We have our choice--we can lament the passing of the warm weather and become depressed at the 'death' of the plant life all around us; or we can welcome the waxing night and the chance to draw inward as nature does at this time...counting our blessings. This is an excellent time to decide what to drop from our lives as we watch the trees gracefully dropping their leaves. And we can also think on our goals as we begin to see the seeds which store the secret of life within; they teach us to be patient and wait for the right time.
The Autumnal Equinox is called Mabon in some Celtic traditions and signifies the second in-gathering of the Harvest (the first is Lammas--August 1, the third will be Hallowmas.) In our land, it is apple cider time, wine-making time, the season of bounty when the ripened fruits and vegetables remind us of the goodness of the Mother Earth. Indeed, this is a season in which to give thanks to such a generous Lady--and there are celebrations the world 'round which honor the Female Power of Nature.
In Roman times, the Goddess Ceres was honored, and the best of the harvest was offered to her as a thanksgiving for her bounty. In ancient Briton, she was known as the Harvest Queen, the Ivy Girl, the Neck, and the Mare. It was about this time of year that the Druids began their month of Ivy, which symbolized 'resurrection' to them--meaning that in the seed of the dying plant lies the secret of life born anew. This was the way the Earth balanced--and at the Autumnal Equinox the idea of Balance is foremost.
At this time the ancient Babylonians had their New Year--though in Persia, this was changed nine centuries ago to the Spring Equinox. The Jewish people, however, still celebrate the ancient New Year in the season of the Fall Equinox. The call of the ram's horn (Shofar) is a call to harvest what was planted and nurtured, as the Angel Gabriel was said to awaken the dead to eternal life. The Jewish people examine themselves and then purify themselves so they can start the New Year in a balanced way. In the Jewish home, special foods are served for Rosh Hashanah: honey cake, apple slices and honey, with a special blessing for a 'sweet year.' Traditional bread called challeh (hah' leh) is baked in a round shape, symbolizing the 'whole, round' year. Sometimes it is shaped into a braid or 'ladder' or decorated with little birds and ladders, symbols to help prayers 'rise to God?' Sweet potatoes, meat, prunes, carrots (in Yiddish 'meyrin', meaning 'to increase' as the New Year should increase in goodness).
Spiritual cleansing and atonement is a theme also in the English celebration of "Harvest Home." After the harvest is gathered in, goods are brought to churches and schools where they are distributed to the needy--the fruits of the harvest are shared with those less fortunate.
Celts used to offer their harvest thanksgiving in ancient stone circles, leaving offerings of wheat, honey, and water on a stone altar. The Jews also use honey and grain as traditional offerings, and as a wish that the new year may be a sweet one.
At this time of the year, brush is cleared out and gathered in for use in cooking, shed-roofing, and bedding for the animals. The ancient Canaanites instituted a holiday at this time which survives
in the Jewish "Succot" where boughs of fruit trees and evergreens were made into little "booths" in which the farmers lived for one full week of harvest celebrations. This could also have served a practical purpose--living close to the place where the harvest-work was being done helped keep the intense focus of the time in a communal cooperative spirit. Other cultures also did this, for instance, the Thesmorphia was celebrated in ancient Greece--women built bowers out of plants and sat on the ground to establish contact with the Earth. Bowers also has a "lovers" connotation, as well, serving as a private little place where lovers could meet.
Threshing floors may have also been situated near the harvest area, too. And these threshing floors may have also served the purpose of a ritual area where harvest thanksgiving was given.
In the orient, roasted pigs, poultry, fruit and special pastries are offered to the Earth as a special thanks for the harvest. In the practicality of the orient, the 'essence' of these foods was taken by the divinity; then the humans can partake of the 'substance.'
Many Native American tribes celebrated the Corn Maiden at this time; the practice of hanging 3 colored ears of corn on the door of one's home is a survival of their offering to her. These ears of corn are both a declaration of thanksgiving the Corn Maiden and a prayer for continued abundance and prosperity; a blessing on the house, and on all who enter therein.
As vegetable realm is honored, so too is the animal realm. The Feast of St. Denis (October 9), one of the Patrons of France, is perhaps a holdover from the Dionysian revels. St. Denis was to be martyred by being eaten by wild beasts; but instead, they became tame when they saw him and simply licked his feet. The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (October 4) also reminds us of the possibilities of communication between man and beast. Horses are very much intertwined with the Autumnal Equinox time of the year, honoring herd animals, which have an ancient connection with humans’ survival on this planet. Later in the season is the Feast of St. Hubert (November 3), who was a hunter who beheld a vision of a white Stag who spoke to him and changed his soul.
The theme diverges--as in Chinese myth of the visit of the Fox- faerie to Chu Hze--the melding of the human and animal nature produces a capacity for higher, even "angelic" knowledge. It is
not by the DENYING of the animal nature that man arises; it is by the EMBRACING of that nature, and the balancing and coming to terms with it.
The Feast of the Conception of John the Baptist on Sept. 24 celebrates the triumph of the return of the life-spark to the old ones; John the Baptist was famous for his hermit ways of living on locusts in the desert, wearing animal skins identifying him with the animals, and telling the truth as he saw it.
A Macumba feast on September 27 in Brazil celebrates 'the Ibeji's'– The Twins--associated with the European saints Cosmas and Damian. They are warriors who have turned their skill to healing--and they represent the most ancient ancestors of the human race. (They can also be represented as one male twin and one female twin) In the Macumba tradition, which springs from ancient African roots, they show themselves as children, and people give them 'treats' as a prayer for healing. Perhaps this shows that the way to turn energy from killing to healing is to become child-like again. Games of ball and marbles are played now!
September 28 is 'American Indian Day' in the United States; these Native Americans have much to teach us of being children of Nature, and of communication with the animal world. This would be a good day to partake and honor their knowledge.
September 28 is also Michaelmas, the Feast of St. Michael and all the angels. This feast was the one chosen by the Christian Church fathers to include all the festivities of the Pagan Festival of the Autumnal Equinox. This day was celebrated merrily. It was said that it was good to sleep late on this day, and that if one would eat roast goose on this day, one would not want for money all year long. This feast neatly combined the harvest festival with the masculine energies of the time--St. Michael is the Angel of the Sun (and the Equinox IS a Sun-Feast) who was strong enough to be named the chief of the angelic 'army.' The Basques take him for theirpatron; they are rumored to have brought his image from Atlantis, where some say they originated.
On September 30, the Macumba religion celebrates the feast of one of its own patrons, Xango. Xango is associated with St. Jerome, and he has ancient connections to the African god who was brought over with the Yoruba people from Western Africa into Brazil. He is also a warrior-saint, associated with fire. He is said to be lightning- born, and he lives in a stone (meteor?). His color is Red; he carries an ax (double-headed), adn his metal is copper. Meteors are said to be a direct emanation of his power. In Macumba, he is an ally for breaking spells and he helps with protection. He loved foods like rooster or sheep, and he especially loves crab. He is shown with a Lion-totem and is said to be "King in his own country."
On October 2, people of Spanish/Indian descent honor their own PERSONAL guardian angels. On their personal altars, they place white flowers and 9 white candles (one for each heavenly choir). They offer treats, also, and pray for continued guidance and a loving bond with their angelic friends. (We may expand this tom honoring of our personal spiritual guides.)
At the Equinox, day is balanced with night. A closely connected concept to Balance is Beauty--and at this time of the year, both are in evidence. In the Harvest festival of Hungary, heart-shaped cookies with curlicue icing are baked, symbols of the Goddess of the Earth, or of Venus. They are exchanged by lovers.
Try this: At the moment of the Equinox, stand an egg on its end; it will stay upright by itself, illustrating the power of the time. Another practice (this came from Persia) is to stand an orange in a bowl of water; at the moment of the equinox it is supposed to rotate! Oval eggs and round oranges symbolize the "wholeness” of the year.
The Beauty of Autumn and the Harvest is great! A legend from China illustrates both the lure and the pitfalls of beauty. There was a Cowherd who saw 7 maidens come down from heaven and bathe in a pool. He fell in love with the youngest of the maidens, and while they were bathing he took her cloak so she could not fly back up into the sky again. Well, fortunately, the maiden fell in love with him (he was very beautiful) and they were both deliriously happy for quite a while. Eventually, however, the chief Goddess up in heaven started wondering where that maiden was. She was called "The Weaving Maiden" and her job was to weave the fabric of the universe. But she was having too good a time withe her Cowherd, and they were both neglecting their jobs. Well, the Big Mama Goddess decided to intervene, and she separated them--putting one on one side of the Milky Way Galaxy and one on the other. It is at this time of the year (the Equinox) that they are allowed to be reunited, traveling across the Milky Way on a bridge made out of fluttering magpies...only once a year do they get to be with each other.
This love-story coincides with the entrance of the Sun into Libra astrologically. Libra is ruled by Venus, the planet of Love, and yet there is a bittersweetness to the joining of the lovers, for they know that they must part. And yet there is hope, they will meet again and share with each other. The Balance/Beauty of the Equinox season has a minor note of sadness to it, like the music of the poignant gypsy violin...it reaches deep into the soul.
(Note: Astrologer Barbara Hand Clow says that the true ruler of Libra is the planet Nibiru, and postulates that a newer, deeper and higher note of Love will be struck when that planet is discovered.)
The 7 Maidens of the Chinese legend are sometimes associated with the Pleiades, a group of 7 stars. Astronomically, the Pleiades are in the process of passing from the eastern horizon at this time as the Sun sets in the west. The Pleiades have been associated with visitors to Earth, with the fairies, with Isis, with the rising of the Nile in Egypt. They have been beloved by humans the world over. In Japan, the Equinox time of year coincides with the honoring of the Nanakusa, 7 'goddesses' who are healers, and associated with reeds and brush. One of the goddesses was named 'Hagi,' and it is she who was beloved by a mystical Stag.
The Stag reminds us that when the harvest of the plant life is coming to a close, the season of the Hunter begins. It is the beginning of the season of 'The Horned One,' and the horn of Rosh
Hashannah celebration may be associated with his honoring, too. And animals of the herds begin their rutting season now, and the voice of the Stag is heard, bellowing its call of Life!
In many Wiccan traditions and Pagan, this season is very much tied-in with the rising of the Masculine Principle--the logic being that now the Fertile Goddess disappears from the scene (to return again in the Spring), and it is time to say "thank you" and "farewell" until then. While she is out-of-sight, the God is focused upon. (As humans, we have both aspects--Goddess and God--within us.) In these traditions, it is at Hallomas that the God becomes fully potent.
The Cowherd is an aspect of the God, as seen in the Chinese story. He is a loving being; and very much connected with the animal world. (As a matter of fact, the god Krishna might merged with this ancient myth.) Another story of China connected with this time is a story of a hermit named Chu Hze. As a hermit, he symbolizes the inward-drawing energy of this time when the night advances. Chu Hze meets with a faerie (who can change into a fox) woman who gives to him a beautiful pearl of wisdom. After that, he becomes a great writer; and he writings are still studied in China! Again, there is the connection of the masculine with the animal
world.
In the Mediterranean, the Feast of Dionysius was celebrated around this time; Dionysius is the god of "Feeling" and people were encouraged to let their feelings be expressed through dance and song and general festive mayhem. It was also the time when the grapes were harvested and stamped on (danced on) to make the wine!
As the air clears in the Equinox season, the sky becomes an important focus. This also ties in with the rise of the masculine and "angelic" emphasis of the time.
In China, as elsewhere, the time of Autumn is associated with a festival-journey called "The Mounting of the Heights." This is a festival of the Literari class--the scholars, poets, writers, students and teachers. People take a trip to the tops of mountains to view the changing of Nature and compose a poem to the season. They wear special purple and white clothing (Kiku-gosane). They picnic on the mountain tops, eating some of the harvest feast, special wheat-cakes which are said to assure promotion in public life.
The "Mounting of the Heights" gives a fine climax to a season of hard work and thanksgiving feasting. What better way to view our world than from a mountain-top? And what better way to connect with heaven? Balance the two together, knowing that each is necessary to our well-being, and you have the miracle of the season.
My Equinox wish for you: Be balanced, be beautiful, be harmonized in Love!
