The old year in nature is coming to a close, and on Saturday, the 22nd, the sun’s entry into Sagittarius, its apparent position closest to the horizon, announces the beginning of the end. And also on the 22nd, the moon becomes the Sandhill Crane Migration Moon the last of the migration moons and the gateway to the new great cycle.
And even though this wintry moon and the sun’s entry into Sagittarius forecast sleet and gloom, I sometimes retreat from the future into the warmest of my late Novembers.
Once I went walking on the 22nd when the temperature was in the upper 60s and the sky was almost clear, streaked only with the gossamer cirrus clouds that held the cold at bay. The sweet rocket foliage was bright along my path, soft mullein plants spread their basal leaves, hemlock was lush and bushy. Small brown moths rose from the empty flower stalks beside me. I saw one yard full of dandelion heads gone to seed, an April sight.
In the afternoon, I mowed the lawn for the last time, mulched the leaves to the ground. The smell was a new mown smell and took me back as well as forward, let me skip the winter altogether.
An Asian lady beetle landed on the back door as I came in from the yard. A mosquito flew around me in the evening when I was watching television. A friend called just before I went to bed: She’d seen a yellow jacket and a cabbage butterfly in low sun of evening!
This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack. I’ll be back again next week with notes for the final week of late fall and the second week of the Sandhill Crane Migration Moon, the second week of the sun in cold Sagittarius. In the meantime, think back to your warmest November, maybe it’s today.
Poor Will’s Almanack for 2015 is now available. For a sample of this new annual, and for information on how to order your copies, visit www.poorwillsalmanack.com.
