The valley wakes under a duvet of mist. The nights are cooler once more, the air rich with moisture.

The forests change, day by day. Going to sleep under bright, saturated green, where light seems to outlast the days, one wakes to an easing of foliage, a slow shedding summer’s glory and we accept a new wisdom, a ripening, a glimpse of rust, an honesty of branch and twig. All that was once so sure, so bright, soon withdraws from our valleys. The light won’t reach as far into the woods now and dusk stretches her inky arms out, to hold the world closer.

We find a new quiet that has us listen to new voices, softer ones, wiser ones, guiding us into a different world, where the stories are passed in the night, revealing new thoughts and truths, against the dark side of the moon.

The forest’s eyes are opening. It watches our every move as we stumble, light-spoilt, into the underbrush, awkward and humble, until our steps ease into this darker time whose riches we discover, day by day, with the falling of the leaves, until a new bright warmth fills us from within.

Samhain has passed and we’re in the realm of withdrawal into the root, the self, the soil. The hours of sun are reduced, but its rays are like flames of candles lit to recall, remember, to reflect. Out of the calm comes new strength. The other half of the moon is only dark until we step across the threshold and see it lit. We harvest our crops just as we take our imagination’s fruits, weigh them, hold them, serve them. The forest floor is covered by past’s treasure and our steps shift shed leaves so they crackle and dance. We can see a new side to what’s not lost, but changing, adding to the earth, fertilising new seeds that gather strength as we take our time to breathe and dream, never knowing what encounters await us on our ramblings through the woods, what will grow wings and take flight to cruise high above the treetops, calling out across our November fields.