Taken from Rachel Patterson's 'Grimoire of a Kitchen Witch' published by Moon Books
The link to the guided meditation can be found here
Make yourself comfortable, close your eyes and focus on your breathing, deep breaths in... deep breaths out...
As your world around you dissipates, you find yourself standing on a footpath in the middle of a large forest, there is a chill in the air but the sun is shining.
All around you are beautiful trees dressed in their autumn foliage, so many wonderful colours - oranges, red, yellows, browns and greens, it is breathtaking!
You start to walk along the pathway, which is strewn with fallen leaves of every colour. You can feel the change in the air, the autumn chill. There are trees of every species.
As you walk, you look around you, taking in the colours and the size and shape of all the trees, you also look on the ground and see fallen nuts and seeds, something in the undergrowth catches your eye and you bend down to pick it up. It is a gift from Mother Nature for you, take it with you and ponder on its message to you later.
Suddenly, something darts across the pathway and shoots up the trunk of a tree. You stop and stand very still looking to see what it was. As you look into the boughs of the tree, you see a squirrel, its cheeks stuffed full to bursting with something that it has taken to hide away for the winter. You watch as it stashes away its hoard - it looks like acorns.
You stand a while and watch the squirrel work, thinking about your own abundance and blessings and what you will look forward to over the winter months. Think about the things that you have finished with and can move on from, then about the projects and new directions you can take over winter, when the days are shorter and the evening are dark..
You see the squirrel dart back down the tree and scoot across the pathway again and he has gone... disappeared into the trees, no doubt to collect more acorns.
You carry on walking down the pathway for a while, stopping every so often to connect with a tree, putting your hands out to touch the bark and feeling the energy of each tree, each one individual and different. Thanking the tree as you leave it.
When you are ready, take one last look around at the autumn beauty the woodland has to offer and then slowly and gently come back to this reality.
Wriggling your fingers and toes and stretching your arms and legs, open your eyes...
What gift did Mother Nature give you? What message did you receive..?
Photo by Sebastian Unrau on Unsplash