This Fall, Loosen Your Grip

by Rose Claire

Moving into fall, the beautiful season of transition, the story underlying this summer’s blog The Dragonfly and the Spider has stayed with me. Since then, I have seen other dragonflies, lanternflies, and even ladybugs rolled up into the spider’s stray, floating strands. And each time, I think to myself, “Just change.”

Change what you’re doing. Change your thinking. Change your perspective.

But change isn’t always easy.

The story began when I noticed a young dragonfly flitting by the window. As it darted along the pane, a single strand of spider silk drifted in the breeze and caught one of its wings.

At first, the dragonfly froze. Then it began flapping furiously to escape, but the harder it fought, the tighter the silk wrapped around its wing. Exhausted, it finally stopped struggling. But it was too late, and the dragonfly became a meal for the spider waiting nearby.

The irony? I wondered if the dragonfly might not have been as trapped as it appeared. As the breeze picked up that afternoon, that strand might have loosened and set it free.

But all the dragonfly knew was to fight.

This pattern of holding on too tightly still resonates. Sometimes, we struggle to let go of the seasons changing in our lives—the relationships, the roles, the expectations. We may have outgrown these, or they may have outgrown us.

In nature, the warmth and freedom of summer transition to the cool crispness of fall, with the cold of winter looming in our minds. These thoughts may create resistance to change, to the natural flow of life, and that keeps us stuck.

In the Tarot, the Wheel of Fortune turns at its own pace, moving us toward change. While generally viewed as a positive card, one might say that it invites faith—the faith that we’re moving in the right direction, even if it doesn’t seem that way. And when we resist those changes, when we tighten our grip on the process of transition, we stagnate while what is around us continues its forward march.

The lessons of the dragonfly continue to unfold for me, and while summer was beautiful and filled with nature, color, and life, the fall has its own magic to share. Part of that is learning to loosen the grip, to let go in faith, and trust that you will move in the direction you were meant to move.

Warmly,

Rose Claire

Lighting the way with wisdom, wonder and Spirit.