AUTUMN EQUINOX | Earth School

FROM AUTUMN EQUINOX TO SAMHAIN

THE EARTH SCHOOL JOURNAL

A journey through the medicine wheel

AUTUMN

Serap Kara · From Lammas to Autumn Equinox · Reporting to Pachamama

Pachamama, in the course of your seasons I am encountering harvesting anew. In the eye of Lammas I felt the power of the sickle in my hand and my legs on the ground. In my inner garden, I harvested and cut and separated through, grain by grain.

The Goddess reigns within me and teaches me to cut with love and determination to preserve strength. I feel the pain and the joy of the cutting within me. I intend to harvest freedom abundantly while I witness dreams being born and shattered. The long dinner table under the fruit trees has dissolved.

Pachamama, it is overwhelming to be awake and to witness the part that wants to sleep on. I hear a foreign voice, from the depths of myself, calling me to stay awake, to be present, and to align with the innernet of the new consciousness.

Now we stand in the eye of the Equinox and open to the portal of balance. The harvest is now complete and I open my heart to gratitude and sharing. Pachamama, I stand with both feet on the ground and offer you my stillness, my love, and presence. May I open to receive the new codes within this portal and harvest what I have seeded.

Lena Brandt · Autumn Equinox · Celebrations & Rituals

On September 22, we honour the celebration of Fall Equinox, an event that occurs every year between September 21 and 23. In the Northern hemisphere, this day marks the beginning of autumn (whereas South of the equator, spring is about to begin, and therefore Spring Equinox is being celebrated). From then on, the days are getting shorter while the nights are getting longer. This will continue until we reach the Winter Solstice on December 21, when we experience the shortest day and longest night, after which the days will begin to get longer again.

During the Equinox, the sun crosses the celestial equator - an imaginary line in the sky that corresponds to Earth’s equator - which creates an approximately equal length of day and night.

The name Equinox also refers to this occurrence of equal day and night time: equinox derives from the Latin word aequus (equal) and nox (night). In Pagan tradition, the Autumn Equinox is called 'Mabon', named after the Celtic god Mabon, whose name translates to 'Son'.

The belief in the spiritual power of the Equinox dates back to the Mayan time. The Mayans celebrated the Equinox with a sacrificial ritual at Chichen Itza, Mexico, one of the most famous Mayan ruins. A pyramid serves as a visual symbol of the day and night. On every equinox, the sunlight creates the illusion of a snake creeping slowly down the pyramid’s staircase. Symbolically, the feathered serpent joins the heavens, earth, and the underworld, day and night.

Equinoxes are points of balance on the wheel of the year, dividing the circle in half, creating a balance between the highest and lowest point. These days also mark a place of balance between the light and the darkness. This is a time of the great tides. A sacred gateway of the year. An energetic portal that emphasises achieving greater balance within oneself, and in relationship to the outer world, inviting us to open to the forces of balance & oneness on the inside and outside through ritual, prayers, and offerings.

While the Fall Equinox marks the point of diminishing sunlight, it is also a time of harvest where we celebrate all that has come to fruition in the bright light of summer; an invitation to express gratitude for the bounty of summertime. Honouring both the abundance and the waning energies around us.

With the diminishing light, we begin to slow our pace to orient ourselves toward the fall and winter, as awareness shifts to become more internally focused. When we attune our body, mind, and spirit to the natural cycles of the earth, we harmonise our health, relationships, and life by becoming more sustainable, supportive, and abundant. We may step into rhythm with the pace of nature’s journey as our own lives go through cycles of harvest, death, and rebirth.

For those of us in the Northern hemisphere, the days are now going to become shorter, darker, and colder. We are preparing to enter the inner world, the realm of shadow and fertile darkness. We are invited to journey within and face our inner darkness, to embrace its many lessons. Honouring both the light and the shadow is an integral part of life and being - there is no hierarchy between the two. We exist on a spectrum, we are indeed cyclical beings.

~ did you know...

The red-cheeked apple is the sign of this time like nothing else as it is a symbol of a year that is coming to an end. It is the fruit of the West, of the sunset. The apple harvest symbolises the harvest of life. The fruit refers to the Otherworld, to the land of apples, which the Celts called Avalon. Apples and hazelnuts, which are now harvested, lead as the food of the deads to the next phase of the cycle of life.

source: Wolf Dieter Storl

Simone Meentzen · Calendula Medicinalis · Plant Diary

During the transition from late summer to autumn, the Calendula flower, a sun worshiper, blooms in the garden long after the summer and can be harvested until the first frosts of November - but only when the sun is shining!

It is a reliable weather plant that only blooms when there is sunlight. As a lovely sun plant with golden flowers, it has strong regenerative power and accompanies us on the way into the dark season.

Calendula is one of the most famous medicinal plants. Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) already appreciated its wound-healing, anti-inflammatory effect on skin eczema and burns.

The orange-colored petals contain flavonoids, carotenoids, and valuable essential oils.

The flowers are traditionally popular as a gentle, reliable aid to treat mild skin inflammation, bruises, cracked skin, and small open wounds, the petals are excellent for baby skin creams, hand creams as well as compresses, and wound tinctures.

The orange flowers symbolize the sun and hope. Because of its way of closing its flowers in rain clouds, it is a traditional flower of mourning, which is why Calendula is also called a flower of the dead and is used as a popular grave ornament. As an old protective magick custom from the Alpine regions, garlands of Calendula and Evergreens are woven together - a gift for the deceased and to protect from dark forces.

Medicine recipe ~ Traditional Calendula Salve (vegan)

Here is a recipe to make your own skin salve - a beautiful way to catch late summer rays and to keep your skin healthy.

5 tablespoons of dried Calendula officinalis

100 g of olive oil
100 g coconut oil
10 g beeswax

Heat coconut oil over medium heat together with olive oil, add dried flowers. Let it steep for about 2 hours. Then strain the flowers through a sieve, add beeswax and melt while stirring. Fill into a glass container or ointment jar, allow to cool. The salve can be kept in the refrigerator for at least 6 months.

If you don’t find Calendula in your garden, you can buy dried flowers from apothecaries or herbal stores. Here is a recipe to make your own skin salve - a beautiful way to catch late summer rays and to keep your skin healthy.

Alexandra Neubauer · Verbundenheit als Schlüssel zur Heilung · Regenbogenmedizin

Der Westen ist jene Himmelsrichtung, wo die Sonne untergeht und wir in die Dunkelheit eintauchen. Es sind die Tiefen unserer Seele, mit denen wir hier in Berührung gehen, womit auch der Kontakt zu verborgenen Schatten möglich ist. Nicht verwunderlich, dass genau an jenem Platz im Regenbogenmedizinrad unser*e innere*r Heiler*in zu finden ist, deren Botschaft sich im Westschild zeigt. Diese ureigene Heilkraft braucht es, damit was immer wir an körperlichen oder emotionalen Schmerzen spüren heilen kann.

Als Seele sind wir in der Einheit, wenn wir uns nun als Mensch verkörpern, entscheiden wir uns für Erfahrungen in einer polaren Welt. Plötzlich gibt es hell und dunkel, kalt und warm sowie gut und böse.

Wir erfahren uns getrennt von der Welt, was uns in der Regel Angst macht, denn nun fühlen wir uns aus der Einheit gefallen und allein – wir spüren einen Verlustschmerz. Hier ähneln einander die kollektive und individuelle Entwicklung des Menschen: Der archaische Mensch lebte in Verbundenheit mit der Natur, eine Einheit, die wir alle im Bauch unserer Mütter wiedererleben. Ein Fötus ist eins mit seiner Mutter, lebt eingehüllt in Geborgenheit, Sicherheit und Wärme. Für alles ist gesorgt, es ist ein paradiesisches Erleben. Mit der Geburt – und damit der Trennung von der Mutter – kommt der große Verlust dieser Einheitserfahrung, es entsteht eine Art Urwunde und damit ein Urschmerz.

Diesem ersten Verlust werden im Laufe eines Lebens noch viele weitere folgen, alleine schon, weil das ganze Leben Wandlung und Veränderung bedeutet. Das Leben verläuft zyklisch, es ist ein ständiger Prozess des Werdens und Vergehens. Der Tag beginnt und endet, ebenso eine Jahreszeit, ein Jahr, ein Lebensabschnitt. Wir beginnen einen Job und beenden ihn, wir kommen mit Menschen zusammen und trennen uns wieder. Mit jeder Entscheidung, die wir treffen, entscheiden wir uns für etwas, doch verlieren auch die anderen Optionen. Jeder dieser Verluste erzeugt einen aktuellen Schmerz, der den Urschmerz der Trennung der Einheit berührt.

Typischerweise wollen wir Schmerzerfahrungen lieber vermeiden, wir decken unsere unangenehmen Gefühle gerne zu. Doch so können sie nicht heilen, im Gegenteil, durch diese Strategien kehren sie nicht selten als psychische oder sogar körperliche Symptome wieder und beschäftigen uns auf diese Weise.

Heilung im Sinne von Ganz-Werdung ist jedoch möglich, wenn wir Verlust, Vergänglichkeit und damit auch den Tod annehmen und den damit einhergehenden Schmerz fühlen. Es bedeutet zu akzeptieren, dass zu einem Leben in Polarität Freude UND Schmerz, Leben UND Tod gehören. · Weiterlesen