making or building an altar Baking bread (wheat is an earth element and ovens were originally made from clay) Painting (colors of paint were once made of earth elements)
My favorite thing to do is play in the leaves. Leaf piles are not safe near me I'm concerned this season since the leaves are very slow to turn. I've been watching the trees in my neighborhood for years now and I've found that they are not regular in their changes (yes, I do think it is a matter of climate change). I collect branches that fall during storms. The trees in my area seem to be very weak, or unhealthy. Sad. Yes, for me it's the trees and leaves. And anything Pumpkin! I'm going to use empty gallons to make "spirit lanterns" to decorate outside, make my neighbors happy.
Oh, yeah... how could I forget leaves... You are right... the leaves here don't seem to be changing the bright colors they should be changing to. Our weather has been perfect for fall colors... And pumpkins... I knew others would come with some great ideas. I love your lanterns....
I'm curious, where on Earth are you? In 2013, the trees here in New England (some of them) bloomed in their autumn colors. Wildest thing I've ever seen. The lanterns are cute, aren't they lol. I have some orange paint .. might make some pumpkin gallons, too.
I'm in the northwest corner of Washington state... Orange lanterns would be cute... and you could use them over and over again... a good way to recycle.
I used to live in a cabin when out near Yosemite. Now I have a rather large home on 8 wooded acres, can't be seen from the road. It's brick and redwood, so I wouldn't technically call it a "cabin". There's a lot of glass so even inside looks out into nature. When your "church" is the woods, living there, if you can, just makes sense. It's a lot of work though, but isn't that part of it?
Your house sounds very cool.... I live in the sticks, but it's growing way to fast. I still have a view of the water in front and woods in back. My house also has a lot of big windows with coverings to bring in the trees, sky, and water views. I tried living in town once, for a short time. It didn't work very well...
