This is what my Wheel of the Year looks like (my Sacred Year actually has more holy days than 8):
Midwinter - Feb 1st - https://substack.com/home/post/p-155668258
Spring Equinox / First Day of Spring - March 20-23 - https://substack.com/home/post/p-158712101
Midspring - May 1st -
Summer Solstice / First Day of Summer - June 20-23 - https://hearthfoxoracle.substack.com/p/my-sacred-wheel-summer-solstice
Midsummer - August 1st - https://hearthfoxoracle.substack.com/p/my-sacred-wheel-midsummer
Fall Equinox / First Day of Fall- September 20-23 - https://hearthfoxoracle.substack.com/p/my-sacred-wheel-fall-equinox
Midfall - November 1st
Winter Solstice / First Day of Winter - Dec 20-23
And so the Sacred Wheel turns once again! And to one of my favorite seasons: Fall. I look forward to the cooler, wet, windy days and changing leaves. Great times to camp, in my opinion! And how the energy changes to reaping and preparation. How animals begin to group up for migration or survival. How others gorge themselves or hide food; gather bedding for the long sleep. How those who stay fluff up.
Course it’s a time for many humans to harvest, to can, to dry/dehydrate, to weatherize our vehicles, homes, and wardrobes.
Time to start thinking about celebrations, mental health, and hope.
A season for crocheted scarves, hoodies, and thermos of warm, yummy drinks.
For now let’s talk about the spiritual parts of the Fall Equinox.
What is the Equinox?
It’s a time, when day and night are equal lengths, due to the sun and earth tilt/positioning. On the mainstream calendar, it marks the Beginning of the Fall season in the Northern Hemisphere and Spring in the Southern Hemisphere.
Spiritually, it’s a time of balance—day and night, life and death, hope and fear, joy and work, etc. It’s a time of letting go, of releasing what no longer serves us, or perhaps learning how to let go.
For past Fall Equinox group rituals, I’ve read two Children’s Books about the beauty and importance of Release:
Long, Loren. Little Tree. Philomel Books. 2015.
Rawlinson, Julia. The Fox and the Falling Leaves. Greenwillow Books. 2006
On sheets of paper or wooden leaf cutouts, we wrote about what we wanted to release so we could grow. Those leaves were burned. On an acorn cut out/real acorn, we’d write about our realistic goals—once we made the room to grow them. Those were kept/planted.
For other rituals, I’ve focused on the relationship between Arachne and Dionysus, via the poem Arakhneiad by Sannion (Written in Wine, page 181), about Spiders being guardians of the grapes. Then we made protection wards of popsicle sticks, white yarn, and plastic spiders. Seeing the webbing as a shield and the spiders as the defenders.
Sometimes I focus on Persephone and Her Return to the Underworld. This ritual usually consists of a guided meditation with the aid of the Melissae, going through a honey-rich hive built into the crack of a mountain and traveling deep until we find the Decaying Doe, Persephone. Asking Her for wisdom or blessings.
Last year, wearing a mask with pomegranate juice dripping from my fingertips, I was possessed by Persephone Who gave messages through me.
But this year will be different. Still a visit with Persephone, only instead of going deep under a mountain, She wants to meet above the surface, nearer to the sky.
From Persephone: "Shadow work is important for healing, but so is sunlight, moonlight, starlight, the blue hues of the sky, the glitter of space. Over the years, there's been too much emphasis on a person's shadows, that many have forgotten their light. Forgotten balance. Not all healing needs to be traumatic. Healing can be gentle, colorful too."
“A moment without sorrow.”
(Maiden of Seasons by Stephanie Sommers from pg iii of Queen of the Sacred Way.)
This year will be a healing rite. The method? Still working that part out.
In July, I stopped working on the Spring Equinox Healing Blanket, feeling inspired to crochet one for the Fall Equinox instead.
I crocheted 14 strips of orange, brown, and greens, weaved them together, and am crocheting a border to make the blanket larger. It’s not finished, but I’m going to ask the Fall Kindreds and Spirits to bless it with healing energies on the equinox (I’m making a healing blanket for each equinox and solstice).
Ideas like this make me miss doing in-person rituals, because I enjoy making things for attendees—be those things thank you gifts, something having to do with the Omen, or something for the Working. Like providing colorful strips of cloth, ribbon, or yarn to attendees for them to literally weave their intentions into a magikal piece, as I’ve done above, only on a smaller scale.
The issue with long distance Zoom rituals is that attendees may not have the materials…
I could still ask EARLY, giving attendees time to gather, even if it’s just plain pieces of paper with words or symbols written on them. Have everyone prepare for the ritual, so all we have to do is weave the pieces together and then ask for the Fall Entities blessings. Yeah, that could work. I am a Seiðkona and a Fiber Artist after all. And I’ve found a simple paper weaving video on youtube!
Once everyone has their piece finished, we’ll ask for our Kindred’s Blessing over them, to aid us in achieving our realistic goals.
Sept 12: I think I’m going to save the paper weaving for my family’s ritual. For the Druid Zoom ritual on the 16th, I’m going to teach attendees how to make intentional energy balls (or forms if they’re not able to make a ball). Persephone gave me a vision of using the delicate energies of the equinox’s balance and the power of the sun and moon for people to draw on, combining the energies of the divine and celestial with their own energies.
Gotta love it when the Kindreds are like, “Yeah, that’s a good idea, but nah.”
Some Fall Equinox Correspondances:
Deities & Spirits: Melissae, Persephone, Demeter, Dionysus, Artemis, Hekate, The Melissae, Ceres, Thor, Sif, Skadi, Death, Elen of the Ways, Cernunnos, Herne, Earth…
Energies: Hearth and Home Duties, Harvesting, Reaping, Letting Go, Purification…
Symbols: Scythe, Harvesting Tools, Fiberart Tools, Bones, Cornucopia, Rune Jera, Broomstick, Antlers…
Animals: Squirrels, Crows, Mice, Spiders, Deer, Fox, Canada Geese…
Foods & Drinks: Apples, Pumpkins, Corn, Grapes, Pomegranate, Gourds, Squashes, Sunflower Seeds, Warm Spices…
Activities: Fiberarts, Harvesting, Drying and Canning, Winter Prep, Broomstick Crafting, Masking Making, Costume Making, Hiking, Drumming…
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Trust in Sunna. Trust in Joy. Follow the Bees…
~ Priestess Foxlyn
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