There are many images that one could relate to the season of Autumn This is a time when one becomes very conscious of the earth, and the sacredness of the earth. It is also a time of harvest, and herdspeople take their animals out into the fields which have been harvested to graze their animals. The end of the year also points forwards to the beginning of a new year. What is old, reminds us of the cycles of nature, that bring us back again to rebirth.
"Like grain a mortal ripen !
Like grain he is born hither again !"
Katha Upanishad. 1.6
The seasons of the year are like a great cycle of time, where the beginning is always bringing us back to the end, and the end is a prelude to a new beginning. Over the last few months I have been thinking a great deal about the seasons, and have been drawing inspiration from the countryside around my home, which I have often sketched. I believe that the spiritual in art, is very much bound up with a sense of the Holy ground. My contact with the primal cultures of India, has made me feel that we need to discover a theology of the land. The following reflections on the different seasons which we are familiar with in India, and their relation to the Liturgical Year, is an attempt to relate the landscape to a spiritual journey.
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