Autumn Equinox Satsang
In observance of the Autumn Equinox, we held a satsang. A satsang is a gathering of a spiritual nature, often entailing a combination of modes of worship such as poetry, music, mantra, meditation, and ritual. The way we practice aligns with the seasons, taking lessons from Nature that guide our spiritual practice. Autumn is a time of transition from the light of summer into the darkness of winter. In the Northwoods, we observe autumn in the movements of animals like insects, birds, and amphibians, the changing colors of trees and other plants, flowers going to seed, and the emergence of many, many mushrooms. We see mushrooms throughout the warm months, but in autumn they peak as the forest floor, deep in nutrients from the dissolving life of summer, becomes a rich haven of cultivation. This process has much to teach us.
We began our satsang with a mindfulness walk through the woods. Our trail isn’t very long, but it passes through several micro-biomes including bogs, elevated ground with conifers, and different symbiotic relationships between tree, fungi, birds, insects, and other beings. I guided our group to look, listen, touch, and smell autumn. In terms of taste, we focused on the bhava or mood evoked by the experience. Afterwards, we spent a candlelit evening in our little temple, focusing our worship on Maa Kali. There is no end to Her lessons, so this time we focused on Maa’s expansive nature as reflected in Her form. We chanted Her mantra, sang Her gayatri and other songs praising Her, and began the work of the season. Winter, still and serene (though not entirely devoid of life) is a time of rest and reflection, and so in this time of transition we see the opportunity to begin that reflection with Maa Kali’s guidance. She is Karālavadanāh, meaning that Her shape and size cannot be determined due to Her infinite Nature. So great, the directions themselves are Her clothes, and so She is often depicted with jet-black skin and mostly naked. This speaks to the unknown and the understanding that despite our best efforts, we cannot control life, and this can be frightening. Her ferocity speaks to Her treatment of all that threatens Her children, even and perhaps especially when it comes from their own minds. Yet She leads us into the shadows, into the unknown within ourselves, through which we discover Her beauty and true radiance in the experience of Her love as the Divine Mother.
By focusing on aligning with the season and supported by our practice, we explore these shadows in stages toward the facilitation of our own healing and growth. This is a process built from our experience, and will evolve for every different person. In the November full moon, when we have another satsang around a different central theme, we’ll offer the fruit of that inner work in a ritual of release.
Afterward the satsang, we enjoyed a meal of seasonal local food, which had been an offering. Of special note is the wild rice (manoomin in Anishinaabemowin, the Ojibwe language). It served as the base of our meal and was cultivated by the people of the Red Lake Nation, to whom we offer our humble thanks. You can visit their store and get your own here. We encourage all to buy indigenous and local (best of all, local indigenous) as often as possible.
Food is an important aspect of our worship, as it is in India. Certain foods hold different meanings, like coconuts, rice, turmeric, or ghee (clarified butter), and here food connects us to the land that nurtures us as well as the people who have stewarded it for generations. By buying and eating local, we honor that heritage and resist the harmful and disruptive practices of factory farming, monocultures, and capitalistic hierarchies that revolve around profit. For this reason we held a potluck several days after the satsang - as an act of resistance against the commodification of our and other traditions, and our planet.
Autumn grounds us, slowing down the wild dance of summer and encouraging reflection on that time of activity. It gives us a chance to observe and honor Death in this cycle, also connected to Maa Kali, helping us to lose our fear of it. Death often seems to encourage us to remember what really matters, how much of what we hold onto is merely about the desire for control and the ignorance of egotism. In our experience, Maa Kali helps us develop the trust and courage to turn toward that egotism. This creates space between being and doing, allowing us to follow those thoughts and emotions to their core, which almost always reveals some unmet need of healing. Now, with compassion, we can address that need for healing and prevent thoughtless reaction that ends up perpetuating our pain and projecting it onto others. In doing so we discover true freedom and joy, and we experience this truth in Maa Kali.
This work helps prepare us for the stillness of winter, wherein we’ll gently but diligently continue that inner work. When we lose our fear of the shadow, ignorance and delusion can no longer hide. It is a task of both fearless resolve and patient kindness, both strong and gentle, both fierce and loving. Like Maa Kali.