Mesmerizing skies of November

November is usually my least favourite month of the year. One reason being that it is often the most “grey” month on the calendar. The beautiful colors of fall are gone, the wonder of winter has often not yet appeared, and it is usually when we are adjusting to the cold of winter season. 

It comes on the heels of Autumn, when we have just gone through the hidden sadness many of us experience in this season, as it signifies endings, dying, and letting go. Being human, many of us have difficulty with these concepts, and it can bring up memories and feelings of things in our lives that have ended, died or that we have had to unwillingly let go of. Grief can creep into the recesses of our hearts, without us really knowing why, and the lengthening darkness, as daylight gives way to night earlier and earlier, can make this transition difficult for many of us.

I feel it too.

That being said, once the splendour and colour of the season of fall is actually upon us, there is so much beauty in it.

As the leaves drop, the hidden things in the forest come into view. Birds nests and wasp nests alike are suddenly in plain site without the the waving flags of leaves to conceal them. Animals can be seen moving about in the forest that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

Beautiful sunrises, now arriving later, are viewed by more of us, and the earlier darkness and later morning light allows us to observe the shifts of twilight slowly evolving. Then suddenly we find ourselves in November.

With 2 young puppies in my life, I have been forced outdoors in the early darkness every day this month. Although staying warm in my bed or even in my studio with a cup of tea is something I yearned for, I have come to love this darkness. I feel a sense of gratitude that I had no choice but to head out into the blackness, because without them I would have stayed home and missed so much. I have come to realize that, although it appears to be black from inside the light of the house, there is so much subtle brilliance in this night.

Things become illuminated from the stars, like tiny twinkle lights, and from the moon, even when it is just a tiny slice of it’s fullness, that casts a veil of silver everywhere, lighting up the sparkling snow. We were so fortunate to witness brilliant northern lights this past month, as an amazing show of wonder, that lit up the skies. The emerging, ever shifting twilight, has become a favourite to watch from Meditation Hill each morning. We have become aquatinted with the differences of astronomical twilight, nautical twilight, and civil twilight (Nautical twilight is my favourite) There is something so unique about watching the light seep into the night, and the stars slowly disappear as the light grows.

This darkness has given me pause to examine my own inner world, that has somehow been illuminated by spending time in the darkness of the outer world. It has given me time to create out of this velvety void of darkness, and to explore from a new perspective.

Even Beecher seems to have come to love this daily ritual of ours, as he is always first to arrive at Meditation Hill, sitting tall and calm, quietly observing the world all around him. In fact it is usually I, who must coax him out of his perfectly content quintessence to continue our walk.

The lesson I have learned in all this is to welcome the darkness as a time of taking pause, of seeing from a new perspective, even though it may seem as though dark shadows are lurking, and you cannot “see” anything.  Eventually the obscured may be illuminated, the hidden comes into full view, and the shadows vanish. Learning to have patience and gratitude, and to stay open to possibilities of what may show itself, is the bonus lesson.

In closing I must say, I am eternally grateful for this land, that not only has gifted me the vantage point of Meditation Hill to witness these mesmerizing skies, but also for the forests that create the infinite colours in fall, the trees that give me shade from the relentless heat of summer, and this earth that allows me to witness the wonders of nature in spring.  This land continues to give me refuge and insight throughout the never ending cycle of seasons, and for that I am thankful, even for the month of November.