Reminiscing

About the time September rolls around, I am feeling Fall in the air. I don't use an alarm clock, and by now I'm rising closer to 6 in the morning than 5. Technically it's still Summer, but for weeks this year I've smelled the seasonal change coming. And this time of year always makes me a bit sentimental as I reminisce.

Why do we do that? Why do we look back at this time of year more than others? I guess there is something to that "fall back" phrase. It's something visceral.

My mother used to subscribe to a magazine called "Reminisce." The magazine ceased publication in 2023. The word is defined as a verb, "to indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events." The magazine was chock full of stories and pictures from the past, specifically the 1930s through the 1970s. My mom was also someone who kept multitudes of family photos on her walls.

I am different. I don't reminisce in the same way, but I do enjoy imagining life in a different time. It's what makes history so interesting to me. How did people live in past times, when there were not computers or mobile phones, or even "desk jobs"?

In August I took a train trip back to New England and then on to Virginia. I stayed for two nights in a small town, Clifton Forge, at the Red Lantern Inn. I hope you click on the link to get a little jaunt down memory lane- or at least to another time. While there, in my own space and time, I fully indulged in the infusion of paraphernalia from another era, not only at the inn, but walking the streets of downtown and visiting the C & O Railway Heritage Center. A bit of a train buff, I signed right up and hope to return!

There is a sense in reminiscing, of visiting a different reality. Stepping back in time is a shamanic exercise of sorts. It's an opportunity to see from a different perspective, to experience life and the world around from a new vantage point. Reminiscing is an opportunity not just to remember, but to examine the past, your own past, with more experience and wisdom.

Shamanic practice done regularly brings new perspective on Ordinary Reality. Regular practice brings a deep and abiding sense of wisdom gained through experience- not just day to day experience in Ordinary, but the enhanced experience of visiting Non Ordinary Reality and communing with Beings we do not observe with our five Ordinary Reality senses.

In this season I invite us all to explore new landscapes while at the same time indulging in our enjoyable recollections. May this season be filled with deep and abiding blessings.