It’s the Fall Equinox. May the turning of the seasons brighten your life.
It’s always been an odd holiday for me; it’s the middle of three harvests, and the other two: Lammas and Samhain, have a great deal more folklore and interesting accouterments. I mean, Lammas, you’ve got all that bread baking, all the traditional gathering stuff, the games, the murder of John Barleycorn: Very colorful. Then there’s Samhain, which, hello, is when the whole world wakes up and notices Witches. Costumes, death, apple-bobbing, dumb suppers, funerary rites, and that whole New Year thing.
So Fall Equinox sits there like a red-headed stepchild, and no modern renaming (“Mabon”) is going to change that. It’s also known as Harvest Home, and some people do a Thanksgiving thing, but I’ve got a close biological family and we do the November Thanksgiving to a fare-thee-well, so I can’t say I’m excited about another one.
Most importantly, the Wheel is turning, and it will continue to turn. We mark our lives by these 8 moments, and that’s incredibly important. Also important, the perfect balance of light and dark. We stand between Summer and Autumn, and can look in both directions at once.
So we must ask: What is ahead? What is behind?
Blessed be.
