You were born a child of light’s wonderful secret

— you return to the beauty you have always been.

 

It is said that before entering the sea

a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean

Autumn Haiku

 

The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray autumn's gay,
contemptuous of frost
—Matsuo Basho,

Illuminated by the harvest moon
smoke is caught creeping
across the water ...
—Hattori Ransetsu,

An empty road
lonelier than abandonment:
this autumn evening
—Matsuo Basho,

A solitary crow
clings to a leafless branch:
autumn twilight
—Matsuo Basho,

Brief autumn breeze ...
she always wanted to pluck
the reddest roses
—Issa,

Taming the rage
of an unrelenting sun—
autumn breeze.
—Basho,

The sun sets,
relentlessly red,
yet autumn’s in the wind.
—Basho,

As autumn deepens,
a butterfly sips
chrysanthemum dew.
—Basho,

This strange flower
investigated by butterflies and birds:
the autumn sky
—Matsuo Basho

Cooling the pitiless sun’s
bright red flames:
autumn wind.
—Matsuo Basho

Saying farewell to others
while being told farewell:
departing autumn.
—Matsuo Basho

Traveling this road alone:
autumn evening.
—Matsuo Basho

Thin from its journey
and not yet recovered:
late harvest moon.
—Matsuo Basho

This world—
to what may we compare it?
To autumn fields
lying darkening at dusk
illuminated by lightning flashes.
—Minamoto no Shitago

Sick of this autumn migration
in dreams I drift
over flowerless fields ...
―Matsuo Basho 

Denied transformation
into a butterfly,
autumn worsens for the worm
—Matsuo Basho

Picking autumn plums
my wrinkled hands
once again grow fragrant
―Yosa Buson

A crow has settled
on a naked branch―
autumn nightfall
―Basho

Sick of its autumn migration
my spirit drifts
over wilted fields ...
―Matsuo Basho

The first morning of autumn:
the mirror I investigate
reflects my father’s face
―Masaoka Shiki

Brittle autumn leaves
crumble to dust
in the freezing wind.
—Takao

Dewdrops beading blades of grass
have so little time to shine before dawn;
let the autumn wind not rush too quickly through the field!
—Eihei Dogen Kigen

Ryonen

Sixty-six times have these eyes beheld the changing scene of autumn

I have said enough about moonlight,

Ask no more.

Only listen to the voice of pines and cedars when no wind stirs.

Heartbeat Song by George Michael

 

Another summer
Another vacation is over
A September morning,
With the sun and the smell of the clover

Down by the gate
We sit and we watch all our friends go by
And pretend we don't hear the bell,
That rings through the summer sky

Autumn

 

Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

For man, Autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.

How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.

 everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.

Life is a dream, and Autumn is a dream within a dream!

Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.

The most beautiful carpet is the carpet made of autumn leaves!

 

It was a lovely afternoon

such an afternoon as only September can produce 

when summer has stolen back for one more day 

of dream and glamour

 

September days have the warmth of summer in their briefer hours, 

but in their lengthening evenings a prophetic breath of autumn

Blood Moon - 7 September 2025

 

The last total lunar eclipse visible in the UK was in 2022, and it won't occur again until August 2026.

The phenomenon occurs when the sun, Earth and the moon align perfectly with one another in a straight line.

As the moon passes through the darkest part of the Earth's shadow - known as the umbra - it causes it to turn a deep, dark red colour, creating what is known as a blood moon.

The eclipse will begin while the moon is still below the UK's horizon.

 as it rises, it will already be in total eclipse. 

7.33pm on Sunday

It will continue to slowly move out of the Earth's shadow until 9.55pm, giving stargazers in the UK approximately two hours and 22 minutes to see the eclipse.

When the moon is in the Earth's umbra, it does not get any direct sunlight, meaning only light that is refracted through Earth's atmosphere manages to reach the moon.

Shorter blue wavelengths of light are typically scattered by the Earth's atmosphere, leaving longer red wavelengths to pass through - hence the red tones of the moon.

The more dust or clouds in Earth's atmosphere during the eclipse, the redder the moon appears, 

This same atmospheric refraction effect is what causes sunsets and sunrises to look red.

Sunday September 7th Full Moon - Corn Moon - Harvest Moon

 

• Sunday September 7: Corn Moon 
• Tuesday October 7: Hunters Moon - Harvest Moon - Supermoon 
• Wednesday November 5: Beaver Moon - Supermoon 
• Sunday December 4: Cold Moon - Supermoon 

 the Harvest Moon is always the full Moon that occurs closest to the September equinox. Most years, it falls in September; every three years, it falls in October. (Astronomical seasons do not match up with the lunar month.) If the Harvest Moon occurs in October, the September full Moon is usually called the Corn Moon instead. Similarly, the Hunter’s Moon always follows the Harvest Moon. 

In 2025 the autumnal equinox will occur on 22 September at 18.20 GMT (19.20 BST).

There will be three supermoons in 2025, occurring on the following dates: 

• Tuesday October 7: The Hunter's Moon
• Wednesday November 5: The Beaver Moon, which will be the closest full moon to Earth since 2019
• Thursday December 4: The Cold Moon
• 
  

Harvest Moon - September 2024

 

Harvest Moon

 

The Harvest Moon appears from September  

The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, 

One thing that sets the Harvest Moon apart from other full Moon names is that it’s not associated with a specific month, as the others are. 

Instead, the Harvest Moon relates to the timing of the autumnal equinox (September 23), with the full Moon that occurs nearest to the equinox being the one to take on the name “Harvest Moon.” 

This means that the Harvest Moon can occur in either September or October, depending on how the lunar cycle lines up with the Gregorian calendar.

The Harvest Moon does typically occur in September, taking the place of the full Corn Moon. 

However, it occasionally lands in October instead, replacing the full Hunter’s Moon.

For several evenings, the moonrise comes soon after sunset. This results in an abundance of bright moonlight early in the evening, which was a traditional aid to farmers and crews harvesting their summer-grown crops. Hence, it’s called the “Harvest” Moon!

There are just a little over 12 complete Moon cycles every year, on average (there being about 29.53 days in a synodic month). The Harvest Moon isn’t like the other Moons.

• Usually, throughout the year, the Moon rises an average of about 50 minutes later each day. 
• But for the few nights around the Harvest Moon, the Moon seems to rise at nearly the same time: just 25 to 30 minutes later across the northern USA, and only 10 to 20 minutes later farther north in Canada and Europe.

Additionally, the Harvest Moon rises at sunset and then will rise very near sunset for several nights in a row because the difference is at a yearly minimum. It may almost seem as if there are full Moons multiple nights in a row!

While September’s full Moon is usually known as the Harvest Moon, if October’s full Moon happens to occur closer to the equinox than September’s, it takes on the name “Harvest Moon” instead. In this case, September’s full Moon is referred to as the Corn Moon.

This time of year—late summer into early fall—corresponds with the time of harvesting corn in much of the northern United States. For this reason, a number of Native American peoples traditionally used some variation of the name “Corn Moon” to refer to the Moon of either August or September. Examples include Corn Maker Moon (Western Abenaki) and Corn Harvest Moon (Dakota). 

 

There is a clarity about September ... 

the sun seems brighter, 

the sky more blue, 

the white clouds take on marvelous shapes; 

the moon is a wonderful apparition, 

rising gold, 

cooling to silver; 

and the stars are so big

 

And then the sun took a step back, 

the leaves lulled themselves to sleep, 

and autumn awakened

 

By all these lovely tokens, 

September days are here. 

With summer's best of weather and autumn's best of cheer

Manson Family

 

• 
  
• Charles Manson (died in prison, 2017)
• 
  
• Susan Atkins (died in prison, 2009) - Sexy Sadie 
• Patricia Krenwinkel - Katie 
• Leslie Van Houten - Loulu 

• Tex Watson
• 
  

• Clem Grogan
• 
  

• Lynette Fromme - Squeaky 

• Bobby Beausoleil
• Mary Brunner
• Sandra Good - Blue 

• Bruce M. Davis

• Barbara Hoyt (died 2017)
• Gregg Jakobson

• 
  
• Catherine Share - Gypsy 
• 
  

• Ruth Ann Moorehouse - Rachel 
• 
  

• Phil Kaufman

• 
  
• Linda Kasabian (died 2023)

• 
  
• Deirdre Shaw, daughter of Angela Lansbury^[10]
• George Spahn (died 1974)
• 
  
• Paul Watkins (died 1990)
• 
  

• Thomas Walleman
• 
  

• Ella Jo Bailey (died 2015)
• Larry Bailey
• Susan Bartell
• 
  
  
• Sherry Cooper
• Madeline Cottage


• Danny DeCarlo


• Catherine Gillies (died 2018)
• 
  
  
• John Haught (died 1969)
• 
  
  


• Dianne Lake
• Kathryn Lutesinger
• 
  


• Dean Allen Moorehouse (died 2010)
• Nancy Pitman
• Brooks Poston
• Dennis Rice
• Stephanie Schram


• 
  


• 
  

Manson - Squeaky - President attempt

 On September 5, 1975, the Family returned to national attention when Squeaky Fromme attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.

 The attempt took place in Sacramento, to which she and fellow Manson follower Blue Sandra Good had moved so that they could be near Manson while he was incarcerated at Folsom State Prison. A subsequent search of the apartment shared by Fromme, Good, and another Family recruit turned up evidence that, coupled with later actions on the part of Good, resulted in Good's conviction for conspiring to send threatening communications through the United States mail service and for transmitting death threats by way of interstate commerce. The threats involved corporate executives and U.S. government officials vis-à-vis supposed environmental dereliction on their part. Fromme was sentenced to 15 years to life, becoming the first person sentenced under United States Code Title 18, chapter 84 (1965), which made it a Federal crime to attempt to assassinate the President of the United States.

In December 1987, Fromme, serving a life sentence for the assassination attempt, escaped briefly from Federal Prison Camp, Alderson in West Virginia. She was trying to reach Manson

Manson - Clem - murder

 

On the night of August 10, 1969, he rode with members of the Manson family. Charles Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten were dropped off at the house of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, but Grogan, Manson, Susan Atkins and Linda Kasabian continued to Venice Beach where, according to Kasabian, Manson sent Grogan, Atkins and Kasabian to kill actor Saladin Nader, but Kasabian, according to her own account, intentionally led them to the wrong apartment and the plan was aborted.

Grogan later helped Manson, Watson and Bruce M. Davis kill Spahn ranch hand Donald Shea. The jury returned verdicts of life imprisonment for Manson and Davis, but death for Grogan. However, on December 23, 1971, Judge James Kolts stated that "Grogan was too stupid and too hopped on drugs to decide anything on his own" and that it was really Manson "who decided who lived or died" and reduced Grogan's sentence to life imprisonment

Steve "Clem" Grogan, was paroled in 1985.

Manson death sentence

 On April 19, 1971, Judge Older sentenced the four to death

Charles Manson 

Sadie - Atkins, 

Katie - Krenwinkel, 

Loulu -  Van Houten

October 1971 

Tex Watson sentenced to death 

In February 1972, the death sentences of all five parties were automatically reduced to life in prison

Manson defence trial

  Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten testified the murders had been conceived as "copycat" versions of the Hinman murder, for which Atkins now took credit. 

The killings, they said, were intended to draw suspicion away from Bobby Beausoleil by resembling the crime for which he had been jailed. 

This plan had supposedly been the work of, and carried out under the guidance of, not Manson, but someone allegedly in love with Beausoleil—Linda Kasabian.

Among the narrative's weak points was the inability of Atkins to explain why, as she was maintaining, she had written "political piggy" at the Hinman house in the first place

Manson 9 murder victims

 Gary Hinman  - July 25, 1969 

Bobby Beausoleil, Mary Brunner and Atkins

Sharon Tate Five - August 8, 1969 

Sharon Tate 

Jay Sebring, 

Abigail Folger, 

Wojciech Frykowski, 

 Steven Parent

Tex Watson  

Sadie Susan Atkins

Katie  Patricia Krenwinkel 

also Linda Kasabian 

Leno and Rosemary LaBianca - August 9, 1969

Loulu Leslie Van Houten, 

Steve "Clem" Grogan, 

Charles Manson,

Tex Watson  

Sadie Susan Atkins

Katie  Patricia Krenwinkel 

also Linda Kasabian 

Donald "Shorty" Shea - 16 August 1969 

Manson 

Bruce Davis 

 Steve "Clem" Grogan

Manson Shea murder

 

In a 1971 trial that took place after his Tate–LaBianca convictions, Manson was found guilty of the murders of Gary Hinman and Donald "Shorty" Shea. He was given a life sentence. 

Shea was a Spahn Ranch stuntman and horse wrangler who had been killed approximately ten days after a sheriff's raid on the ranch which had been carried out on 16 August 1969. 

Manson, who suspected that Shea had helped set up the raid, apparently believed Shea was trying to get Spahn to run the Family off the ranch. Manson may have considered it a "sin" that Shea, a white man, had married a black woman. Furthermore, there was the possibility that Shea knew about the Tate–LaBianca killings. In separate trials, Family members Bruce Davis and Steve "Clem" Grogan were also found guilty of Shea's murder.

In 1977, authorities learned the exact location of the remains of Shorty Shea and, contrary to Family claims, also learned that Shea had not been dismembered and buried in several places. Contacting the prosecutor in his case, Steve Grogan told him Shea's corpse had been buried intact. Grogan drew a map that pinpointed the location, and the body was recovered. Of those convicted of Manson-ordered murders, Grogan would become, in 1985, the first one to be parole