Letter from the editor

There is an apple tree in my yard.  A year ago, when I moved into this house, it was the apple tree that made me feel like it was home. Something about its shape, and the intricacy of its branches, and the infinitude of its leafage, and its endless supply of apples, gave more to it than the average tree. After living with it for one whole cycle, I am in no doubt that it is a magical portal that leads to the fairy realms.

About a week ago I realized that my beautiful tree had never been pruned; not one bough had ever been cut, and yet somehow she had managed to allow all of her branches to grow in and around each other in a way that only enhanced her natural beauty.  With the Moon on the wane, and the thought of Halloween to remind me that there’s no better time than now to throw every ounce of dead wood on the fire, with great trepidation I decided to take on the task of cutting her back.

Little did I know that this would turn out to be an initiation. With the first few chops I felt like a murderer. The sense that I was defiling a divine and perfectly symmetrical entity made me wish I hadn’t even picked up the clippers. After a while, as the outer trimmings met the ground, I got deeper into the heart of the tree and realized how much it had taken for her to organize herself within the complexity of boughs, and leafage, and fruit that had grown up around her, demanding to be fed.

For the last three days I have been going at it, lopping suckers off that tree like a Madwoman. If I thought I knew her well, it has amazed me to find out that she is much more than just a beautiful green ball of leaves and fruit.  Minus the tangles, and the dead wood, and the fruitless boughs, by the time she and I finish this dance, she will be free to grow without one ounce of energy going into things that no longer need to be fed.

Who knows what form she will take in her next incarnation? This will be her first Halloween with nothing to hide and only who she is at the core to decide how she wants to grow. While I was trimming her down I realized that she is not alone. Whether we know it or not, on a thousand different levels, all of us are dealing with  the business of getting down to the bone. And whatever that means for us personally and collectively, in this season of death and renewal, the best we can do is strip away all the dead wood, light up the Samhain fires, and open the space for something new, and even more beautiful to be born.

With Love,

Cal Garrison
Editor in Chief at the Spirit of Ma'at