Equinox days are all about balance.
This sacred day is also referred to as Mabon, or as our ancient ancestors called it, Harvest Home.
I celebrate the natural world, the changing of the seasons and the 8 sacred days on the Wheel of the year that mark these changes.
Autumnal Equinox is a time when night and day are equal in length again, the sun crosses the equator, moving southward for us in the Northern hemisphere.
Depending on where it falls astrologically, Autumnal Equinox is celebrated between September 20-23rd each year (Southern Hemisphere Date: March 20th-23rd)
Our ancestors would celebrate this as a time for the second harvests to be brought in.
The bounty of the harvest is celebrated with festivals, giving thanks for the bounty and sustenance to feed us through the winter ahead.
The Wheel of the year turns onward, bringing us back to Samhain in October where we began our cycle again. Many of the festival days have been adopted with holidays in various faiths. This is no accident; these points in the year were important community celebrations, and were kept largely intact although they were rededicated to saints and such.
We also experience some challenges to our well-being at the equinoxes. Cracks open up in Earth’s magnetic field. Researchers have long known that during weeks around equinoxes, fissures form in Earth’s magnetosphere. Solar wind can pour through the gaps to fuel bright displays of Arctic lights.
This bombardment of electromagnetic energy can make us feel “off” – giving us brain fog, difficulty sleeping and getting out of bed in the morning , nausea, exhaustion, dizziness, even memory problems. I always cleanse and balance my chakras, and give myself healing treatments to counter these symptoms.
How can we mark the sacred day?
Equinox is a time of balance, when there are equal hours of darkness and light, and that can affect people in different ways. For some, its time to honour our shadow aspects, acknowledging the parts we wish to work on to bring balance back. It can be a super energising time for some, but its natural to feel restless, or a need to bring some mindful practice back in.
Gratitude is the theme of this day, however you wish to observe it. A really quick, simple perspective is trying to just be more present, gratitude usually comes rushing in! You can try my free Zen Mindfulness guided meditation for this.
Just like Spring, we may feel the urge to purge, de-clutter, cleanse and balance ourselves, our chakras and our home energy too. Balance and cleanse your chakras, your aura, have a deep clean of whatever you feel needs it. I have recorded a lovely simple walk through elemental blessing for the home here. Or you can have me do it for you.
Magickally inclined folk look at celebrating the wisdom of the Crone, as we go within and observe the turning of the wheel towards darker months and embracing it with happy anticipation. Darkness is necessary, for it makes the light even brighter! Demeter and Persephone are strongly connected to this time of year – in mythology when Hades abducted Persephone, it set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to the earth falling into darkness each winter. This is the time of the Dark Mother, the wise Crone of the triple goddess. The goddess sets down her basket of flowers, picks up her sickle and scythe. She is prepared to reap what has been sown, so time to ponder what we have sown.
Raise Your Vibration – If you’re having people over to celebrate with you, you can raise everyone’s energy with a drum or music circle. Invite everyone to bring hand drums, rattles, singing bowls, ting-sha or other instruments. Those who don’t have an instrument can clap their hands! Its a great way to change the energy to an upbeat vibrational shift.
This one will be popular – Wine!
The god of the vine has always been celebrated at harvest times. If you’re not into making or drinking wine, that’s okay, if you have access, use grapes, leaves and vines for recipes and craft projects, seasonal home decor. Perhaps leave an offering to the Green Man or Bacchus, Dionysus whichever of the gods you most relate to.
Some simple things to introduce to home in your marking of the day:
| Herbs | Incense | Colour | Decorations | Foods |
| Hazel, Corn,
Acorns, Oak, Wheat Stalks, Cypress cones, Pine cones |
Myrrh,
Sage, Pine |
Orange
Dark red, Yellow, Brown |
Acorns,
Pomegranates, Pine Cones, Baskets of fallen leaves |
Breads, Corn,
Cornbread, Beans, Squash, Apples, Roots (carrots, potatoes, onions), Cider |
More power to you, however you choose to mark this important energy shift toward the darker months and the beauty they hold for us to go within and evolve!