I think of the fall as the spiritual season.
            Beginning with our Unitarian Universalist Ingathering ceremony in September, we then pass through a series of holidays from many traditions focused on the most important qualities of spiritual growth and health.
            The Jewish High Holy days with rituals of forgiveness and reconnection with our best selves.
            Blessing of the Animals in early October connecting us to the value of non-human life
            The group of holidays at the end of October and beginning of November focused on questions of life and death and our relationship to honored ancestors:  Halloween, Samhain, Dia de Los Muertos, All Saints and All Souls days.
            The secular holiday of Thanksgiving, lifting up the spiritual good of gratitude.
            The December holidays, including Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and the new year.
            There’s more I could name, too, holidays that may or may not be meaningful to you in your personal spiritual calendar.  
            But now, in this cooling time of this year, this changing, quieting, darkening, contemplative time of year, may your spirit find blessing in every way it needs.