The First Day of Fall
“The trees are about to show us just how beautiful it is to let go.”
- Unknown
Happy Autumn Equinox Creators and Creatrixes!
Welcome to a new season. 🧡
Autumn is such a beautiful time, and I don’t just say that because I’m a Virgo. 🤭
Autumn allows us to release all that has happened throughout the year so far as we start preparing to close out the year. Now is a wonderful time to banish the old and set the stage for the new!
The Autumn Equinox (first day of fall) marks the astronomical start of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere of the world. The Earth is tilted sideways toward the sun, and this makes for equal lengths of both day and night, just as we see during the Spring Equinox in March. After the Autumn Equinox we will have shorter days up until the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. As our days begin to wane away and night begins to reign dominant, this can be a fragile time for us humans, just as it was for our ancestors. In the days of yore, people had to be on their toes around this time of year. This is the harvest season, and this was the time when we really had to get our shit together if we wanted to survive the harsh winter months.
The times have changed drastically, and most of us don’t have to bust our asses during the harvest season (though many of us still do) in order to survive, but there are a great many of us who will feel ourselves begin to wane away along with the daylight. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD, ironically) affects around 10 million Americans and 2-8% of the European population. As human’s, we’re basically just house plants with more complicated emotions, so that lack of sunlight can really do a number on us. But during this time, there are plenty of ways you can prepare yourself for the bitter cold and darkness in the coming months. While sunlight plays a huge role in our chemistry, so too does a connection with nature. If you experience SAD, I highly recommend that you make it a point to get outside during the few hours of sunlight before and during the winter months to recharge your battery and allow yourself to reconnect with the earth, even if only for 10-15 minutes. I promise you that this will make a huge difference in your mood and it will help you drum up the energy to get through the dark season.
Now, I know. If you live in a place where the air hurts your face this can be a big ask for those of us who are sensitive to the cold. I can relate to this with every fiber of my being - I am a modern woman. I like climate control and wearing fluffy sweaters next to an open fire. However, I urge you as strongly as I urge myself to bite the bullet and step outside at least a couple of times a week to help you manage your mood. Wear your snow pants, your mittens, your hats, and your heated socks and vests, and allow yourself to reconnect with nature because it is going to make all the difference in both your physical and mental health this winter. Seasonal depression is a big enough monster as it is, so do your best not to feed it or empower it whenever you can. You don’t have to engage in winter sports (I certainly won’t be) but taking a brisk walk around the block will help you feel more grounded, and in control of your mood and mind.
I have struggled with seasonal depression since I was a child so I just had to share this bit of information to help you all prepare for the trying months ahead because I know that while the Autumn Equinox is a beautiful and POWERFUL time, it is also a bit of a buzzkill for those of us who struggle. It is like the final countdown to our literal darkest days and when you’re accustomed to this mindset, the Equinox can be a stressful time. I hope that my tips and tricks can ease your nerves so that you can start to see the beauty of this time of year and truly connect with its power without fear or reservations. The Autumn Equinox brings us balance as it kicks off the beginning of Libra Season and it can be an important time if utilized. In order to do that, you can’t be focused on the potentially dreadful months ahead, so I hope that the above passages help put your mind at ease. 🧡
What is the magickal significance of the Autumn Equinox?
We’ve briefly discussed this equinox and what it means logically, but what about spiritually? How can the power of the Equinox manifest in our lives? How can that same power be harnessed?
*Let me first just say, I know that I am posting this article on the Equinox itself, but it is not too late for you to work with this energy. The energy of the Autumn Equinox will stick with us for about a solid week so there’s still plenty of time for you to harness this power, and this is also a great resource for future equinoxes as well.
As I mentioned, the equinoxes are a balanced time, with both equal parts of night and day, we also experience an equality in the divine feminine (night/yin) and the divine masculine (day/yang).
DISCLAIMER: If you’re familiar with my content then you know that I am an ally to all. In the natural and magickal world we recognize two creative energies, feminine and masculine, but I am well aware that the human condition is more complex than that and in truth, we all carry both feminine and masculine energies and we thrive best when these two energies are balanced within us. When it comes to how you identify, that’s your business. As for my beliefs on any of these matters, I stand solid in the ideology that if it harms none, do what ye will. I generally don’t care what other people do, so long as they leave me alone.
(Introverts unite! But only in spirit though.)
Anyway, during this naturally balanced time it is a wonderful opportunity for us to balance ourselves and our lives, and usually the Universe will do some of this for us, even if we don’t want it to. For example, if you’re a workhorse like myself, during this time the Universe may conjure up a way to make you take a break. For me, this season brought about a tooth abscess that forced me to slow down, rest, recharge, and catch up with myself, something that I truly needed to do in order to keep going throughout the rest of the fall days. This painful divine intervention allowed me the time to better organize my work life, which will give me more time for the other aspects of my life. Now is a great time for you to balance out your own life. Take a step back and analyze your efforts. Are you feeding one area while letting the others starve out? Re-evalute your efforts and your time in order to discover better ways to effectively use your energies. Yes, it is a bit of work at first, but it is worth it. When all the areas of our lives are running smoothly, it actually sets the scene for us to expend less energy in them because we aren’t playing catch up or struggling to find lost items and connections. We don’t need to revive anything because we’ve kept it alive and taken good care of it, meaning it can go on to help fuel us rather than drain us.
But balance isn’t the only thing that this time brings about. As we usher in a new season, we say goodbye to the old one and we allow for major energetic releases to take place. We shed our old skin and step into a refreshed version of ourselves, if we allow it. This new energy can allow us to conquer new horizons and it can gift us a fresh perspective. However, sometimes those old energies cling to us so, this can be a great time to perform a powerful release. In the year 2024, the moon is currently disseminating (waning) through the signs of Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and Virgo until it reaches its New Moon on October first in Libra. This week will be a great time to cast for release to help free us from our old chains.
Now is the time to banish anything that we do not wish to take with us into the new year. Societally, we recognize the first of January as our new year, but in traditional witch culture, it is Samhain that ends the old year. Samhain (Halloween) is the Witch’s New Year, and it marks the end of the old and the beginning of a new spin on the Wheel of the Year. This is a time to prepare ourselves for a fresh start, and we can’t do that if we’re focused on the past. Allow the disseminating moon and the end of summer to shoo away all that you no longer wish to carry so that you may be reborn.
As I mentioned, we’re currently in the harvest season, so now is also the time to harvest from your efforts and prepare yourself for the slower pace of the coming months. Virgo season has just ended, and that is the best time to truly get both your inner and outer house in order for the coming winter. If you have not yet done so, don’t fret! There’s still time! Take advantage of this balanced time to bring peace and harmony to your inner and outer domicile. Virgo’s energies are still with us for a little while yet so you can utilize them to clean and organize. Spring cleaning is a well known concept, but fall cleaning is just as important. This is a fantastic time to open your windows, tidy up, and allow fresh energies to sweep through and cleanse your home before you lock it down for winter. Now you may be wondering, what does cleaning have to do with Witchcraft. If you’re familiar with energy work I don’t have to answer this question for you, but for those of you who are not, allow me to explain:
“Cleanliness is next to Godliness” that is to say, a clean space is high vibrational. When things are messy, cluttered, and dirty, old, stale energies are hanging out and hanging on, and those energies are actively affecting your vibrational frequency. You want to set up your environments to be high vibrational so that they can help you, not hinder you. Getting rid of the old creates space for the new, and as cyclic beings we have to do this constantly. Energy is everywhere, and it’s all affecting us, so don’t allow yourself to become a victim to your messes because they may have bigger consequences than you may realize. I don’t care what anyone says, cleaning is witchcraft.
Manifesting Tip: If you want to usher in new energies and experiences, start within the spaces that you frequent most. Clean out the old, create space for the new, and the Universe will supply it. Nature abhors a vacuum.
Once you have yourself all set up for the new phase of life, it is so much easier to embrace the change, which is a beautiful process. The only constant in life is change, so if you can embrace it you release your resistance and you allow yourself to walk in alignment with the Universe. This is KEY to manifesting and creating magick so don’t skip out on this time because it will make all the difference. I hope that this article has inspired you to work with the energies of the Equinox and the changing of the seasons, while also giving you the strength to tackle the darkness we will face in the following months. You are a conscious creator, so live as mindfully as you can. 🧡
-Wicked
🌛🧡🌜
“In Europe we call it "Autumn" because of the Latin word “autumnus” which means the passing of the year.”
“In America we call it “Fall” because LEAF FALL DOWN!”
-Unknown Tumblr Poster