Stinging Nettle, naughty and nice

Stinging Nettle is on the right, getting the hug of entwinement from its neighboring Hops, to the left. You can see Nettle's tiny spikes in the photo.

Since it's now Autumn, we see something else in the photo, as well: Nettle seed-heads, clusters of seeds, and they're spiky, too. The stalks are laden with them. A trad use for these was to soak the seeds in warm water for at least 20 minutes, then strain, and use that water as a hair rinse after shampooing, to encourage hair growth and thickness.

I tend to have my closest encounters with Stinging Nettle (Urtica) in the Spring, when it's waking up and full of spiky mischief. It's planted next to the back gate as a Ward, and is very effective - no trespassers! But Nettle's also inclined to reach out for anyone who comes in past it, like a cat who can't resist brushing up against you. Ouch-ouch-ouch!

Nettle is one of the great multi-purpose plants. The dried leaves make a fine nutritious tea, and the leaves make an excellent spring-time soup. Folk wisdom says: Cut the stalks and let them rest and wilt for a few hours - the spikes will fall off and you can handle it better. That said, when I've done this, the spikes stayed on, at least some of them, and my hands got stung like mad as I stripped the leaves from the stalks for soup. Oh, well... The up-side was that I was pain-free for the next couple of days. Nettle is reputed to work on arthritis, which I never thought I had...until I was pain-free. For eating, use young springtime leaves only - the older, late-season leaves can be toxic.

Early fragments of woven material - late Bronze Age, Denmark - have been found to be Nettle. Those long, strong stalks can be treated in the same (labor-intensive) manner as linen or hemp to convert them to fiber for sewing, weaving, and whatever.

Autumn's Equinox

However you like to calculate it, the Autumnal Equinox is here.
Or just past.
Or about to arrive...

The "First Day of Fall" marked on calendars tends to be September 22, which was Saturday. This year, the sky-watching astronomy program I use agrees - the Sun rose due-east and set due-west, a balance-point along the horizon. Hurray, it's autumn! Leaves are changing their colors and putting an evocative scent into the air, a scent that signals change. 

Last night, September 23, brought us a gorgeous Full Moon. Although the Moon's cycle isn't tied to determining the Equinox's date, a Full Moon is always profoundly moving for me. Welcome, Moon!

According to my ephemeris, the Sun enters the constellation of Libra today, September 24. My star-watching program won't agree here, because thanks to the Precession of the Equinoxes, the Sun is actually in the early degrees of Virgo, 2º behind and east of Virgo's top-most star, Zavijava. However... Yippee, it's Fall! The temperatures here in Colorado are distinctly cooler (finally!) and the mornings and evenings are pleasantly temperate, even crisp.

Tomorrow, on September 25, we arrive at the light/dark balance point, when day and night are equal. I'm near Denver, and calculated to my location, tomorrow the Sun will rise at 6:50am and set at 6:50pm. Day and night will each be exactly twelve hours long. Yea, it's Autumn! Leaves changing, evocative aromas in the air, crisp evenings, the last of the zucchini blossoms still filled with bright golden intention to transform into vegetables.

In ancient times, this season was tied to the Eleusinian mysteries, which involved the Demeter-Persephone myth: daughter Persephone or Kore (the Maiden) entering the Underworld, while Demeter (the Mother) withheld Earth's bounty until Her daughter re-emerged in the Spring. For many of us, the coming winter months are also an "inward" time of intense dreaming, in-door projects, snuggling, planning, gestating our own inner "seeds" of the future. In the myth, Kore ate several pomegranate seeds while in the Underworld with Hades, and was therefore obliged to return there for an equal number of months. Depictions of Kore sometimes show Her holding a pomegranate.

Pomegranates, filled with seeds. A good ritual-nibble, delicious symbolic seeds for the future.
What dreams am I gestating?
What seeds am I planting in my heart, in my mind?
How can I best bring these to fruition?

A Simple Moon-Working

Outside, under the night sky, 

Moon overhead,

I speak aloud to Her:

"Mother Moon, Sister Moon,

Daughter Moon, Grandmother Moon,

Moon of myself...

"Thank you for the blessings in my life..."

[anything going well gets a mention]

I pour a libation of whatever I've brought outside - 

wine, tea, water - and leave a small bit of foodstuff -

a bit of bread, a piece of apple -

I say "Thank-you" again 

and wave good-night to the Moon.