August and the Relocation of Energy

During August I watch vegetable and flower gardens lose their luster and fruitfulness. Brown, spent stems and leaves slowly replace the vibrant yellows, oranges and greens during earlier growing time, and I sense a different energy taking over. My next task is to pull out, rake up, and compost what provided so much pleasure for a while, for there is no way to breathe life back into them. I wouldn’t think of trying. That energy has been transferred to me as delicious food and pleasant memories of flowers gracing home and yard.

I am aware that another sort of relocation of energy continues to progress, and not just in August. In his new book Living Between Worlds, James Hollis explores our present moment as one in which many of the religious stories, traditions, and spiritual practices we grew up with are no longer helpful to people. He says the energy has left them. I am aware of many (including myself) who feel guilty about that. I see them trying to breathe life back into what they have evolved beyond. Just as I cannot resurrect a July daylily in August, striving to re-energize a treasured past does not often prove fruitful.

How are we, as people desiring to continue our vibrant spirituality, to go forward? To begin, we could get rid of our angst and embrace reality, using our past as compost (gardener’s gold) to nurture whatever is to come, for ours is an amazing evolutionary spiritual journey. Next, Hollis suggests asking this question at the end of every day: What generated a significant amount of energy for me today? We will find guidance for our transition time by doing this inner work, by finding out where the energy has relocated and nurturing it with care.

A closing thought for your reflection:

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43: 18 - 19