Defy the commandments of the natural law, and the race will perish in a few generations; co-operate with them, and the race will flourish for ages to come.

Dorothy Sayers

Cynthia's Journal:

Good evening. Sunset is the time of day represented by the West side of the Wheel. It's time to introducie you to another dimension of time on the Wheel. Last week you learned about the layers for hours, days, weeks, months and years.  A quick review:

East is for daybreak, full moon and Spring time (begins third week of March)

South is for noon , last quarter moon and Summer (begins third week of June)

West represents dusk & sunset, new moon and Autumn (begins third week of September)

North is for midnight & starlight, first quarter moon and Winter (third week December)

As autumn arrives or evening falls, we turn West to face the coming darkness, literally and figuratively.  This Direction is traditionally called the ‘Goes-Within-Place’ on the Wheel. Here the sun disappears, swallowed up by the night. Do we value its many blessings? Will the sun return? 

Before technological advances came along to insulate us from the elements, we thought about them constantly, tending our hearths and drawing our water. Daily existence, as hunter gatherers or tillers of the soil, kept us focused on the ‘body’ of the Earth and the survival of our own bodies.  Every planting and every harvest was celebrated with dances, offerings, sacrifices and prayers, for the rains to come or stay away, for the winds to stop or fill our sails. Most have lost a sense of connection between thoughts and deeds and universal Causes & Effects. 

Today we are proud of what science has taught us about the universe and we’re often unaware of all we don’t know. Is our way of life killing us prematurely.? We have much to learn about thoughts and emotions and how they affect the health of our hearts and bodies.  Infertility rates are sky-rocketing, along with cancer, heart disease, obesity, hypertension, mental illness and diabetes. Our consumerism, our garbage and pollution, and our militarized fear of each other threaten our physical safety as much, or more, that Mother Nature does. 

The West represents both the unknown and ‘la ultima Madre’ (the ultimate Mother).  Everything from womb to tomb, the cave of the hibernating Bear and the pitch black darkness of the Sweat Lodge are symbolized by this Western Gate.  This is where you go to come to terms with the dark things about life, others and ourselves.  This is the place of transformation on the Wheel.