This is a special time of year, a major seasonal shift from the peak of long, sunshiny days to the repose of darker, cooler mornings and evenings. This is my favorite time of year! It’s the crisp air, fall produce and cozy nights. Long walks with leaves crunching underfoot, the spectacle of Nature putting on a show of colors as she prepares for slowing down, the inevitable deep sleep. Coming off a big summer of retrogrades the Fall begins with a supercharge from this week’s Solar Eclipse on October 14.
Today as I type this, it’s Friday the 13th, both a totally cool synchronicity for Spooky Season and a legendary date for the Day of the Goddess! Upon the Autumnal Equinox three weeks ago (September 23), night and day were the same length, the balance point between above and below, masculine and feminine, light and dark. Fall is our embrace of the Yin side of the year, the Feminine, the container, keeper and provider — nurturing growth, communion, creativity and creation.
It’s not a season to be taken lightly. With several religious celebrations happening throughout Fall to commemorate inner strength, resolve, will, abundance, gratitude — we are all getting intense collective energy toward cultivating the better part of our humanity — even with the current unrest in the world which is intensely affecting the Collective Consciousness. Libra holds space to look at our relationships to others and ourselves, how we are showing up or holding back.
In these noisy times where opinions are expressed more than facts and history, where information is parsed out in pieces and manipulated, where we see obvious travesties and have little guidance on how to reckon the actions of other humans (while feeling the pain of others very deeply) — it’s extremely important to remember that everything you seek, all the questions you have, can be given context inside yourself. That is where wisdom lies, in the quietness of your heart. The mind will only try to “figure things out” and seek concrete answers, but the Heart knows that wisdom flows through an open channel. That channel can only remain open if the mind isn’t restricting that flow with the incessant consumption of outside information.
How do you balance the barrage of beta-brain distraction: media, social media, notifications galore — with the needs of your calmer self — exercise, meditation, silence? All the experts say you take breaks from reading and researching, from talking and pondering. Perhaps even set small chunks of time per day to consume media and do not do it any other time (something I plan to initiate)!
Go spend time in Nature or somewhere you love while doing a calming activity, the simpler the better. Ask questions directly to the Universe and ask from the deepest part of your heart. In the moments between moments, allow yourself to drift off, daydream or float to things that calm you. It is in these times of prayer and contemplation that you can get an epiphany or feel an understanding about something. Perhaps a recurring theme or image, words or sensory stimulation. This is also the time when our monkey mind comes in and tries to pick apart whatever that is…to overthink it so that before you know it…that thing is gone. Instead of doing that, allow it to just be. Don’t weigh and measure it, don’t assign it a value, simply let it be. Real comprehension and “downloading” happens in these moments. Connection with Self, with Source. Also, expressing gratitude is vital for integrating the information, however it is coming to you. Imagination is also information — we are powerful creators, dear readers! Do not discount what you consider to be “mere imagination.”
The Collective is getting a wave of frequency and vibration from archetypical (deep within our psyche) energies which is highlighting polarities and opposites — with balancing priorities, piercing the veil of ignorance (our unconscious participation in the world without taking note of what is happening), justice and injustice, compromise and negotiation, war and peace.
Libra’s symbol or glyph of the scales, like the scales of Justice, is indicative of the Egyptian Goddess Ma’at — Goddess of truth, justice, balance and order. Libra is also represented by the Justice card in the Tarot. After the end of life, Ma’at weighs your heart against the feather of truth. In Egyptian lore, to go onto the Afterlife, for your Soul to ascend, your heart had to be as light as Ma’at’s feather of truth, the heart being the important organ for it held all the wisdom of a person’s lifetime. If your heart was too heavy, your journey ended. There’s much more to the story and tons of symbolism, but the main theme is Universal order, maintained through purity of spirit. The measure of completion, of a life well lived and a Soul ready to transcend, is a burden-less, open, loving heart. Hence why we work to heal and self-actualize, to release the burdens of the past and our lower ego which seeks to keep us small, and therefore “safe.” Everything we do as individuals affects the Collective, for better or worse.
During this season of balance and harmony, think on where you’d like to feel more balanced, and how you can harmonize your own needs with the needs of others — so that nobody is left depleted or resentful. Acknowledge what you do have and where you have abundance, on what is working in your life. We celebrate being alive, having food to eat and a place to sleep if we’re so fortunate, for a kind soul to count on when times are down. Harvest, bounty, merriment, feasting, dancing, celebrating, decorating — the stuff of Autumn — let us revel in transition toward what makes us more accepting and open to new experiences. And we can also be humble, pray and feel empathy for those who suffer, for lost lives, we can grieve and mourn, address the heaviness in the world while also counting our blessings. It’s both the sweet and the sour, optimism and despair, all things exist at once.
Many traditions mark this as the time of year to invoke the Soul, to continue purifying and readying the body for the slowing of winter. From Hindu to Wiccan and beyond, this time of year invokes celebrations and ritual to honor abundance, fertility, devotion and Divine Femininity. These three months of Fall we can feel ourselves at a cellular level being more connected to the life force that is in all of us, to Nature, to Spirit, to our own power as creators, to the “other side,” to those who have passed on, angels, non-human beings. This is why cleansing and recommitting to good habits for health, wholeness and connection is vital during this time of winding down, decay and rebirth. Creating an Autumn altar is a strong way of grounding and connecting to the magic of this season.
The veil is at its thinnest this time of year. Access to spiritual help is readily available. Avoid being reactionary about the noise outside of you. Try to be unbothered by the opinions of others — after all, they are merely opinions, and that’s not to say that words are not powerful because they are, but giving energy to an everyday, uninformed, uninvited opinion is to feed it, which only replicates it in the collective. It only has as much power as you give it.
Create an Autumn Altar
Find items like dried leaves and flowers, tall grasses, stones of orange, yellow, brown, red, green and purple, ritual candles, sound items like a bells or percussion. Add any deities you admire and especially ones for release, abundance and creativity. Think of the Elements when you do an altar and make sure all Four Elements — Fire, Earth, Air and Water — are represented. A small vase w/ flowers, a chalise w/ water, wood, matches, candles, incense, etc. In honor of Samhain and Dia de los Muertos energies, add pictures and items of departed loved ones, add food and trinkets for them, and also any items signifying death, transformation, the Spiritual realm.
New Moon in Libra — Double Libra sky — October 14
What can you do to cleanse and prepare yourself for the powerful energies sending data to you? If you were to weigh your heart on the scales of Ma’at, would it be as light as a feather? What is weighing it down?
You can use this New Moon with its super duper charged up energy from the Solar Eclipse to choose something — and not the usual things you always choose — to Release, to Preserve, and to Create.
During the next two to three weeks, how can you honor the Divine Feminine in yourself that seeks to purify, harmonize, nurture, prune and grow? Really think about this at your deepest level and determine what is time to dissolve in your life, where you want to see more abundance, and what you want to create for your reality. Write it out to solidify your intention and light a ritual candle or tea light to initiate your prayer/intention. Say the things you wish to release, preserve and create. See these things happening in your life, imagine what it all looks like. Bless it in your way, with your chosen prayers and affirmations. The seeds you plant on this powerful New Moon will get a boost from the Solar Eclipse!
Eclipse Season - Libra/Aries axis October 14th & Scorpio/Taurus axis October 28th
We are crossing a threshold upon this second Eclipse season of 2023, a 2-4 week occurrence where we get a pair of eclipses — a solar and lunar. Solar eclipses occur during New Moons and Lunar eclipses during Full Moons. On this Solar Eclipse we have the Moon at its South Node in Libra, which means it’s opposite is the North Node in Aries. Libra is balance and harmony where Aries is action and confrontation. Libra is peace where Aries is war. Libra is about relationships where Aries is about self determination. Neither is wrong, these are their archetypes. Aries is fiery passion and forging ahead, ruled by Mars. Libra is intelligent negotiation and artistic beauty, ruled by Venus.
We often see and feel the effects of an eclipse pair before they start. You may already have noticed physical symptoms or a change in energy throughout this past week. This is an important time to slow down and allow yourself space to adjust through the shifts that the eclipses inevitably bring. I tend to notice things physically during eclipses — the last one made me stick to my stomach for a week. The strongest effects will be between the New Moon in Libra on October 14 and the Full Moon in Taurus on October 28.
Upon this eclipse you are being summoned to examine your relationships. What are your personal needs? What are your needs in relationship? Do you put yourself before others? Do you put others before yourself? It’s okay to oscillate between the two as long as long as the pendulum swings evenly. After all, we do not exist without witness, without the perspective of the other to witness us. We are not islands to ourselves, but we also have to meet our own needs. To have true harmony, Libra’s ultimate goal, there must be balance between self and relationship — between individual and collective — a way to harmonize the opposites.
Reflect on these things as you set your intentions in this powerful, fertile soil. Happy New Moon and Eclipse!
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Images - Pixabay
Autumn path - Pixabay
Fall flowers - Allison Jones
Libra glyph - Dorothe + Darkmoon_Art
Mabon/Autumn altar - Pixabay
Solar Eclipse - Pete Linforth