The Feast in Loneliness

The fall is a time of rich harvest in the northern hemisphere. It is also a time that people begin to feel lonely and depressed. As the days grow shorter and the skies cloudier the people grow sadder. “This is one of those mysterious things,” explains host and shaman, Christina Pratt, “where the current person’s experience is opposite of the traditional person in a shamanic culture. I find these places where we have swung 180 degrees interesting and seething with potential.” Traditionally this is a time of community celebrating the harvest, working together to set up stores of the long winter ahead, and personally completing projects to prepare for the dark time, before going within to rest and rejuvenate. When loneliness rises to the surface of our awareness it is a voice calling out for the feast, the harvest of the life at this time and the community to celebrate with. Loneliness is also the voice calling you inward to your internal community, to attend to the inner projects abandoned half-done and the promises broken. When loneliness rises, listen; do not turn away. Loneliness can be the guide to that pure place of rejuvenation and restoration called Alone.