autumn mornings

Is there anything more wonderful than a bright autumn morning? 

I love this time of year, the crisp, cool - sometimes cold - morning air gives me energy to accomplish my daily tasks.  However, there is a sadness to this time of year, as society remembers the Salem Witch Trials and the gruesome history of religions who killed witches - the wise (mostly) women of their day.  Even today, there are places where people (in the name of their god or their fears) are killing "witches.'  So many that I even a found a blog, Hawkafrica, - there's probably more than one - it's amazing what you can find when you start 'Googling.'

My own opinion about this is folks have someone they do not like, someone they don't want around anymore, or someone they are envious of and so they label that person a witch and set about getting rid of them.  My history studies have led me to believe that many of the women killed long ago were just wise women that people in their town turned to for advice and the "church" became jealous of their knowledge and power so the church leaders labeled them "a witch" and this allowed them to be disposed of in the name of a god.  These witches were probably just like me - they had a disbelief in an impotent god and they knew they had the power / knowledge in themselves to get things done. 

What am I getting done today?  I am (finally) making me a witch hat.  Yes, a pointed beauty that I can wear on Halloween to greet my many visitors.  And, yes, I'll probably wear it other times when the moon and the mood are right.  I found a colorful one years ago and tried it on, it fit like it was made for me and Adam, who was with me at the time, said, "Mom, you should get that - - it looks like YOU."  But I didn't.  Because of my religious training, I had this tape that played in my head NO WITCH...NO WITCHES...NO WITCHY THINGS... NO WITCH...  Funny thing, witchy stuff just seems attracted to me.  As  I sit here typing away in my family room I can see a few gifts I've been given in the last couple of years that would make any witch proud.  Friends from Texas gave me a Christmas ornament - a beautiful pentagram "Texas Star."  (It's still out on the mantle because I couldn't find the box it came in to put it away after Christmas... and it looks so 'cute' hanging there for all the world to see and yet no one seems to recognize.)  A school mascot gnome that my sister in law sent to me (us) at the start of football season - for luck!   The carved face of a green man - carved in Germany, out of an oak tree - there are still bits of bark on him and he's beautiful (a gift from my husband because he 'just knew' I would like this silly thing because I'm "always in the garden..."), an apple pin from a friend who knows I collect apples (yes, I've always harbored the notion that Eve - the first woman mentioned in the Christian Bible - got a bad rap). 

Now these things may not say 'witch' to you, but they speak to me and that is what counts. 

I've always loved the expression "When the student is ready, the teacher will come."   Maybe it is true that when we are ready to accept ourselves and what we really are we can look around and see that we have been preparing for this all along.

So now, I'm ready for that hat, I've earned it, and yes, it is very me.

~ Sam

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