The Fall Equinox - Second Harvest, The new Thanksgiving
Amidst a potential second wave of Covid, an international racism crisis, kids going back to school (or not) and extreme weather events, we move into the Autumn Equinox season, 2020.
This morning I woke up to the smell of campfire wafting in through my cracked window. I suddenly realised I was dreaming when I looked out my window and saw nothing but blackness, besides a little fire pit burning brightly, just outside my kitchen. In my half-sleep state is was really comforting, until I came fully awake and was like, ‘hey I’m in the middle of the city - campfire smell? Wrong!'. And then, ‘Oh yeah, everything is on fire. Again’.
This year it’s south of us, in Washington, Oregon, California - but only a couple of years ago it was our turn here in BC. 3 years in a row of burning. Such a relief when that seemed to pass though not without casualties close to our hearts. And really, we’re all on the same coastline here. We all breathe the same air. And today the air is so thick in Vancouver, we cannot see the skyline of the city.
Friends in LA tell us that there is soot on the cars. The sky is blazing orange, day after day. The sun like meteor, standing still.
I’ve been finding it so fascinating lately, to witness the human spirit amidst crisis. It kind of reminds me of … remember Wesley when he gets caught by the Dread Pirate Roberts in the Princess Bride? Every night he says: “Good Night Wesley. Good Work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning”. But he never does.
It feels like that:
Get the kids to school, do the laundry, go to the dentist, get groceries, good work, sleep well, we’ll mostly likely die in the morning.
Get up and do it again. Keep moving, Nothing to see here.
It could be just sheer overwhelm. And well, we still have to eat and so we do. And when there’s kids involved, there’s that bit about mitigating trauma.
In these crazy times (of the kind I have never seen before in my lifetime) the way forward often feels uncertain.
I like this quote from Ralph Blum’s Book of Runes: “When the fisherman can’t fish, they repair their nets.”
I’ve found again and again, that the best medicine in times of trouble has been to revisit those things that I know work and those things that I know fortify my foundations. Repair the nets, fortify the walls, batten down the hatches!
I have many such self care and family care fortifications - but for me, returning to observations around the Wheel of the Year has been my go-to for the past decade. More than any other practice.
I think it’s because, no matter how entrenched we get in human activities, we are still a part of the great ecosystem of the earth, and our bodies know this even if our minds aren’t paying attention. Refocusing our awareness and remembering our intrinsic connection to the natural world in simple ways can be deeply soothing.
September
This month has always felt hopeful, and full of power in that hope. Because of back-to-school and end-of-summer vibes, there’s this energetic movement that propels us into the next phase of the year, in much that same way as New Years Eve propels us into the next year. Harnessing that energy with intention can really work magic.
The ancient Celts broke the year up into two halves - the light, masculine half and the dark, feminine half. On the Great Wheel, the upcoming Fall Equinox is that tipping point between them, when darkness overtakes the light, which sounds ominous under the circumstances. But not so much, when we consider this sacred wheel-cycle we live in in its entirety, where the earthly cycle goes from light to dark and back again. And, where the Solstices are places of power in the light and the dark, Equinoxes are more of a threshold - a pregnant pause. And in that pause, all dualities are in balance for a brief moment - good-evil, light-dark, masculine-feminine.
Our ancestors were agrarian and as such, lived much closer to the land than most of us do today. If you’ve ever taken the time to sit still in a natural place for a day or two, you’ll know how quickly this connection begins to come back. Because of this, they were highly aware of the seasonal changes and what they signified to their day-to-day lives. So in the Fall, because everything starts to die, there’s this theme of reflecting on death that really begins here and then gets deeper through Samhain.
It became customary during Mabon (Equinox) in Ireland and in parts of Western Scotland and Cornwall, to visit burial mounds, called cairns, to honour dead ancestors… Approaching such places at Mabon was deemed safe because it was believed that the balance of light and dark would act like an equilateral cross and offer protection from any negative spirits attracted to the graveyards.
from The Sabbats by Edain McCoy
This where familiar traditions like the Jack-O Lantern came from - originally tiny fires inside of gourds that were carried to ward off spirits.
I love celebrating the Equinox rather than the traditional western world Thanksgiving with all of its colonial overtones. There’s still a way to be thankful and celebrate the harvest season with good friends and family, without upholding a direly inappropriate holiday. Equinox celebrations are much, much older and common worldwide in many of our ancestral lineages, Why not reclaim them?
Other Names
The September equinox marked the first day of the French Republican Calendar
Mabon (Neo-Pagan)
Alban Elfed (Druidry)
Second Harvest (Europe)
Jashne Mihraga (Iran)
Chuseok (Korea)
Higan (Japan)
Dożynki (Slavic)
Some Themes and symbols
Balance and equilibrium
The Horn of Plenty
Apples and everything to do with them - cider, applesauce, magic. They represent regeneration, renewal, wholeness.
Acorns
Harvest
Reaping what we have sown
The meaning of death in our lives
Grapes, blackberries, wine
Thanks-giving
Rest and celebration
Contemplation
Colours: green, red, brown, yellow, gold
Full Moon: Harvest Moon
Things To Do
Wild food foraging and nature walks. Consider that few hours (or days) in silence & observation in nature that I mentioned above.
Harvest your garden & prepare it for the colder months.
Decorate your altar with the best seasonal fruits, berries and wildcrafted greens.
Build an outdoor shrine to the spirits of Place and your garden. Leave offerings of your harvest bounty there for them.
Build a cairn outdoors to commemorate your ancestors. Offerings can be left here as well.
Preserve your bounty - jams, jellies, pickles, preserves. Making berry wine was common at this harvest (mmm blackberry wine!). Plan a day with friends.
And of course have a huge feast with family and friends! Celebrate your thankfulness, gratitude and reverence for your life and the bounty of your own personal harvest.
Prep for winter: a pre-winter house clean is a great idea in September. Utilise that dynamic harvest energy!
If you want to get devotional, fast on the Equinox and meditate on the previous year and what you would have done differently.
Divination is common throughout this dark season.
Write and perform a ritual to restore balance and harmony to your life. Here’s some inspiration.
Do you have favourite Equinox traditions? Come and tell us all about it!
