From the beginning of August until the end of October, we are in something that is sometimes called the Reaping or Harvesting Tide of the great wheel or cycle of the year (if we are to go by old agricultural cycles). This is a time for gathering in and preparing for the Winter – or the Resting Tide. We then emerge into the Cleansing Tide and on into the Growing Tide, to then Reap and Harvest again and then Resting, thus going through these natural cycles year after year.
Whilst these cycles reflect the agricultural cycles and practices (of which I am not adept and so I am not speaking here as some expert gardener or farmer!), they also reflect other cycles, as we are part of the Nature and the Earth/Gaia (or whatever names and angles you want to take on that). This might mean cycles of your inner life, where you work on your personal growth more intensely in some seasons rather than others. It may mean more focussed and intense study of a subject during some seasons more than others or giving more focussed time and attention to aspects of a project during some seasons more than others, or the planning and brainstorming season being during the Cleansing Tide (a time when we also plant seeds of ideas). It may even be that we spend more time at home (hot chocolate and fluffy sweaters anyone?!) during the Resting Tide.
Just a note on personal growth before we continue: I personally do not believe in pushing it or overly focussing on it. I believe, if we work on presence then growth will happen regardless. I do love a good goal or ten and get very goal oriented, but I have found that when we become more present to life, the goals get met more easily and if they don’t, the frustration is not as much. This also goes for focussing too much on ‘inner stuff’ – I do not mean ignore self-awareness, I mean when it becomes the focus and the ‘thing’. I know this might ruffle the feathers of some (and might come as a relief to others), and I am not saying any ‘shoulds’ here, just my observations and how things have also worked for me.
However, what if the year so far has brought you difficult things in the harvest? What if the abundance is not one of joys and good memories and achievements, but one of an abundance of loss in its many forms, or a new and difficult long illness, for example?
This is how I have been thinking of such things during the this tide of reaping and harvesting, and how I am working with it in my own life:
This year has brought me (and also dear Hannah at our Physis CEPD business too) losses, events and incidents that have been very difficult – there has not as yet been a month where one or both of us have had something particularly difficult happening (I kicked it off with my entire kitchen ceiling collapsing and ruining the kitchen 5 days before Christmas!). There has been death – pet and human; there has been near death and hospitalisation for both Hannah’s nan and my dad (thankfully, both came through and are still alive), there have been issues for me with blood and breast cancer treatments (that are still ongoing), Hannah had covid for 3 weeks too.
This is just the start, and some things are not appropriate to mention to the world. This is not a list of ‘woo is us’, but is just an example of how sometimes, some years, can feel relentless in bringing struggles. However, we know this is not the whole picture! OK, admittedly we have both were afraid of ‘what next?’, but we are also aware of the abundance of some good. Nan and Dad made it and we right now have time with them, I have an excellent Dr who contacted me without me having to call to start me on some treatment if I wanted that (I did and took it), I was gifted a personal stylist and image consultant training course from my Dad and I am loving it and training Hannah up and it is a lovely, creative new thing for her! It is truly something I have loved for years, and I was so grateful when my dad said, ‘choose whichever one you think will serve you best!’
I have also had some baby rats born! OK, it was an accident as I was so exhausted whilst Dad was in hospital and terrified of losing him and my girl rat got to the boys during cleaning and playtime before my reflexes would work! However, these little ones have been exactly what I needed! 7 weeks old today and eating me out of house and home and causing no end of chaos! Having lost five of my boy rats within two months recently, these little ones have been balm to my breaking heart. Can you see the abundance here amidst all the loss and illness?!
This is not the only way I have been approaching it. I have also been reflecting on how an abundance of difficult things can offer us a way forward in making changes in life and creating an abundance of the paths we want to be on or can bring an abundance of presence and growth if we allow that. I have learnt this year, despite more deaths and being aware of my own death, to lean more fully into the abundance of the present moment, to feel the aliveness of the breaths I take, which then brings an awareness of ‘how do I want to spend this time?’. This means drawing more boundaries, especially in this digital age.
I have begun shifting my work further into the areas of styling and the psychology of style and my Enneagram work that I am developing further and moving further away from counselling and psychotherapy work as the core work (Hannah is doing the same too) and knowing it was never meant to be front and centre. I have developed a new coaching programme based on these seasonal tides, so this is an upcoming direction too! I have been really seeing what is around me and stopping and noticing (and this helps my style study too as inspiration for styling is taken from all around us!), and this has fuelled an abundance of ideas and creativity.
I will leave you for now with a few questions to ponder yourself for this Harvesting/Reaping Tide, if you so wish:
- What has been abundant this year for you?
- What gifts has even the darkest times brought or could bring?
- What limiting beliefs might be blocking the road to you receiving the abundance that is there despite circumstances?
There are so many more reflections I could offer you, but, for now, I will leave it there, and just let you see the babies as they reached two weeks old!
Leighah Roni Beadle-Darcy is the Founder (founded 2013) & Co-owner of Physis CEPD Services (formally Physis Arts, Sciences, and Therapies). BA(hons), MA, PG cert, Dip CPC/coun, Dip dance therapy, Cert nutrition, PHCP (MBTI), Certified Enneagram teacher and trainer through the School of Conscious Living. MBACP.