Ritual for Autumn Equinox

Letting Go, Giving Thanks, and Finding Balance

We are moving into transition once again as one part of the season, the big booming shine of summer, makes way for autumn equinox. As day and night come into balance on September 22^nd, we are once again at the precipice of change. We are moving into the darkest days of the year. There is still much to be done before rest comes.

Now is the time when our harvest is full and ready to be reaped, the sunflowers are rolling their heads downward to return their seeds to the soil, the leaves are shifting into dramatic capes of colors to prepare for their inevitable fall.

Change is happening. We can no longer remain who we were, and what we are becoming is yet to reveal itself

My tomatoes are ripening. My raspberry bush nods with heaviness. My zucchinis are bursting with their last bit of bloom. My goji bush is transforming from purple flowers to bright red berries. I hurry them inside, into cans, onto drying racks, filling our bellies.

We must trust that our bounty is full enough to help us through winter.

The breeze is colder now. The mountains are creaking with the onset of early snow. I can not deny what is coming. The sun sets earlier each day as I wander the evening near dark, confused by the arrival of dimming light.

Change is happening. We can no longer remain who we were, and what we are becoming is yet to reveal itself.

This is all a metaphor, of course. Nature is our mirror. As the trees release leaves to conserve energy for the forthcoming quiet, we consider what we too must release. What have we carried for too long on our shoulders that needs to be shaken off? What burdens, emotions, relationships, jobs, items, have taken too much energy from us? We do not have room for them moving forward. Now is the time to draw inward with all our resources and decide what is worth holding onto.

Everything released now will be compost for something new to grow in the months to come.

Change is happening. We can no longer remain who we were, and what we are becoming is yet to reveal itself.

Autumn is a time of dark mystery. It can be scary, depressing, rattling. Or it can be exciting, profound, fulfilling. Maybe a little bit of both. Can you hold both sensations simultaneously within you in balance like the sun and moon balanced on a singular day of your entire existence? Can you find the inner power to be okay with the mystery, maybe even embrace the mystery?

Lines written in the days of growing darkness, by Mary Oliver

Every year we have been

witness to it: how the

world descends

into a rich mash, in order that

it may resume.

And therefore

who would cry out

to the petals on the ground

to stay,

knowing as we must,

how the vivacity of what was is married

to the vitality of what will be?

I don't say

it's easy, but

what else will do

if the love one claims to have for the world be true?

So let us go on, cheerfully enough,

this and every crisping day,

though the sun be swinging east,

and the ponds be cold and black,

and the sweets of the year be doomed.

from her collection, A Thousand Mornings

Autumn Equinox Ritual

1. Make a list of everything you wish to release. Set a time for 7 minutes and don’t stop making the list until the timer goes off. Go wild. There are no boundaries to what you may imagine. The items can be internal, physical, global, local, ridiculous, scary, preposterous, absolutely anything.

2. Pick three items from the list and commit to take steps to let them go. Then burn the list.

3. Make a list of everything you have that you are grateful for. Again, set a timer, this time for 12 minutes, and don’t stop writing until the timer goes off. Push yourself to think of the tiniest things and the grandest things that you are grateful for. Utilize your five senses-touch, smell, sight, sound, taste. Consider your mind, body and spirit. (These two lists might overlap in places, notice if they do and give thanks for that too.)

4. Lie down beneath a deciduous tree and admire its changing leaves. Admire your own ability to change with beauty. (Optional: listen to guided meditation below.)

5. Read your gratitude list to the tree and then bury it in its roots to create compost for future abundance.

6. Stand on one leg beside the tree and find the internal focus and centeredness needed to stay there, first by looking down at the ground until you have mastered this, and then looking up at the sky and finally, closing your eyes. Switch legs. Use the sensations of internal balance to guide you into balance during this season of dark mystery.

Two Free Spotify Playlists for Autumn

Guided Meditation for Autumn Equinox

🍂 Below is a guided meditation, available exclusively to paid subscribers in gratitude. By choosing to support our work, you’re investing not only in your own journey of slowing down and reconnecting with nature, but also in sustaining the vision we’re building at Our Uncertain Future.

This 30-minute guided meditation will help you move forward into the new season from a place of deep relaxation and intention. Journey into the depths of an autumn forest at dusk, reflect on your summer season past and what you learned, and meet your animal guide who has a special message for you to help your autumnal transition. Perhaps have pen and paper ready to journal your experience.