The Nudge | Dispatch 7 | Equinox 2022
Welcome to The Nudge | Autumn Equinox 2022
This seasonal care package has been prepared by the team at The Trailblazery.
“Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
fluttering from the autumn tree".
Emily Brontë
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to prepare our latest care package for you, The Nudge, as we approach the Autumn Equinox. The Equinox is celebrated halfway between the Celtic festivals of Lughnasa and Samhain and this year, it falls on Friday September 23rd . We are now moving away from autumn and the season of Lughnasa and spiraling toward winter, the season of Samhain and the Celtic New Year.
Equinox means equal and marks the time of equal day and night, equal light and dark. The festival marks the end of the harvest and completion of agricultural work that began at Imbolc. As the last of the harvest was gathered and stored and the tools were put away, the ancestors honoured the transition from fertility and action to fallowness and inaction. Pausing to complete, wind up and close showed their reverence to the ending part of any cycle. This time also marks the beginning of the final descent toward the year’s end at Samhain. This period between autumn equinox and Samhain is understood as a “breathing out” time, as the end of the cycle approaches.
This is a time of release, a time to prepare for the coming of the dark half of the year (giamos), where action must be muted and the light must eventually yield to darkness. From this moment, the outward expansive masculine energies will noticeably weaken and the inward descending dark feminine energies will become dominant.
Journal Prompts to inspire you at Autumn Equinox:
🌿 How are opposites forces are showing up in your life at the moment?
🌿 Where might you find more harmony?
🌿 What thresholds are you being invited to cross over?
🌿 What is coming to completion in your life at this time?
🌿 What are you grateful for?
🌿 What are you letting go of?
🌿 What will resource you as the dark winter approaches?
🌿 What 3 practices could you commit to for the upcoming season, to find a
deeper connection to the season of winter and your place in it?
Live at Meitheal
Wednesday, 21 September
7pm - 8pm Irish Standard Time (IST)
We will be celebrating the upcoming Autumn Equinox with a FREE online gathering, led by Siobhán de Paor (Poet, Writer & Founder of Wild Irish Retreats). This special event called “Crossing the Threshold | Ag Trasnú an Tairseach”. will take place inside our community memberspace Meitheal and we would be delighted to welcome you, our extended tuatha - for a sneak peak
It promises to be an evening of comhrá agus craic and will be hosted by Kathy Scott (Hedge School Founder). No need to register! Just join the event by clicking on the button below
What’s coming up over the next
6 weeks at The Trailblazery:
As the Great Wheel turns yet again, we are invited to pause and remember what we have traveled through together. We are excited to let you know what we have coming up for you over the next 6 weeks here at The Trailblazery:
Join us for Scoil Scairte: Autumn Semester
We were delighted to launch the upcoming Autumn semester of
Scoil Scairte. This series will run from October 6 - December 1, 2022
Scoil Scairte is the Irish School you always dreamed of guided by a host of inspiring bilingual multidisciplinary artists, activists, creatives, educators, culture makers and indigenous language keepers. This 9-week voyage of discovery invites people to gather together online to explore, experience and learn about Irish culture, heritage and language in a global learning community. Live sessions will take place every Thursday (Oct 6 - Dec 1) at 7pm-8.30pm Ireland time, with an optional bonus hour of comhrá agus craic in our private community space Meitheal every Tuesday (Oct 11 - Nov 19).
For more info and to book your place, visit here on our website
Hedge School presents an evening with Ajeet
Join the wonderful Ajeet for an evening in the ambient, meditative space of Christ Church Cathedral in the heart of Dublin, for a truly original musical journey. Ajeet’s music is often described as healing, transporting and as offering a moment of peace in a fast moving world.
Join us at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on Saturday, October 22 at 8.30pm, for this once off opportunity that you won’t want to miss.
For more info and to book your ticket, visit here on our website
Our monthly online gatherings aligns with the lunar cycle and the Medicine Wheel of the Year. We meet around every Full Moon and welcome inspiring guest luminaries to share her story, experience and wisdom with us. We also invite extraordinary musicians and performers to play at our gatherings. This is an opportunity to illuminate and celebrate our creative life force and sovereignty.
Tickets for our October Moon Medicine online gathering will go on sale on Friday, 23 September. Cost is €25.
We offer a limited number of free spots each month for those who need it.
If you haven’t already, you can sign up to our Moon Medicine mailing list here to be informed of all upcoming events.
Recommended Resources
Here are a few reading, watching and listening pieces to nourish your senses in the days ahead:
♪ Listen: For your ears
Check out Ajeet’s gorgeous song “Blooming”, the title track taken from her upcoming tour.
✦ Taste: For your lips
The following herbs and berries are ideal to include in immune boostin syrups for the season ahead: Elderberry, hawthorn berry, rosehips, thyme leaf, ginger root, licorice root
Elderberry Syrup recipe here
✯ Watch:For your eyes
Find a sneak peak of one of Manchán’s episodes of the Focail agus Fís film series exclusive to Scoil Scairte here
❤ Read: For your heart
Hagitude, is Sharon Blackie’s third nonfiction book. It explores the powerful archetypes of elder women in European myth, fairy tales and folklore as a focus for navigating the challenges and opportunities which women face during the second half of their lives. The book is aimed at women who are looking to break out of negative cultural stereotypes about menopausal and post-menopausal women, and so find continued growth, meaning and authenticity all the way through their last decades.
Hagitude “Reclaiming the Second Half of Life” by Sharon Blackie
✬ Connect: For your Soul
Check out this fascinating podcast where Rich Roll interviews renowned speaker and bestselling author on trauma and addiction, Dr. Gabor Maté about the release of his new book, The Myth of Normal, which examines the true causes of illness, the many ways in which our society breeds disease, and the pathway to health and well-being.
EnJOY these days - may the fading light be yours.
Thank you for walking this path with us,
Beannachtaí agus Beir Bua
Kathy and all at The Trailblazery
