To look within

Autumn is a wonderful time of year. I know I expressed my joy and contentment with this phase of the seasonal cycle in my last post......I just can't help myself. September marks a time of many new beginnings........first school days, Rosh Hashanah, Michaelmas, the changing of the seasons from Summer to Autumn and the Full Harvest Moon. This time feels much like a "look within" time. A time to seek out the light within the summers waning and shine it inwards. A time to seek out our "dragons" and tame them anew. A time to replenish all that was given outward and now replenish inward.

Michalemas is upon us, the Festival of Courage, and as I mentioned above this is a wonderful time to seek out our inner dragons; to be courageous in our endeavor to seek out our best selves; to be persistent in our abilities to be loving and inspiring parents and teachers; to realize that the best gift we can give each other and ourselves is to be true to our deepest dreams, to be steadfast in making them a reality, and to be brave enough to share them with the world. The dragons in our lives give us the obstacles we need in order to keep learning and to keep moving upward and onward. If we ignore these dragons they just keep getting stronger.......if we can tame them and acknowledge that they live within us we can learn from them and be peaceful in our ability to grow fully within ourselves.

"Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

 

To help us begin our Micaelmas preparations Charlotte and I made our first ever dragon for our seasonal table. I am not an experienced sewer and having a three month old at home.......well, time seemed to elude us! Thankfully DH was home and he offered a much needed arm and respite to allow for us to complete our project. It did take us ALL DAY but I think if we were able to just sit uninterrupted it wouldn't have taken so long. But there again......

 

I found, quite by accident, this lovely link to a post over at Rhythm of the Home. It is written and contributed by Angela Mobley from The artist, the mom. It is beautiful and pretty clear in its instruction. If you're an avid sewer it should be no problem. If you aren't, like me, you'll find yourself muddling through, but it will prove fruitful in the end!!!

 

 

Here we traced our pattern on our lovely ruddy felt.

 

 

All of our dragon pieces:: feet, gussets, ears, spikes, body, wings

 

 

Charlotte's first turn at the sewing. It proved to be a bit difficult as the felt was rather thick

but she persevered and accomplished quite a bit.

 

 

Our nearly finished dragon about to receive her stuffing:: raw, plant dyed wool

 

 

Our beautiful and already quite beloved Dragon.

She is gentle and kind and loves to fly through our home.

 

 

We now have many dragon-tamers in our home.

 

 

How does your family celebrate Michaelmas? Do you have any practices that you could share in how you acknowledge the dragon within you? How do you tame your inner dragon?

 

 

Wishing you all a lovely season of  looking inward to find the light within you xoxo