Mums and Transition
Chrysanthemum spp.
There are always a few days each summer when the garden is peaking and it feels like summer could go on forever; vegetables are producing abundantly, flowers all look happy … Then there is a subtle shift and the peak is over. Flowers are changing to seed heads. Where plants looked vibrant a few days before, some now look tired. In my yard, yellow chickadees show up to begin eating sunflower seeds and squirrels are increasingly on patrol to steal ripening apples and tomatoes.
That’s when chrysanthemums, or mums, burst onto the scene. In colors of rust, copper, deep orange and yellow, and muted lavender and mauve, they herald the coming of fall. My favorites are the ones that look like many-legged spiders, but they can also take the shape of puffy pompoms or daisies. The common element is the mounded nature of the plants. A profusion of flowers pops out of the mound of greenery.
Mums are hardy perennials and will emerge from a light snow or frost to keep blooming, often until Thanksgiving. In Erie County, Pennsylvania, where I grew up, we’d visit a farm each year that had acres of chrysanthemums. Sometimes my family visited because we needed to replace a plant that didn’t make it through the winter, but often it was just to wander through the beautiful sea of mums on a fall day.
Chrysanthemums have the energetic correspondence of transition. Mums arrive just as the days are getting shorter and nights are getting cooler. Their beautiful display eases us into fall. Transitions are times of shifting and changing, but they are not abrupt changes like a hailstorm. We have time to prepare for change and adjust to the new order of things.
It’s true that most of life is a transition from one state to another; however, some transitions require more attention and adjustment from us. Chrysanthemums remind us that transitions can be beautiful. When embracing this energetic concept for the week, tune in to the important transitions in your life. Sometimes the important transitions are the most subtle. Pay attention to what is shifting and changing to another state of being. It might be a season in the garden or a season in your life. If you have children in the house, there are transitions around kindergarten, middle school, and college. Then there is the transition of watching your children have children. Transitions might mean shifts in relationships, careers, or living spaces. Transitions are a flowing wave of energy. Like a wave, they are made up of countless moving parts. Sometimes you are riding the wave, and other times the wave has pulled you under a little (or a lot).
Morning Attunement Questions
• What connections do I have with mums and transition?
• Where else in the green world or in my life do I observe transition?
• What does this correspondence feel like?
• How can I describe this energetic attribute of transition in words or pictures?
• Where does this correspondence of transition resonate most strongly in or around my body or in my life?
Daily Integration Questions
• In what ways is the world reflecting mums or transition back to me?
• What nuances and shades of meaning do I notice about mums and transition?
Evening Reflection Questions
• Where and how did I experience mums or transition today?
• How did I embrace transition today?
• What wisdom does the mum’s correspondence of transition bring to my life?