Today, September 22, 2022 is the Autumn Equinox and tomorrow is the start of Libra season. Both of these times indicate and symbolize harmony and balance.
We go through life going through season after season, month after month. Each with different symbolism for the metaphysical and the physical things going on in our life experience. I have a connection with understanding and working with each different phase because there is so much wisdom in each one.
In this post I'll tell you about the symbolism of Autumn and how it is reflected in our life.
Of course you know what all the other seasons are Spring (new growth), Summer (full bloom), Fall (removing/harvest) and Winter (full inner retreat). Fall and winter are the yin seasons. Summer and spring are the yang. There’s yin and yang to everything in the earth dimension reality. Yin is sleep, Yang is awake. Yin is cold and Yang is hot. You see how they are always opposites. Up and down. So today marks the start of our descent into the yin half of the year. The beginning of the cold season. The beginning of going within. I'll make a post about all things yin and yang someday.
What I want you to take away from this post is that we are in constant movement, going through the cycles of life/ the cycles of the world. We grow and expand, and we let go and decrease. All so that we can then again grow and expand, that is the purpose of all life, growing and expansion.
A book called "Women Who Run with the Wolves" which I named my dog after, Loba, calls this cycle of life the "life death life" cycle. It’s the natural way of things. And it makes life easier knowing about these flows and rhythms. When you can attune your body and mind to them you flow more effortless with life. All things get done naturally without effort within this rhythm, that is the genius of mother nature and her cycles.
This is a big part of my teaching for attaining lasting peace. Knowing that there are ups and downs; a season for all things. When you know this, you don’t get so attached to the negative. You can find acceptance in it. Knowing that the negative emotions and negative things of life have a place. This lets you not be so attached to it, and make it easier to move on from the negative.
So let’s get into the fall equinox meaning and symbolism.
Honoring the Blessings
Equal day and equal night. The equinoxes are truly the symbols of yin and yang energy. And one thing we can do today is honor it. Honor harmony and balance, honor the season of yang we just had. That included last spring and last summer. We can remark on all the blessings we just received.
I think the biggest part of what this fall time means is preparing for the next half of the year. Preparing for the yin season, preparing to shed and let things fall away and prepare for the darkness and solitude of winter. This is physical and symbolic.
Release
Think of how a tree drops it’s leaves. What in your life can you drop and let go of? The tree does this so she can then rest (winter time) and then have enough energy to create new leaves spring.
What is no longer needed in your life? What wants to be released? It’s a great time for deep cleaning. Remember how I said nature gets everything done? Well the time of Virgo is really symbolic and has strong energies of cleaning and organizing. This is the time that we just ended. Tomorrow starts Libra the time that is right after Virgo.
When you're in tune with the energy it will possess you to clean out your life. Without the struggle. You get inspired to release. This can mean physical things in your home or bad habits like laziness that can come from the hot summer days. This happened to me this last month. I organized more things in my life than I ever had. I deep cleaned everything I could. And I was completely inspired to. It was fun.
Preparing For Winter
Another aspect in this fall phase is the preparation for winter. Physically we will see this in harvesting food for winter. Produce of this time are pumpkins, apples, grapes, nuts and berries. These are all symbolic to the feminine energy which happens to be yin energy.
When we using these types of produce, often the things we make with them are warming foods. Such as pies (pumpkin and apple) and making the grapes into a warming drink of wine. My favorite drink in this time is apple cider. If you’re not a cook you can still tap into and honor this energy by burning scented candles of those produce.
The symbolic/metaphysical aspect preparing for winter is having the understanding that we will all experience dark times in our lives. Mentally getting a grasp on the reality of negative emotions as well as the reality of eventual death. If summer and spring represent happy and joyous times in life then fall and winter represent the opposite of that.
During this time we also see holidays such as Halloween and Day of the Dead. Where we honor death and the energies of the other side.
To wrap up..
There is a season for everything. In fall, we honor the good that just came, we release what we no longer need, and we prepare for the dark winter ahead. The perfect way to celebrate the Equinox and bring all three aspects together is with a bonfire. I suggest having an autumn beverage, wine or apple cider. Write a list of all the things you are grateful for and share them to the elements(big fire right in front of you). Also have a list, on paper, of what you are ready to let go of. With thanks, place the paper you want to get rid of in the fire and watch it burn up. The flames can create some warmth for you as the nights are getting longer and temps are going down.
I also want to write a little prayer for this time. Read these next lines in a prayerful and meditative tone.
God, Holy One, be with us during this change of seasons. Be with us as we welcome the energy of letting go and going within. Be with us during all the negative moments in our live, whether physical or emotional. Let us know that no matter how hard and dark it can get in our lives, that the next season will come and usher in positive energy, more life and more expansion. Thank you for all the lessons and gifts so far. Let me always be in touch with my own energy and be wise. Amen.
Let me know which part of the world you are coming from. If you have seasons or not. I'm new to the tropics and I am excited to experience my first Fall down here. I came from Wisconsin where the seasons are loud and proud. I can tell that it's no longer summer because during the summer season it was hard to leave the air conditioning. I am finally back to walking my dog.
Happy Equinox everyone.
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