Harvesting Gratitude
Tomorrow is the Autumn Equinox, a time we seek balance in our lives as we stand at the threshold between the light half of the year and the dark half, and a time to appreciate the harvest – reaping whatever we have sown this year.
Today I give thanks for my wonderful job here at Llewellyn. Sure, it has its ups and downs, like all jobs – that’s just part of the balancing act that is life – but there is nothing like the feeling of holding a new book in your hands. It is the fruit of many months of labor, many long meetings, a few road bumps, much communication with the author, and piles of paperwork. Yet, somehow, there it is, the collective work of many people coming together in material form, fresh from the warehouse – and it is magical.
Last week I reaped the rewards of a combined 24 months of work, 10 separate meetings, and an untold number of emails and phone calls – with the arrival of two books written by authors who are very dear to me. It really made me pause in an otherwise excessively non-stop busy day, and just smile as I flipped through the pages. I’m sure that authors feel even more emotional about receiving their books, but it’s a great and rewarding feeling for me too – no matter how many new books have landed on my desk, it’s always exciting.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to infomercial out on you – I will just tell you the books that arrived yesterday are Book of Witchery by Ellen Dugan and The Witch’s Coin by Christopher Penczak. If you’re interested, click on the links or watch for them in bookstores about a month from now. (Distribution takes time, you know!)
As a company, Llewellyn is also reaping the rewards of long months, if not years, of work in developing this new website which will be our virtual home for many years to come. We are grateful that it’s beautiful, easy to navigate, and of course gives us this excellent opportunity to connect with our readers directly through these blogs.
What will you be reaping this Mabon? What makes you smile inside with a satisfied sense of accomplishment? Please share your happy thoughts and reasons for being grateful here. Did you buy a house? Have a baby? Plant an organic garden? Save a cat from a shelter? Finally get up the guts to tell someone how you feel? Think of this as an online gratitude journal for Pagans, and share your joy here with others!
Thank you for the opportunity to share our gratitude here. It’s a perfect place for me to organize my thoughts prior to my Equinox celebration. 🙂
I am grateful for my darling daughter who was born Feb 1 this year. Healthy and thriving, she is the joy of my life. All Spring and Summer we have been using sign language when we speak with her, and just yesterday she started signing back! Pay-off, big time!! (Her speech is normal, lots of babytalk as well.)
I intend to continue with the sign language while devoting more time to my daughter and less time to electronic communication devices while she is alert. She deserves my undivided attention.
I have been working very hard this year to look inside of myself and better the person that I am. I was recently handfasted to the love of my life! It took place on our 5 year anniversary in front of all of our family and friends! Within my pagan group I have gone from being the new girl to the Lunar Priestess to an assistant organizer. I am so grateful that there are so many great resources for me to learn and grow. I am excited to take my knowledge and turn it into a teaching experience!
I am so thankful to have my loving family, great community and strong connection to the universe. I thank the universe for the many blessings that it has given my family and I. I am thankful to be able to see all the blessings through the hard times. Most of all, I am thankful to have the gift to allow others to see how great and blessed they are!
Wishing everyone a Happy Autumn Equinox!
Blessed be, Ellen Dugan
Thank you, Elysia, for the reminder.
I am thankful for so much.
I am thankful for my wonderful son, almost a year and a half now. (We also use sign language, wonderful tool! We see no delay in his vocal language either.) Conversations with him – combining sign and his few verbal words are getting more and more detailed and exciting.
I am thankful for my wonderful partner and father of our boy – being a parent is hard work and we are figuring it out together.
I am thankful for my wonderful friends, who celebrate the good and help pull me through the rough times.
I am thankful for the memories of my father, who, although no longer with us in person, is with us in spirit and in memory.
Much love to those who read this – live life fiercely and love often!
I harvested the basil at the doorstep, making pesto packets to distribute amongst my new co-workers, thankful that the new job holds promise of fullfilment.
Pulled the probably ripe satsumas from the tree in the backyard. Am not familiar with the tropics and this orange variety, but the juice was luscious and stirred it into a honeycake recipe from the newspaper article on Rosh Hashana foods. Sent most of the cake to kindergarten as it was my sons’ turn to provide snacks. And gave thanks that he is blossoming there, in an environ of care and wonder.
Roasted a chicken with nutmeg, orange juice and zest and fed my family, wherein we all held hands and offerred gratitude, asking blessing for the new one who has joined and made our lives brighter, lighter and luscious.
This year was a hard one, spiritually. I am gratefully reaping the wisdom of what feels like a thousand lessons. I am reaping the will to do what I need to do and the courage to dream. I am reaping the barest shadow of a glimmer of the possibility of maybe opening the door to the love of the goddess whose heart I do not know.
This year has been a wonderful one, professionally. I am reaping pride and satisfaction in work that I enjoy. I am reaping deepening connections with my friends and colleagues.