Relentless Rain

My friend over at  getting stuff done: creating my life, posted a great video of Mickey Smith, a surf photographer, he has flipped the camera onto himself and created a video called Dark Side Of The Lens (great title). It got me thinking about my relationship with rain, as today, it is raining, its been relentless.  If it's raining, I tend not to go out if I can help it,  because it's cold, it's wet, it's uninviting, a little dark and just uncomfortable!  But wait, isn't this what Mickey Smith talks about in his video?....and yet he transcends all of this and finds beauty, wildness, life. 

September - it can be beautiful, warm, sunny. Miserable, wet and cold. I find its duality hard.  I feel myself wanting to cling onto the sunny days, celebrating the sunlight, yet find myself slowly being pulled away into the deeper energies of the autumnal equinox. 

On the autumnal equinox, many pagans celebrate Mabon as one of the eight Sabbats (a celebration based on the cycles of the sun). Mabon celebrates the second harvest and the start of winter preparations. It is the time to respect the impending dark while giving thanks to the sunlight.


The pictures I have taken recently have all been about capturing and giving thanks for the sunlight:

Finding myself challenged by Mickey Smith, I wondered if I could step out of my comfort zones and embrace the dark?...the rain?

So I cheated, I took a picture of the rain from inside!

The garden taken from my kitchen window

Gazing back over some old pictures, I surprised myself that I can embrace the darkness, all of these pictures were taken on 31 December 2011, this was my expression of respecting the dark.

And as I sign off, it's still raining.