Cultivating with the Fall Equinox with Uma Gaia

It’s that time of year again when we move from longer days to longer nights, when the Moon rests high in the sky. The time of year when we will soon let our clocks ‘fall’ back an hour and we gain more moments for rest. A time when in the Northern Hemisphere we celebrate the Autumn Equinox (and in the Southern Hemisphere the Spring Equinox is herald in), the exact day this year is September 22nd, for those living in the Eastern time zone the most potent moment is 3:21PM and for us living in Central Europe time it will be at 9:21PM.

The resonance of harvesting “our seeds” the physical/non-physical, the commencement of migration and the all-around slowing down of life is upon us; may we honor and embrace this powerful shift from Summer; Fire energy to Autumn; Earth energy. May we re-balance our own interior soil and Gaia, may the cycle of life transition into the next phase of nurturing and decomposition; the harmony of the fruits and the ground they grow from. Tend to your interior soil is a theme within the Fall Equinox. It’s the time of year to compost our old ideas that do not serve us and allow it to be transformed into fertile ideas and deeply connected visions to who we truly are and want to share and project out into the world.

A playfully composed poem full of feeling of a leaf falling in the Autumn:

Ancient and modern civilizations have been honoring the Fall Equinox without wavering, it is one of the four main seasons of our calendar and we have these seasons and shifts integrated into our conscious and unconscious. Whether we celebrate them or not, our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual systems all understand and notice what is taking place and what this new shift into a new season means. However, to truly tune into this magnificent energy and divine knowing you can celebrate with an array of different activities and sequences.

Honoring those before, our ancestry, our heritage here are a few traditional Autumn celebrations that take place every year;

Below are a few ways to get back to your own roots, your Earth energy, and to bring in the Autumn Equinox with intention and brilliance. Of course do this simply with yourself or with loved ones and friends.

Go out into nature and explore, get low to ground and look around at all there is to see: the leaves that have fallen, wild mushrooms beginning to pop-up, feel how the Earth is more moist under your step, coming off the dry Summer. Open your senses: what do you smell in the air? What animals to do you see? What do you hear: a crunching movement of an insect eating, a bird calling, a leaf falling? Explore, it all. Embrace the colors of the Fall foliage, perhaps even take a leaf, read about it, press it in a journal or write a poem about it. Just play outdoors!

Find a comfortable place outside, whether on a bench in a park, your own garden or someone else’s, in a forest, by a lake or river, sitting on stone, or laying down on a blanket or even going for slow gentle walk; just be outside. Clear your mind and think of all the things you have harvested this year for yourself and others, shine in gratitude for all you have and all that you have tended to. Embrace this true sense of gratitude, if it helps bring a journal along with you outside and write a list. Move in silence with yourself and your thoughts in this moment. If you want to simply start with breath as your first thing to be grateful for start there and softly move the gratitude outwards.

Activate all the meridians in your hands with the energy and resonance of Earth by playing with clay. Take a course in ceramics, look into your own at-home kit, or go to the art store and get yourself some clay and just go at it your own! The purpose is not the end result of whatever it is your creation, perhaps it’s a bowl, or a statue, whatever it ends up being doesn’t matter! The important part is feeling the clay, feeling the Earth in your hands, and seeing what sensations and emotions it brings up. And then honoring those sensations and emotions and releasing them into the clay back into the Earth for it to be karmically returned.

When was the last-time you wrote a friend or loved-one a hand-written letter? This is the divine time to do so, aligning with the slowing down of the plants, animals and ourselves, take a moment and sit down and write someone you love a letter. Get yourself some nice stationary and a pen, make it a special moment for you and just write whatever it is you want to express to this person. Honoring the past and the beauty in slowing down and doing things “the old way”. Even think of the route the letter will have to take to arrive at its destination just as the birds and their Fall migration.

Cleanse and clean your home, your abode, the place you live and create from. Declutter and let go of things that are not needed, up-cycle pieces of furniture needing some TLC, give away items to a foundation. Do the dusting, and deep cleaning of the nooks and crannies. Consider rearranging the setting and connecting with the knowledge of Fung Shui. Bring in balance with own your own relationships at home and with your family members, all of this relates to the Muladhara/Root Chakra, time to take care of the roots where you rest your head and where you come from.

Creating an altar is simple, first ask where in your home you would like it, it doesn’t need to be a large space. After you know where you want it, do you already have some special objects you want to be there; like crystals (if so consider choosing red/orange/yellow crystals), a candle, a photo, a written intention, a mala, small bowl of water… Then in the following days or if you carve out space right away for it, go outside and choose a few pieces from nature for your altar. Perhaps a leaf, a stone, a bit of moss or a fallen branch. When you take the items, thank Mother Earth for these treasures and show her gratitude. Place them with intention on your altar, think about where you want each object to be and why. Do you want to create a circle, a square, a compass? Have your intuition lead you in your altar creation.

Note: dried florals are a lovely edition to a Fall altar or your home.