WEBVTT
1
00:00:07.530 --> 00:00:10.619
Welcome to Truth Be Told About Going Wild. I'm your host,
2
00:00:10.699 --> 00:00:13.699
Robert Hensley, and this is the podcast inspired by the
3
00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:17.280
principles of personal rewilding. Today, I'd like to talk to
4
00:00:17.339 --> 00:00:22.239
you about autumn traditions, remembering our place in a seasonal world.
5
00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:26.120
For much of human history, autumn was not simply a
6
00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:29.609
date on the calendar. It was a profound transition in
7
00:00:29.629 --> 00:00:34.979
the living world. The day shortened, temperatures cold, Crops ripened,
8
00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:37.700
animals prepared for winter, and people gathered the food and
9
00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:42.259
materials upon which their communities would depend. Our ancestors experienced
10
00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:45.090
autumn not as a backdrop to human life, but as
11
00:00:45.130 --> 00:00:48.890
an active force that shaped it. It is no coincidence, then,
12
00:00:48.950 --> 00:00:56.159
that so many of our historic autumn traditions center on harvest, gratitude, remembrance, preparation, community,
13
00:00:57.060 --> 00:01:01.340
and the changing light. The autumnal equinox occurs when day
14
00:01:01.399 --> 00:01:05.209
and night are nearly equal. marking a significant turning point
15
00:01:05.349 --> 00:01:10.299
in the seasonal cycle. Across cultures, this period became associated
16
00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:15.040
with harvest festivals and ceremonies of Thanksgiving. In Britain, traditional
17
00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:18.180
harvest festivals brought communities together to celebrate the completion of
18
00:01:18.219 --> 00:01:22.480
the agricultural year. In Japan, the autumn equinox has long
19
00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:25.730
been associated with higan, a period in which some Buddhists
20
00:01:25.849 --> 00:01:31.569
honor ancestors. Across East Asia, the mid-autumn festival developed around
21
00:01:31.689 --> 00:01:35.810
the harvest, the moon, family gatherings, food, and gratitude. These
22
00:01:35.849 --> 00:01:38.930
traditions differ greatly in their histories and meanings, but they
23
00:01:39.310 --> 00:01:43.569
do share one important principle. Human beings are participants in
24
00:01:43.629 --> 00:01:49.299
seasonal cycles larger than themselves. Other autumn traditions acknowledged a
25
00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.340
deeper transition, The Gaelic festival of Samhain marked the end
26
00:01:53.420 --> 00:01:55.599
of the harvest and the beginning of a darker half
27
00:01:55.640 --> 00:01:59.439
of the year. It is associated with communal fires and
28
00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:03.030
in later traditions with remembrance and the thinning of the
29
00:02:03.060 --> 00:02:06.769
boundaries between the living and the spirit world. Even contemporary
30
00:02:06.810 --> 00:02:11.889
Thanksgiving retains elements of this older harvest pattern. The 1621
31
00:02:11.889 --> 00:02:16.849
gathering at Plymouth involved a harvest festival, three days, that
32
00:02:16.870 --> 00:02:21.500
were shared by colonists and Wampanoag people although the history
33
00:02:21.539 --> 00:02:24.949
surrounding that event is considerably more complicated than the simplified
34
00:02:25.030 --> 00:02:28.090
national story that developed later. How do we bring these
35
00:02:28.129 --> 00:02:31.610
traditions home? We do not need to reproduce historical ceremonies
36
00:02:31.949 --> 00:02:36.129
exactly in order to recover their deeper meaning. Instead, we
37
00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:38.860
can ask what those traditions were responding to and how
38
00:02:38.939 --> 00:02:42.900
those responses might still be relevant. We can eat seasonally.
39
00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:45.840
Preparing meals from autumn foods and paying attention to where
40
00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:50.189
they came from We can preserve food, gather seeds, make soup,
41
00:02:50.330 --> 00:02:53.469
bake bread, and share the harvest of a garden. We
42
00:02:53.490 --> 00:02:57.150
can spend time outdoors noticing the changing leaves, the migration
43
00:02:57.169 --> 00:03:01.389
of the birds, cooler temperatures, earlier sunsets, and the preparations
44
00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:05.629
that other species are making for winter. We can also
45
00:03:05.689 --> 00:03:10.349
create contemporary rituals of gratitude and remembrance. An autumn gathering
46
00:03:10.389 --> 00:03:13.469
might include a shared meal, a walk through a local landscape,
47
00:03:13.569 --> 00:03:17.289
and telling family stories. or just a moment of appreciation
48
00:03:17.349 --> 00:03:20.909
for the people, plants, animals, soil, water, and labor that
49
00:03:20.949 --> 00:03:26.560
made the meal possible. Perhaps the most important thing is
50
00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:30.319
that autumn invites us to practice letting go. Trees do
51
00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:33.199
not cling onto their leaves just because they became familiar.
52
00:03:34.379 --> 00:03:38.479
The natural world demonstrates that change, decline, dormancy, and renewal
53
00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:41.699
are not failures but necessary parts of a larger cycle.
54
00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:46.110
This is where historic autumn traditions can be meaningful Their
55
00:03:46.150 --> 00:03:49.669
value is not merely in preserving older customs, it is
56
00:03:49.729 --> 00:03:55.280
in recovering an older way of paying attention, to celebrate awareness.
57
00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:58.900
We can celebrate the harvest without pretending that we live
58
00:03:58.939 --> 00:04:01.879
in an agrarian village. We can gather around a fire
59
00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:05.240
without imagining ourselves to be ancient Celts. We can honor
60
00:04:05.319 --> 00:04:09.840
our ancestors without romanticizing the past. We mark the equinox
61
00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:13.159
simply by going outside and noticing that the world has changed.
62
00:04:14.169 --> 00:04:18.290
The essential practice is relationship. Autumn reminds us that we
63
00:04:18.329 --> 00:04:21.279
are not separate from the seasons. We are biological beings
64
00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:25.519
living within cycles of light and darkness, abundance and scarcity,
65
00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:30.740
growth and decay. Our ancestors developed traditions that helped them
66
00:04:30.779 --> 00:04:34.220
remember this reality, and we can do the same. By
67
00:04:34.279 --> 00:04:40.329
consciously observing autumn through food, gathering, gratitude, storytelling, stewardship, remembrance,
68
00:04:40.430 --> 00:04:44.410
and time outdoors, We turn seasonal change from something that
69
00:04:44.709 --> 00:04:47.649
merely happens around us into something that we participate in.
70
00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:51.819
In doing so, an old tradition becomes a contemporary practice.
71
00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.420
Remembering that we belong to the living world and allowing
72
00:04:56.459 --> 00:04:59.839
the rhythms of the world to shape how we live.
73
00:04:59.860 --> 00:05:03.399
I want to thank you so much for listening today. Again,
74
00:05:03.459 --> 00:05:05.740
this is an episode of Truth Be Told about going
75
00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:09.120
wild with me, your host, Robert Hensley. Remember that there
76
00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:11.860
are two opportunities each week for new content from the
77
00:05:11.899 --> 00:05:15.399
Truth Be Told family of podcasts on the Club Paranormal
78
00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:18.740
channel on YouTube. That's Tony Sweet on Fridays with the
79
00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:21.720
original Truth Be Told. And of course, Truth Be Told
80
00:05:21.740 --> 00:05:24.500
about going wild on Mondays. Both of those shows go
81
00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:27.920
live at 3 p.m. Pacific, 6 Eastern on their respective days.
82
00:05:29.500 --> 00:05:32.209
If you have questions, comments, concerns, or would like to
83
00:05:32.259 --> 00:05:36.329
know more about what I'm working on, please visit my website.
84
00:05:36.649 --> 00:05:45.339
You can find me at www.rhnaturereconnect.com. Again, that's www.rhnaturereconnect. I
85
00:05:45.379 --> 00:05:47.420
would love to hear from you. Happy to talk to
86
00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:50.699
anyone about personal rewilding and what it means to rekindle
87
00:05:50.779 --> 00:05:54.509
our relationship with the natural world. And you can also
88
00:05:54.550 --> 00:05:58.430
find me on Patreon. You can subscribe to my personal
89
00:05:58.490 --> 00:06:02.860
Rewilding with Robert Hensley community there. It's free. If you'd
90
00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:07.300
like more exclusive content each month, you can also become
91
00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:13.110
an exclusive Going Wild member for $ 15 a month. Thanks again,
92
00:06:13.389 --> 00:06:14.569
and until next time.
1
00:00:07.530 --> 00:00:10.619
Welcome to Truth Be Told About Going Wild. I'm your host,
2
00:00:10.699 --> 00:00:13.699
Robert Hensley, and this is the podcast inspired by the
3
00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:17.280
principles of personal rewilding. Today, I'd like to talk to
4
00:00:17.339 --> 00:00:22.239
you about autumn traditions, remembering our place in a seasonal world.
5
00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:26.120
For much of human history, autumn was not simply a
6
00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:29.609
date on the calendar. It was a profound transition in
7
00:00:29.629 --> 00:00:34.979
the living world. The day shortened, temperatures cold, Crops ripened,
8
00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:37.700
animals prepared for winter, and people gathered the food and
9
00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:42.259
materials upon which their communities would depend. Our ancestors experienced
10
00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:45.090
autumn not as a backdrop to human life, but as
11
00:00:45.130 --> 00:00:48.890
an active force that shaped it. It is no coincidence, then,
12
00:00:48.950 --> 00:00:56.159
that so many of our historic autumn traditions center on harvest, gratitude, remembrance, preparation, community,
13
00:00:57.060 --> 00:01:01.340
and the changing light. The autumnal equinox occurs when day
14
00:01:01.399 --> 00:01:05.209
and night are nearly equal. marking a significant turning point
15
00:01:05.349 --> 00:01:10.299
in the seasonal cycle. Across cultures, this period became associated
16
00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:15.040
with harvest festivals and ceremonies of Thanksgiving. In Britain, traditional
17
00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:18.180
harvest festivals brought communities together to celebrate the completion of
18
00:01:18.219 --> 00:01:22.480
the agricultural year. In Japan, the autumn equinox has long
19
00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:25.730
been associated with higan, a period in which some Buddhists
20
00:01:25.849 --> 00:01:31.569
honor ancestors. Across East Asia, the mid-autumn festival developed around
21
00:01:31.689 --> 00:01:35.810
the harvest, the moon, family gatherings, food, and gratitude. These
22
00:01:35.849 --> 00:01:38.930
traditions differ greatly in their histories and meanings, but they
23
00:01:39.310 --> 00:01:43.569
do share one important principle. Human beings are participants in
24
00:01:43.629 --> 00:01:49.299
seasonal cycles larger than themselves. Other autumn traditions acknowledged a
25
00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.340
deeper transition, The Gaelic festival of Samhain marked the end
26
00:01:53.420 --> 00:01:55.599
of the harvest and the beginning of a darker half
27
00:01:55.640 --> 00:01:59.439
of the year. It is associated with communal fires and
28
00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:03.030
in later traditions with remembrance and the thinning of the
29
00:02:03.060 --> 00:02:06.769
boundaries between the living and the spirit world. Even contemporary
30
00:02:06.810 --> 00:02:11.889
Thanksgiving retains elements of this older harvest pattern. The 1621
31
00:02:11.889 --> 00:02:16.849
gathering at Plymouth involved a harvest festival, three days, that
32
00:02:16.870 --> 00:02:21.500
were shared by colonists and Wampanoag people although the history
33
00:02:21.539 --> 00:02:24.949
surrounding that event is considerably more complicated than the simplified
34
00:02:25.030 --> 00:02:28.090
national story that developed later. How do we bring these
35
00:02:28.129 --> 00:02:31.610
traditions home? We do not need to reproduce historical ceremonies
36
00:02:31.949 --> 00:02:36.129
exactly in order to recover their deeper meaning. Instead, we
37
00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:38.860
can ask what those traditions were responding to and how
38
00:02:38.939 --> 00:02:42.900
those responses might still be relevant. We can eat seasonally.
39
00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:45.840
Preparing meals from autumn foods and paying attention to where
40
00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:50.189
they came from We can preserve food, gather seeds, make soup,
41
00:02:50.330 --> 00:02:53.469
bake bread, and share the harvest of a garden. We
42
00:02:53.490 --> 00:02:57.150
can spend time outdoors noticing the changing leaves, the migration
43
00:02:57.169 --> 00:03:01.389
of the birds, cooler temperatures, earlier sunsets, and the preparations
44
00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:05.629
that other species are making for winter. We can also
45
00:03:05.689 --> 00:03:10.349
create contemporary rituals of gratitude and remembrance. An autumn gathering
46
00:03:10.389 --> 00:03:13.469
might include a shared meal, a walk through a local landscape,
47
00:03:13.569 --> 00:03:17.289
and telling family stories. or just a moment of appreciation
48
00:03:17.349 --> 00:03:20.909
for the people, plants, animals, soil, water, and labor that
49
00:03:20.949 --> 00:03:26.560
made the meal possible. Perhaps the most important thing is
50
00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:30.319
that autumn invites us to practice letting go. Trees do
51
00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:33.199
not cling onto their leaves just because they became familiar.
52
00:03:34.379 --> 00:03:38.479
The natural world demonstrates that change, decline, dormancy, and renewal
53
00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:41.699
are not failures but necessary parts of a larger cycle.
54
00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:46.110
This is where historic autumn traditions can be meaningful Their
55
00:03:46.150 --> 00:03:49.669
value is not merely in preserving older customs, it is
56
00:03:49.729 --> 00:03:55.280
in recovering an older way of paying attention, to celebrate awareness.
57
00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:58.900
We can celebrate the harvest without pretending that we live
58
00:03:58.939 --> 00:04:01.879
in an agrarian village. We can gather around a fire
59
00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:05.240
without imagining ourselves to be ancient Celts. We can honor
60
00:04:05.319 --> 00:04:09.840
our ancestors without romanticizing the past. We mark the equinox
61
00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:13.159
simply by going outside and noticing that the world has changed.
62
00:04:14.169 --> 00:04:18.290
The essential practice is relationship. Autumn reminds us that we
63
00:04:18.329 --> 00:04:21.279
are not separate from the seasons. We are biological beings
64
00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:25.519
living within cycles of light and darkness, abundance and scarcity,
65
00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:30.740
growth and decay. Our ancestors developed traditions that helped them
66
00:04:30.779 --> 00:04:34.220
remember this reality, and we can do the same. By
67
00:04:34.279 --> 00:04:40.329
consciously observing autumn through food, gathering, gratitude, storytelling, stewardship, remembrance,
68
00:04:40.430 --> 00:04:44.410
and time outdoors, We turn seasonal change from something that
69
00:04:44.709 --> 00:04:47.649
merely happens around us into something that we participate in.
70
00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:51.819
In doing so, an old tradition becomes a contemporary practice.
71
00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.420
Remembering that we belong to the living world and allowing
72
00:04:56.459 --> 00:04:59.839
the rhythms of the world to shape how we live.
73
00:04:59.860 --> 00:05:03.399
I want to thank you so much for listening today. Again,
74
00:05:03.459 --> 00:05:05.740
this is an episode of Truth Be Told about going
75
00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:09.120
wild with me, your host, Robert Hensley. Remember that there
76
00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:11.860
are two opportunities each week for new content from the
77
00:05:11.899 --> 00:05:15.399
Truth Be Told family of podcasts on the Club Paranormal
78
00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:18.740
channel on YouTube. That's Tony Sweet on Fridays with the
79
00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:21.720
original Truth Be Told. And of course, Truth Be Told
80
00:05:21.740 --> 00:05:24.500
about going wild on Mondays. Both of those shows go
81
00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:27.920
live at 3 p.m. Pacific, 6 Eastern on their respective days.
82
00:05:29.500 --> 00:05:32.209
If you have questions, comments, concerns, or would like to
83
00:05:32.259 --> 00:05:36.329
know more about what I'm working on, please visit my website.
84
00:05:36.649 --> 00:05:45.339
You can find me at www.rhnaturereconnect.com. Again, that's www.rhnaturereconnect. I
85
00:05:45.379 --> 00:05:47.420
would love to hear from you. Happy to talk to
86
00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:50.699
anyone about personal rewilding and what it means to rekindle
87
00:05:50.779 --> 00:05:54.509
our relationship with the natural world. And you can also
88
00:05:54.550 --> 00:05:58.430
find me on Patreon. You can subscribe to my personal
89
00:05:58.490 --> 00:06:02.860
Rewilding with Robert Hensley community there. It's free. If you'd
90
00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:07.300
like more exclusive content each month, you can also become
91
00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:13.110
an exclusive Going Wild member for $ 15 a month. Thanks again,
92
00:06:13.389 --> 00:06:14.569
and until next time.
