Fall Equinox is a traditional time of thanksgiving celebrations around the world.
Fall is the time of harvesting, and also the time to take stock of what you harvest personally.
If your returns this season are not what you hoped, now is the time to reflect, find your balance and look for what within you must change to assure greater success in the coming year.
Join in the flow of the times and add your appreciation for all you've experienced and received this past year - and your Joyful expectations for the coming year.
You are setting your own future in motion now with a potent surge of energy during the transition point.
Don't miss it.
Very soon everything changes.
From the Equinox forward, the night's lengthen and the days shorten.
All of life turns within.
You are moving from your more "Yang" masculine, action oriented self, into the realms of the inner-world, the "Yin" and your feminine, intuitive, receptive, creative self.
Fall Equinox: Science Facts "Autumn" is a derivative of the Latin "autumnus.
" Equinox literally means "equal night.
" Day and night are each 12 hours, and the sun rises in true east and sets in true west.
The Sun appears to "stand still" and finds balance before continuing.
After the Equinox you view the most rapid change in the Sun's apparent motion.

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
" Elizabeth Lawrence

As the nights lengthen and cool, the trees change into their Fall colors.
The time of harvest is the time of gathering in fruits, vegetables and grains for Winter.
The abundant harvest is symbolized by the horn of plenty or the cornucopia overflowing with Fall bounty and huge feasts, music and dancing.
The Fall Equinox, in the Northern Hemisphere, is the point at which the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator from north to south.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite is seen, and there it is the time of Spring Equinox.
The equinoxes are points moving in a westward direction known as the "precession of the equinoxes.
" It takes 25,800 years for the equinoxes to pass through all the constellations of the zodiac.
That time period is noted historically in the Vedic and Mayan texts as prophesizing great worldwide changes...
Like the Age of Aquarius.
Fall Equinox in story and myth.
Stories and myth are the histories of a culture - some from religious texts and some from verbal traditions.
The truths, wisdom and teachings of the time are embedded within parables, songs and dances.
The Wheel of the Solar Seasons has turned, cycling through another year once again.
Your time is circular not linear, there is no end without new beginnings, and no new beginnings that will not end.
It is the Flow of Good Fortune to an ever-expanding future, and the flow of life eternal.
Stories and Myths of the inward journey There are many wisdom teachings that tell of the same inward journey, and all are around the Fall Equinox.
They are from different cultures and times and yet speak of the same cycle.
An example is the myth of Persephone.
The Greek Goddess Persephone In Greek mythology, Persephone (Kore or Cora) was the embodiment of Mother Earth's fertility - and at the same time - she was the Queen of the Underworld.
The story: Persephone, the daughter of Earth Mother Demeter, is abducted and becomes the wife of Hades who governs the underworld.
In Demeter's anguished seeking her daughter, she withdrew from the earth (hence winter and the withering of the crops) until Zeus ordered Hades to return Persephone.
Hades tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds, which compels her to return to the underworld for a season each year.
Her myth explains the natural processes, with the descent and return of the goddess bringing about the change of seasons.
But there's more to the story.
Mystical meanings Persephone is a Greek life-death-rebirth deity or "resurrection" deity.
She is a God who is born, suffers a death-like experience, passes a time in the underworld, and is then reborn.
The Winter months (soon to come) are a time of "going into the inner or underworld" and there reigning as the all powerful ruler.
The mystery schools used the seasons as imputes for change and personal growth.
Like a god, you set your life in motion from your inner world - and what you imagine, dream and speak - comes to pass.
When Demeter and her daughter were united in the Spring the Earth flourished with vegetation and color, but for some months each year, when Persephone returned as Queen of the Underworld, the earth once again became barren.
Those that stay on the surface of life at Fall time, find their future barren too.
Some of the other traditional Fall stories include the victory over ignorance by the Vedic or Hindu Goddess Durga; the Celtic or Wiccan story of Mabon reflects another time of balancing between the worlds of life and death, and of outer consciousness and inner knowing.
Mabon tells of the necessity of rest periods, that allow you to assimilate, review, and incorporate your experiences of the past.
The Corn Maiden (Changing Woman) is a Native American story of changing life cycles.
These are insights into the power and wisdom of this time.
Worldwide Fall Equinox Traditions The Fall Equinox is also known as the first day of autumn: Harvest Home, Harvest Tide, Mabon, Alban Elfed, Autumn Equinox, Autumnal Equinox, Cornucopia, Feast of Avilon, Festival of Dionysus, Night of the Hunter, Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, and Witch's Thanksgiving.
The first cusp of Libra was the Fall Equinox term used by navigators and astrologers.
It is the turning point, astrologically, from Virgo to Libra, symbolized by the scales, for balance.

"It was Indian summer, a bluebird sort of day as we call it in the north, warm and sunny, without a breath of wind; the water was sky-blue, the shores a bank of solid gold.
" Sigurd F.
Olson

Native American's honor this time of harvest with feasting, bonfires, as well as drumming, dancing, story-telling and various traditions from different tribes.
The Chumash month of Hutash is a Fall Equinox Sun ceremony celebrated during September.
Harvest Home European harvest rites revolved around the end of the grain harvest.
In rural England, the Harvest Home was celebrated on the last day of bringing in the harvest.
The "Harvest Queen" was a doll made of the last sheaf of the harvest, tied with ribbons, and carried home to save for the following Spring planting.
She was believed to hold the "life force" for abundance in the next crops.
A harvest supper was a dinner of thanksgiving and celebration.
The home was decorated with wheat sheaths bundled together or corn stalks, wicker cornucopias filled with fruits and nuts, gourds, pumpkins, acorns and grapes.
The Druids celebrate Mea'n Fo'mhair The Fall Equinox is a time to give thanks to The Green Man or the God of the Forest.
Offerings from the harvest of herbs, ciders, and wines were given to the trees, his consorts, and in his honor.
The tree is a symbol for the divine feminine and as the tree sheds it's leaves - it turns inward, into the realm of the Goddess.
The Celtic Festival of Samhain The ancient Celtic peoples occupied much of Northern Europe including parts of France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England, as well as many outposts in adjoining regions.
The fire festival of Samhain was the origin of many modern day Halloween customs and marked the end of autumn and the beginning of winter.

"Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves, we have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!" Humbert Wolfe

On the Eve of Samhain, October 31st, the separation between this world and the "other realms" was penetrable.
Witches flew on broomsticks, and fairies, ghosts, ghouls, and hobgoblins roamed the earth.
The hidden inner Wisdom Samhain is also known as the season of gateways.
For the initiate, the festivities also marks the 3 day portal to both the future and the past.
Samhain is a mystical path to the inner mysteries of the god and goddess within each person.
In addition, it is the "thinning of the veil" or a gateway between the realm of the living to that of the dead.
The shaman and medicine people of many native traditions share this wisdom and practice.
Halloween is a Samhain adaptation.
Today Celtic celebrations are observed worldwide.
The custom of trick-or-treating and the symbols, parties, fires and celebrations retain their popularity.
Fall Equinox Season - Blending the old with the new Roman Catholics in Europe still remember their dead ancestors on All Saints Day, the first of November.
Bonfires continue to celebrate the end of the Fall Season.
The Celtic custom of lighting fires on the Isle of Man on Halloween continues today.

"The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.
" John Muir

Join the festivities.
Visit Mother Nature in her leafy robes of gold, red and orange.
Feel the changes in the season and in life.
Harvest Festivals are a universal expression of the desire to celebrate and give thanks for Mother Nature's abundance.
Now is the time to discover your own mystery and wisdom.
Take a moment and give your Attention to your Life's path and purpose.
If you want changes, now is the time to reflect on your past and commit to discover new approaches to your future.
It is in the quiet and inward-time of Winter that your Wisdom will surface as your Inspiration.
Your wisdom then becomes a part of who you are.
Gather together your experiences and prepare to go on an inward spiraling journey.
In this way, you become the seeds of your own Good Fortune.
Quick Good Fortune: "Go with the flow in Nature and find your path to success and happiness now.
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