September/October Nature Musings 2024

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the September/October 'Nature Musings Blog' - a chance to look back over these last 2 months and remember and honour what nature has shown us and continually teaches us.

The transition through into autumn has got to be my favourite time of year.  The turning of the landscape colours from green to rustic browns, oranges, reds and yellows has got to be the most visually pleasing to the eye.  So much colour as you drive along the motorway and the hills where I live.....so much beauty to behold!  And the effect it has on me is one of excitement, uplifting, and a gentle reminder that letting go doesn't have to be painful it can be joyous and colourful too.

The last harvest at Mabon (22nd September) marked the turn for me, of that start to turn more inward, to be more introspective and integrate all that I have learned this year.  I really do welcome this time as it gives me a chance to slow down...not too much, but that feeling of being more in my body at this time - like the Mabon Oak (mentioned below) I feel my energy over these last months move from outwardly doing to more inwardly strengthening and grounding.  

And to conclude, Samhain, the end of nature's cycle, the death of the year......a welcome time to reflect back and reflect upon the ancestors, deep ancestors and where I am right now on this magical earth.

I hope you enjoy reading this journey of nature occurrences that have really stood out for me...........  

"Autumn is a second Spring where every leaf is a flower"   Albert Camus

Autumn is considered Spider season, as this is the time we often see them scurrying around searching for a mate, and making their way indoors out of the wet weather.  Their webs are normally invisible, but are brought to our attention at this time of year by hanging dew droplets, and frost, on cold mornings.

There are 650 species of spider found in the UK and many spin webs to catch their prey, normally building the webs across potential insect flight paths or down low to catch crawling bugs on the ground. 

For most the sight of a spider running towards you, or on you (!) brings up a deep seated fear and the need to run away - for me I'm curious, really curious.  Take the photograph above.....whilst visiting the Californian Redwoods at Dartington Estate, twice these past 2 months, I was amazed to see so many of these 'funnel' webs.  I photographed loads on my visit and sat and waited for the spider to come out, even tried to gently tap the web to encourage one out, but to no avail.  So home I came with photos and a need to find out what they looked like and why there was so many on the Redwoods.

That last part is easy to answer, Californian Redwood bark is soft, flaky and ideal hiding areas for spiders and small insects.....in other words a great place to build a tunnel to entice insects in!

And 'Funnel'web spiders don't actually exist in the UK...think of the deadly Australian Funnel-web spiders where a bite from this spider is potentially deadly!  Our UK Labyrinth Spiders actually build a complex tunnel to entice insects in.  In the UK they can be found covering the ground with their labyrinths and tunnels, and in stone walls and trees.  Not deadly but highly creative at getting their food....and they won't kill you. 

The thread produced by the spider, spider silk, is a fibrous biomaterial that is tough, elastic, and waterproof.  It is also biodegradable, hypoallergenic, and antimicrobial.  Its strength is stronger than steel and can absorb three times as much energy as Kevlar before breaking. And for those of you that get caught by a thread of silk across your face whilst out walking - spiders actually release their silk into the wind to catch it and lift themselves into the air.  

The skill required to build such complex structures, and the patience to sit at the end of the tunnel waiting for their prey, is simply amazing.

Spiders bring forth a deep teaching for us if we are willing to listen.  Indigenous peoples of North America talk about Grandmother Spider creating all life by spinning her web, and connecting all life using her magical thread.

For me when spider shows up this is a sign of a new thread being weaved into my life.......The fact that spider is showing more of its tunnels and webs than itself these last few months is a reminder for me to look at the web of my life, and the weaving that needs to be done to repair and heal those strands that aren't sitting comfortably!  Not sure if I should be making tunnels to catch my food...but I like the idea of retreating into a dark tunnel and waiting, sitting in silence, recovering, healing. 

And no I wouldn't put my finger down that hole!!

“Just like a spider weaves its web, so do we weave the fabric of our own life.” Andrada Muntean

Mabon Oak

For part of the Autumn Well-being Programme I invited the participants along to Knightshayes Court National Trust, to co-work with an amazing Oak tree on the Autumn Equinox.  According to our pagan traditions, at this time of year, the Oak King gives up his crown to the Holly King; where the Holly King now increases in energy and vibrancy throughout the darker days.  (I prefer to see the tradition this way as the Oak King is actually waning in energy therefore easier to be defeated by the Holly King; in the Spring Equinox the Oak's energy is rising and therefore gaining strength to once more take the crown from the Holly King.)

The idea was to get a feel for the energy of the Oaks at this time of balance, but also at this time when the Oak energy is withdrawing down to its roots and how that would make us feel when we really listened.

We found a beautiful Oak that wanted to work with us, and we all gathered to work with one tree and co-created a beautiful 'Mabon Oak' essence - an energetic capture of the energy of the tree at this time.

It was interesting to see how everyone that was there experienced the feeling of strength deep within their bodies, their core, and a real deep connection to the roots we were sitting on.  No-one found their energy up high in their heads or arms, everything was about being deeply rooted and connected.  

I spent 3 years working at Knightshayes Court as a volunteer some 23 years ago now, and absolutely loved the trees, and the wildlife associated with them.  Some of the larger Oaks, especially the large Turkey Oak (over a thousand years old) in the sheep field in front of the house, always had Tawny Owls nesting.  I would regularly go and hunt for their pellets and dissect them to find out what their feeding ecology unravelled.  One of these pellets actually uncovered a stoat skull - so many teeth!!!

The trees at Knightshayes are like old friends, always very welcoming and easy to sit and daydream under their boughs - even with mad dogs running to and fro.  And as you daydream its becomes easier to remember that life happens around these majestic veteran trees............everything happens around them.  From the elements, to children playing under their great boughs, to the small animals burying holes within their roots and trunk or scurrying along their branches, or picking up their acorns as food.  The life of an Oak is immense.....imagine what they have witnessed as time passes around them, and the effect this has on their energy too.  

There is an old saying that an Oak spends 300 years growing, 300 years to standstill and 300 to die.  

A symbol of strength and endurance, a doorway to inner spirituality....the acorn and leaf an emblem of the National Trust, and a revered tree of the Druids.
 

"Of all the trees that grow so fair,
Old England to adorn,
Greater are none beneath the Sun
Than Oak and Ash and Thorn"
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)  

Autumn is such a great time for fungi...and the biodiversity to be found on my walks has been totally enriching.

I never pick fungi, never forage, despite being on numerous foraging courses...there is always that little voice in my head saying "you'll only try it once"!  So I photograph and really look to find the smallest, the most colourful, and the most unusual I can find.

The fruiting bodies along branches always remind me of an enchanting fairy castle that is visible for only a short time.  Living on dead material Fungi serve an immense purpose in this world - something we very rarely acknowledge....and in the UK we have over 15,000 species of fungi!

The largest fungi in the world was reported in the Oregon Forest, where a species of honey fungus, discovered in 1998 was estimated to cover roughly 2,384 acres!!  AND this fungus has survived for over 2,400 years living off dead wood...and in the bigger scheme of things fungi have been around a lot longer than plants - science reckons some 600 million years before plants.

The fruiting bodies, the mushrooms, represent such a small part of the fungus, with the rest living underground as networks of threads (hyphae) that make up the mycelium.  

Fungi have such a key role in cleaning up our planet - without them we would simply disappear under a mountain of unrooted dead leaves and wood.  Fungi, the great decomposers, release an enzyme that allow them to decompose tough compounds found in plant cell walls (cellulose, hemicellulose and pectin) - with some wood-decaying fungi decomposing lignin.  Decomposing these compounds creating healthy soils and providing essential nutrients to plants.   

Of interest, there are over 100 species of fungi that have been found to degrade plastics!  BUT I personally would prefer humans to stop using plastic than rely on the natural world to do our dirty work!!

Fungi are also more closely related to animals than plants - having their own separate kingdom.  Science has been able to reveal that the chitin that makes up fungal cell walls is also found in insect exoskeletons....so those vegetarians amongst us how do you now feel about having mushrooms on toast?

I love, and have always loved the Fly agaric (Amanita mascaria) - photo on the right.  Found in Birch, Pine or Spruce woodland, this beautiful, magical, enchanting and highly toxic mushroom is the fungi of folklore, of fairies and magical creatures.  It also over the years has been given a bad press due to its psychoactive properties - again I would never eat this mushroom, but I have made an energetic vibrational essence with this species (containing no fungal part) and experienced its balancing effect on the adrenals, bringing everything back into balance.  The red of the mushroom connecting to the root chakra, and the white our crown, balancing the endocrine system throughout.

Fly agaric, as the name suggests was formerly used as an insecticide, with pieces often floated in milk, to intoxicate and kill flies attracted by its aroma. Our fear of this mushroom stems back to the times when the taking of entheogenic compounds was reserved for the shaman, medicine man/woman, someone who knew the spirit of the plant and could communicate with it.  Its use as a hallucinogenic substance goes back 10,000 years, and used by many Indigenous traditions around the world for religious or shamanic purposes to contact the gods.

Our Celtic Druids are known to have worked with Fly agaric and the care given to honouring this mushroom before ingesting it, especially for ritual was paramount (fasting, meditation, drinking only water). 

But it is to the peoples of north-eastern Siberia that the ceremonial use of Fly agaric involved the shaman ingesting the mushroom, after which others would drink his urine to partake of its entheogenic effects.  Okay this sounds really disgusting but think about it, if the shaman had been drinking only water and fasting prior to taking the Fly agaric then the urine would contain only the hallucinogenic compounds - I must admit I would feel rather squeamish about doing this.  Although in my shamanic training over the years I have experienced some rather 'out there' initiation ceremonies that I would rather not repeat...but did prove extremely powerful. 

In northern Europe Reindeer are attracted to the fly agaric’s euphoric effects and Siberian people would notice the drunken behaviour of such animals and slaughter them to get the same effects from eating the meat.  

And then we have the Santa Claus effect - the legend of Santa Claus coming from the use of Fly agaric.  The shaman at midwinter festivals would enter the yurt through the smoke hole and down the central supporting birch pole, bringing with him a bag of dried fly agaric. After conducting his ceremonies he would leave the same way he had come. Ordinary people would have believed the shaman could fly himself, or with the aid of reindeer which they also knew to have a taste for fly agaric. Santa is now dressed in the same colours as the fly agaric, carries a sack with special gifts, comes and goes via the chimney, can fly with reindeer and lives in the ‘Far North’.....and that's why I love our plant/animal/fungal lore!

"Microdoses of 0.1-0.5g have been found to relieve anxiety, enhance mood, increase energy, and generally impart a sense of 'magic' to the world through insights and synchronicities"

- Paul Austin, 2022 Microdosing Psychedelics: A Practical Guide to Upgrade Your Life

And I had to share this little bundle, found on the side of a huge fallen Beech tree, covered in moss.  These compact tiny eggs are the eggs of a snail!  These beautiful white pearls clumped together around a tiny piece of moss where completely hidden, but I was looking at the fungi on the fallen tree and found them.

Normally I've found snail eggs in opened compost bags, or when digging over the garden, but never before as a cluster like this.

Then I started down the rabbit hole of 'how many eggs do they lay?' - Snails are hermaphrodites, and can produce around 100 eggs at a time (some lay 400 eggs!).  BUT only a fraction of these eggs will reach maturity, many being washed away by the rain or eaten by predators....and I also found out even humans consume them intentionally is some regions of the world (snail caviar)...urrghh.

After hatching (which normally takes 2-4 weeks), the first thing they eat is their egg and even other eggs if they haven't hatched - this is their first source of calcium to build up their hard outer shells. And their shells then continue to grow with them over the course of their lives.  

If you ever fancy working out the age of a snail have a look at the rings on its shell - lifespan of 2-7 years according to species.  

An amazing tiny find that revealed so much that I didn't know.....Mother Nature is always teaching us.

“During the Renaissance, snails were seen as an image of the Virgin Birth, as people couldn’t comprehend how they could possibly reproduce with their thick calcium carbonate shell. As a result, they were often used as symbols of resurrection, purity and our own mortality."   George Wigmore

During these last 2 months the Wheel of the Year has turned down to the last harvest at Mabon........and then into the end of October, the end of the growing year at Samhain.

A time now for observing more, of feeling more and reflecting.  Introspection time of the deep dark is in sight and I whole heartedly welcome it in.  A time for me to let go of things that have not served me well this last year, to make room for new ideas, new beginnings whatever form they may take.

And a time too for deep gratitude - to the ancestors, my close family and my deep ancestors from Palaeolithic and Neolithic times for providing me with the skills to survive; to the land and all the more-than-human beings that have supported, taught and co-worked with me this last year; for the people that have become my 'Earth family' who have constantly supported and nurtured me along the way; to my teachers both in person and in Spirit that have taught me their ways and encouraged me to teach and integrate this into this land; and to people like yourselves who have come to my workshops, courses and talks and taken away something that sparks, ignites that deep nature connection wonder, thank you. 

Thank you for reading my nature musings for the last two months.  I would love to hear your connection stories with the natural world, and the plants and animals that have helped you too - send me an email or respond via Facebook. 

Look out for the next Nature Musing Blog which will appear in your email boxes from end of December.  A list of what is going on re workshops, talks, etc., will appear as a separate 'newsletter' which should have flown into your email boxes.  

Enjoy your own nature musings throughout November and December........enjoy the slowing down and deep reflection this time brings and also be grateful for everything that is there to support you at this time. 

Samhain & New Year Blessings,
Karen x

P.S Please note new e-mail address so please update your contact details for me - drkarensteaddexter@fastmail.com