Here's the ritual from last night: ------ Fall Equinox - Persephone's Descent By Foxlyn Wren September 23, 2026 ADF COoR Style Virtual Fire Proto-Grove, ADF On the Altar: Persephone's Oracle Mask in the back. Rattle, Kuksa offering cup, Oracle statue, Hestia, Persephone Statue, red apple candle, rose quartz, fox, tea cup of water, Melissae figure, Molly Remer's Return , a real white-tailed deer antler.  In the back are offerings, lighter, and divination tools. "Tonight we celebrate the Fall Equinox by honoring Persephone and Her journey to the Underworld. In the spring, She emerges from the dark Earth as Kore, the Flower Maiden, the newborn fawn dancing in the warm sunlight. A Divine Birth Doula. In the fall, the Dying Doe withers, making Her descent back into dark cool earth–decaying, transitioning into Persephone, the Hellenic Queen of the Underworld, Beloved of Hades, and Caregiver of the Dead. A Divine Death Doula. And in return, Persephone will give us Ad...

 Yay!  I'm glad that the First Day of Fall is gloomy, wet, and in the 60s.  AC is off, windows are open, and its Black and Orange Cat season.  As well as Apple and Pumpkin Picking Season.  As a month with an R and a Ber, it's hot chocolate season (because of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, I only drink hot chocolate in months with an R--I know super nerdy).   Today or tomorrow I plan on making a spice cake.  I was going to make a stew, but our fridge is stuffed with left overs. This year--I believe when it started--Rev Vic started a High Day Pen Pal project and I've been enjoying it.  I just got two letters yesterday.  This High Day the prompt was a favorite equinox dish, so I knew I was sending a recipe--I've never been to one of those recipe sharing gatherings, but I have memories of older relatives getting together and swapping recipes.  Might as well share my favorite recipes!  I messaged my sendee to check for allergies and ...

 Wednesday, Sept 23rd, I'll be leading a ritual for Persephone's Descent, as I've done for many years outside of ADF and a couple of years for Virtual Fire.  I'm still working on writing a script for this year.  Persephone's being fairly quiet right now, but I do feel like Molly Remer's Return may be of significance.  At least for me.  A Return to Home Within Ourselves.   Twice a year, Persephone returns home.  Home above ground with life in each step.  Home underground with decay in each step. This concept is something that my Spiritual Mothers seem to be stressing at the moment.  Other than the art focus, but then art is also home for me.  I love art--photography, drawing, painting, sculpture, writing, fiber arts, baking, party planning.  Even when I was a little kid, my mom had given me these old falling apart Disney art history books.  I loved them!  I remember drawing the tiny worlds of mice living in our walls ...

 Boy, I woke up from a dream that freaked me out at first, but once I sat with it and digested, it became less scary. I had a dream that I was carrying around and sleeping with a dead, gutted, rotting corpse of a white-tailed doe.  I knew it was bad and unhygienic and that I could get sick from it, but I did it anyway, until the very end of the dream when I finally got rid of it.  When the flies started staying on me is when I did the right thing. Given that deer represent joy and gentleness to me, I was a little freaked out.   White-tailed Deer also represent Persephone (and Hades) to me, so I was thinking maybe this was a message from Her, especially as it's about time for Her Descent.  For me: White-Tailed Deer = Persephone and Hades Reindeer = Elen of the Ways Red Deer = Artemis Elk = Algiz Rune Spirit Persephone often takes the form of a Doe for me.  This time of the year, She appears as a half dead, half living doe in various stages of decomposit...

March 20 :  Spring Equinox - March 20, 2026 The Sun is strong enough to carry itself higher into the sky! Reindeer Mother has calved and shed Her antlers!  She's reunited with Her herd! Now it is time for Rabbit and Serpent to take Their places as Gatekeeper in my ADF Druidry! Also it's the Epopteia, Persephone has returned from the Underworld, walking with Life in every step! Happy First Day of Spring here in the northern hemisphere and Fall in the southern.  I don't know if I have any southern hemi readers, but all the same. I don't have a big ritual planned for today or tomorrow.  On Tuesday or Wednesday, my online grove did a Good Luck ritual round robin, where we used dice, and Loki, Crows, and Raven gave advice about turning bad luck into good luck via practical means. My kids haven't said anything about this High Day...plus today, Midkid's coming back from a 2 day school camping trip.  Normally, I'd be reading equinox stories to them leading up, but I...

Sometime in the mid 20-teens, I began to have visions of a cave. Into the cave trickled a stream of blood, thick and bright. Sometimes flowing into the cave, sometimes out. Menstrual blood. This was the entrance to Gaia’s Womb, I’d learn. Then I started following a White-Tailed Doe to the mouth of Gaia’s Womb. Once, before going inside, the Doe turned to me. She was half dead and half alive. She continued inside. My Fox Guide would sometimes meet me at the opening and he would enter. I wanted to follow, but it was very dark and I had no light. Sometimes Honeybees would pick me up and take me to another entrance of Gaia’s Womb through their honey-rich beehive built into an crack. From here, I could see the bees not just carrying pollen, but also souls back and forth from the hive. One darkmoon in September, Fox and I came to the opening. This time I needed no additional light, because inside were bioluminescence light from mushrooms, mosses, flowers, and other plants. Fox and ...

 On September 16th, 2025, I performed a Fall Equinox ritual for my druid grove honoring Persephone and Her Return to the Underworld. The focus that I wanted to have was a “moment without sorrow”. Day of, I was struggling with my Au-ADHD—some days are better than others and the 16th was just ugh. That lying bitch Anxiety was just doing just that—being a lying bitch. I love writing and performing rituals despite my neurodivergencies, such as autism (which I’m only self diagnosed for the time being), ADHD, and dyslexia. But because of those divergences, sometimes I get nervous about messing up—even though there’s nothing wrong with messing up during ritual, I do it every time. It’s just the nature of the beast, and my Kindreds have never got upset with me. Just is, you know? I’m human, not perfect. But on Tuesday, Anxiety was just being bitchy, making me all nervous and stuff. There weren’t even any strangers! Perhaps because Persephone’s Descent is one of my favorite rituals...

 This is what my Wheel of the Year looks like (my Sacred Year actually has more holy days than 8): Midwinter - Feb 1st  -  https://hearthfoxoracle.blogspot.com/p/my-sacred-wheel-midwinter.html Spring Equinox / First Day of Spring  - March 20-23 -  https://hearthfoxoracle.blogspot.com/p/my-sacred-wheel-spring-equinox.html Midspring - May 1st -  https://hearthfoxoracle.blogspot.com/2025/04/my-sacred-wheel-midspring.html Summer Solstice / First Day of Summer - June 20-23 -   https://hearthfoxoracle.blogspot.com/2025/06/my-sacred-wheel-summer-solstice.html Midsummer - August 1st  -  https://hearthfoxoracle.blogspot.com/2025/07/my-sacred-wheel-midsummer.html Fall Equinox / First Day of Fall- September 20-23 -   https://hearthfoxoracle.blogspot.com/2025/09/my-sacred-wheel-fall-equinox.html Midfall - November 1st  -  https://hearthfoxoracle.blogspot.com/2025/10/my-sacred-wheel-midfall.html Winter Solstice / First Day of Winter - ...