September 5–October 2
Twelfth Lunation, September/October
Ogham: Ngetal (nyettle, ing-tal), Ng: 
Keywords: Direct action, foster mothers, godmothers
Totems: Owl, pike
Deities: Cerridwen, the crone aspect of the Goddess
Practical Guidance: Set your intention. Take action. Every step you take gets you closer to your goals. Cut away what impedes. Go straight to the target.
Ngetal/Reed Month Ceremony
Holiday
The Fall Equinox is September 21/22.
Purpose
To honor the portal of the Reed month. Setting intentions. Taking steps toward fulfilling final dreams and aspirations for the end of the year.
Preparation
Collect grasses and display in a vase on the altar. If you have baskets place them on the altar to display the beauty and utilitarian uses of reeds and grasses.
Welcome and Greetings
Welcome to our Reed month ceremony. Introduce yourself and go around the circle having each participant share their name and why they came to the circle. Have them close their eyes and share a moment of silence to prepare for the ceremony.
Call the Directions
Call in the directions and invoke the energies of Reed (direct action) and the totems, guides, and deities (pike and owl). Call in the spirit of Reed. Call in the goddesses of the hunt, as well as the crone. Call in help for cutting through that which hinders and that which is ready to be recycled. Call in help for focus and aiming, as we choose what we want to manifest.
Teachings
The portal of Reed is a time when we begin to prepare for winter. This is a period when we gather up the last of the harvest. We gather and store the seeds. We cut away, recycle, and compost what is left from the harvest. We give our gratitude for the abundance of the passing season.
Reeds represent the stalks and grasses. The structures of these hollow reeds, bulrushes, bamboo, and papa grasses are hollow through the center, much like peashooters or flutes that require our breath to work. Likewise, we must breathe into our intentions to activate them. This is an important teaching of Reed. We are encouraged to become hollow so that spirit can work through us and increase our yield even beyond our imaginings. We can invite spirit to work through us by directing our intention—in effect becoming cocreators. And we must by necessity be willing to let go or cut away that which impedes us. We are reminded to let go of harmful, negative, and destructive habits that stand between our desires and our manifestation of those desires.
The Reeds protected Moses in the bulrushes until he was saved by his foster mother. The Reeds ask us to protect what is growing and vulnerable so that it can mature into its rightful heritage. This is the same for dreams, aspirations, projects, and ventures. Reed reminds us to protect our dreams and nurture them well until they are mature enough to be sent out into the world. Seek good foster parents. Find a godmother. These are people who can be trusted to speak for your greatest good and act as your protectors and encouragers. Seek good nurturers for your ventures.
Reed is a threshold month in which we can set and deliver our last intentions for the year’s end. We acknowledge that what we have worked for requires only direction and intent to be brought into manifestation. When it is the right time, release your arrow toward your goal. This is the portal for that last thrust of intention. We give our gratitude for the summer’s fertility and the bountiful harvest.
Read
This portal is about the teachings of owl and pike. These are excellent models of hunting.
They wait, and when the time is perfect they strike. They do not question. They act. In the same way, we will focus on a completion process for the year. What is the last great goal that you would like to see manifested in your life?
Sharing
Pass the talking stick and ask each person to think about what they will send their arrow of intention toward.
Chant
What is the teaching of the Reed?
We create through our intentions.
Our freedom comes through aiming
our arrow and letting it fly.
Behold! We go straight for the last
aspiration of our year and let go.
Even as we protect our visions and
dreams until they are ready to be released.
We seek our crone’s protection and guidance.
What is the teaching of the Reed? Spirit creates through us.
Sing
Sing and drum songs of your choosing, or simply allow songs and music to evolve, knowing that the energy of the circle will appear and make itself known.
Guided Meditation
Close your eyes and slow your breath. Bring your attention to your heart and feed it with love. Allow yourself to slow down and to breathe deeply as we begin to journey together. Breathe in this way for a few moments as you adjust to the peace that is offered to you here in this inner place.
You find yourself traveling to a lovely forest. It is a fall day and you find yourself walking under an umbrella of trees just at dusk. You can smell the heavenly scent of the cedars and firs. Dappled sun filters through and creates a lovely pattern upon the path before you. All around you is a colorful carpet of fallen leaves. They rustle as you move along. You see golden, red, and yellow leaves gently falling from the tree branches above you, although many still cling to their branches, waiting for a stronger wind to release them.
You notice the call of an owl and you stop to find her. You see her up in the branch on the tree just before you. Even though it is growing a bit darker you feel no fear. You know that this forest is a place of safety for you and that the owl wants to communicate with you.
You can see the bright yellow eyes of your snowy owl and she flies on down to sit upon your shoulder. You feel the wind of her motion as she sweeps down to you. She makes soft sounds and nibbles gently upon your ear. Owl is a great hunter even in the dark, since she is nocturnal. She knows how to direct her energy toward her target. She doesn’t think about the “what ifs”; she goes for what she sees. She has much to teach about direct action. Take a moment to listen to her message …
Owl is also the symbol for wisdom. What wisdom does owl have for you today? (Pause) What questions do you have for owl? What do you want to happen in your life? What are your goals, your aspirations, or your big dreams? Allow owl to show you a blueprint for action. Let her show you the steps. Is there anything standing in the way? What do you need to let go of? Are you willing to make some changes that will ensure that your dreams can become reality? Are you willing to take some action to move closer to your goals? If yes, tell owl that you are committed, and she will be glad to stay close as an ally.
It is time to leave the forest and your new ally. Remember that she is as close as your call. Give your gratitude and bring yourself home from the journey. Return slowly and when you are ready, open your eyes. Ground and center.
Sharing
Pass the stick and let each person tell about their experience. What is their goal? What steps will they begin to move toward their goal? Ask them to remember the power of owl as their ally.
Activity: Choosing Your Own Fairy Godmother
Ask each participant to choose a real-life person that could act as their fairy godmother. This should be a person that is encouraging and positive and whom they can share their goal or dream with. Have them strategize with their helper. Have them think of this person as their own personal lifeguard, cheerleader, and coach to help move their dream out into the world. Encourage them to connect with this person in the next week. (At the next circle or in the weeks to come, make sure you get feedback from your circle members about their goals and how they did.)
Finally, have each participant close their eyes and imagine a target set up with a bull’s-eye a good distance away from them. Their goal becomes that target. Have them take a moment to focus on that goal.
Read
See the target as your goal. Take an arrow from the quiver upon your back and set it into your sturdy bow. With a deep breath, pull back your bow with strength and knowing, and when ready, release an arrow that flies exactly to the center. Take a moment to feel the joy of having hit the mark. See your goal as already met. See your success. Really feel that … and know that what you want is already yours.
Ending
Close with healing prayers for friends and relatives and give gratitude for this harvest time of year. Open the circle by releasing the directions, the totems, the gods and goddesses, and the spirit at the center of all that is.
A Reed Story: Letting Go
In September of 1999, I attended a four day retreat out on the Pacific Ocean at La Push, Washington. I was aware that September is Reed’s month and I purposefully gathered reeds and grasses as I walked the land to collect materials to make a shield. As we made our “medicine shields” in a process of silence, I pondered on the power of the grasses, pampas, reeds, cattails, and other long-stemmed, hollow plants.
In circle I shared about the intent of becoming a hollowed reed for spirit to enter and work through me. We talked about letting go of what hinders. We talked about the use of the arrow to aim and let go toward our final desire of the year. For me that was the success of my workshops, classes, and ceremonies planned for October and my desire to make enough money to add to my husband’s salary, so we could move through October in a good way, financially.
It was great to watch the impact of these teachings on the women in my circle. Everyone responded to the idea of aim and accuracy. One woman had brought owl feathers and placed eight of them on her shield. One woman put beautiful long grasses on her shield to represent making herself available for spirit to work through her. All of us responded to the idea that it takes effort to get the movement going, whether we use a straw for sucking, play a flute with the focus of our breath, or blow a pea through a shooter toward its destination. Think of the power and accuracy of a hunter in the Amazon with his blow dart. And certainly, hitting our target with accuracy takes focus and intention. All of us responded to the idea of getting that one last project or intention set and completed before the fall composting and the darkness of winter. And the idea of letting go of what no longer serves was something we all took into consideration.
Out on the beach I picked up stones to represent what I was now ready to bury and let go of. I asked Mother Earth to receive the energy and transmute it to its higher purpose. I released the three circles or groups that I had just recently ended, blessing each for its teachings. I also released the relationship with my daughter that represented her little girl self. Although she will always be my little girl, I was now prepared to relate to her as the young woman that she had become. This would take intelligence, flexibility, and willingness to change on my part. And finally, I released the relationship as I have known it with my son. He was ready to leave the nest, and I was ready to push if I must. I buried what we had created so far with love—to make room for the new. He was responsible for his own life and I needed to let go.
Contemplating these guides and totems, honoring the last harvestings, and noticing the power of this time of year as a portal for completion was a great encouragement for me. The other women seemed grateful for the information and used it readily in the creation process of their shield. I often wondered if anyone really cared about the teachings the Celtic tree calendar that so eloquently moves us through the seasonal changes. I was shown just how powerful these teachings from spirit can be. In the end my friend gifted me with a wonderful owl feather which, to me, represented wisdom.
It was easy to do my work out there as I felt supported by the Native ancestors of the land. Spirit was talking continuously through the ocean, the sky, the weather, the birds, and the whales. I found a most perfect pelican feather. When I came home, I looked up the astrological Sabian symbol to the degree of my moon in Dane Rudhyar’s An Astrological Mandala, which I remembered had to do with pelicans. It said this:“Pelicans menaced by the behavior and refuse of men seek safer areas for bringing up their young.”
Rudhyar goes on to explain, “Our technological society is polluting not only the global environment, but the minds and feeling responses of new generations as well. The search for a new way of life is seen by many people to be imperative.”
Pelican is a good teacher for parents. Because my letting go had to do with my children and had to do with making outward and inner changes that provided good parenting for them, I was grateful. I also thought that these teachings had much to offer in giving me the courage I need to stay strong. The life that I desire for the next seven generations is supported by the many indigenous cultures around the world that teach reverence and connection to the natural world and the spirit realm. I am grateful to the Quileute tribe for protecting the land that I was able to do my spirit quest on, and I am grateful for the reminder to stay close to nature and to protect Gaia. Doing ceremony, following nature, and allowing for spirit work in retreat are ways I can keep the circle of renewal and regeneration going. I am encouraged to keep on with my work with the Celtic tree calendar and to continue with my teaching and writing.
As you contemplate the teachings of Reed, consider this: What in your life requires focus and direction? What goal or dream or desire requires the effort of intention so that it might grow its wings and fly? What must you let go of that might be standing in your way? What is ending? Can you create a ceremony to honor what is completed? What is begging for new life? What is spirit trying to create through you if you will only say yes?