Time for Reflection: Celebrating Fall Equinox
Dear Reader,
I’m writing to you on the morning of the equinox. I saw Venus shining through the clouds in the predawn sky and admired her radiant beauty. The mornings and evenings are starting to darken and cool down, while the days can still get quite warm. I’m finding myself lighting candles and sipping on warm tea again.
How are you experiencing this time of year where you live?
What are you noticing in your surroundings?
The beginning of fall
The end of September features a major turning point in the solar year. At the September Equinox, the Sun enters the sign of Libra in the tropical zodiac and marks the exact midpoint between Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice and the start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. This year, the exact Libra/Fall Equinox falls on September 23, 8:50 a.m. CET (convert to your local time).
At the start of fall, the Earth’s axis is neither tilted toward nor away from the Sun, resulting in nearly equal lengths of day and night, with nighttime growing. Fall Equinox is the ‘Waning Half Moon’ and ‘sunset’ of the year when the light is fading and everything is taking on a golden glow. We’re entering the dark half of the year, and after the Equinox, the nights will be longer than the daytime.
Doing less, being more
We’re starting to slow down, turn within, and gather the lessons we’ve learned this year. It’s a time of thanksgiving when we celebrate the harvest of what we’ve grown and appreciate all that we have. It’s a time of guiding ourselves away from the activity of summer and into deeper levels of connection and introspection.
Libra, the scales, is a cardinal air sign and signifies a season of initiating (cardinal) understanding (air). Belonging to Venus, goddess of love and wisdom, Libra promises a season of reflecting on our values, what we love, and how we can nourish ourselves and each other. Libra season is here to remind us that we’re relational beings and to help us create balance and harmony in our lives.
Are you ready to enter the portal of fall?
How are you arriving in the fall season?
What’s in your baskets?
What has matured?
What have you learned?
What would feel good now?
You can take the questions sprinkled throughout this post on your walk, into your journal, your dreamtime, or any other kind of creative or contemplative practice. I hope they tickle you and help you weave yourself deeper into the mysteries of fall.
What this time of year is good for:
Harvesting, preserving, collecting seeds for the spring, soaking up sunlight, nature walks, creating a seasonal altar in your home, journaling, reflection, divination, ritual baths, self-massage, nourishing meals, relaxing evening practices to weave you into the waning energy of fall, evening walks, watching the sunset
Finding balance
Fall Equinox represents a balance point in the annual cycle of the Sun when the whole planet is bathed in equal amounts of light, and ahead of us are the waning days and darkening nights of fall. Fall is the beginning of the end of the solar year before a new birth and beginning at the Winter Solstice. Over the next three months, we’ll be asked to use our energy wisely to complete the projects we value the most, and to let go of the rest.
What in your life is in balance and what is not?
How may you bring balance and harmony to your everyday life?
How may you start preparing for winter?
Until next time…
I very much look forward to writing to you again around the time of the Fall Cross-Quarter, which marks the heart of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and heralds a time of release and closure. It falls on November 7, 5:36 p.m. CET this year (convert to your local time).
In the meantime, I’m wishing you a beautiful start of fall wherever you are. May you be blessed with good health and balance in your life.