Along with the leaves changing color, the temperature grows colder, plants stop making food, animals prepare for the long months ahead, squirrels become more active in collecting acorns, and they look chubbier in appearance. Daylight starts growing shorter because there are less hours of daylight.
The season for all senses, visually pleasing reds, oranges and golds. The delicious taste and of pumpkin spice coffee and freshly baked apple pies; the sound of crunching leaves underfoot, and the smell of wood-smoke.
Enjoying those first days when it’s chilly enough to wear a sweater. Feeling chill on your skin replaced by the oppressive summer heat, wearing jackets, scarves, and hats.
Cozy at home sipping coffee spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, with a slice of apple pie still warm from the oven.
Hope your autumn is an enjoyable feast of brilliant colors, the air with scented spices, and the much welcomed cooler weather.
“Autumn light is the loveliest light there is, soft, forgiving, it makes all the world an illuminated dream.” –author Margaret Renkl
During the autumnal equinox, the sun shines directly on the equator, and the northern and southern hemispheres receive the same amount of rays.
This year Thursday autumn equinox occurred on September 22nd in the western hemisphere, and on the 23rd in the northern hemisphere. The equinox is the time at which the sun crosses the plane of the equator away from the relevant hemisphere, making day and night of equal length.
Autumn is symbolic of plenty, ripening, harvest, and abundance. For ancient societies, the autumnal equinox marked the end of summer, and the vernal (spring) equinox marked the end of winter, which helped people track time-sensitive activities, such as when to plant crops, and when to reap the harvest.
The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by many Pagans. It consists of the year’s chief solar events, like solstices and equinoxes, and the midpoints between them. While names for each festival vary among diverse Pagan traditions, Syncretic treatments often refer to the four solar events as quarter days, with the four midpoint events as cross-quarter days. Differing sects of modern Paganism also vary regarding the precise timing of each celebration, which are based on distinctions such as the lunar phase and geographic hemisphere. Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs and various schools of thought. The eight-armed Sun cross is often used to represent the Neo-pagan Wheel of the Year.
We are presently in Autumn Equinox – Mabon. The holiday of the autumnal equinox, Harvest Home, Mabon, the Feast of the Ingathering, Meán Fómhair, An Clabhsúr, or Alban Elfed in Neo-Druid traditions, is a modern Pagan ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the Earth, and a recognition of the need to share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess and the Gods during the coming winter months. The name Mabon was coined by Aidan Kelly in the 1970s, as a reference to Mabon ap Modron, a character from Welsh mythology. Among the Sabbaths, it is the second of the three Pagan harvest festivals, preceded by Lammas, Lughnasadh, and followed by Samhain.
Autumn, is the season between summer and winter, during which temperatures gradually decrease. It is often called fall in the United States, because leaves fall from the trees at that time. Autumn ends on the first day of winter solstice.
It is the time of year that transitions summer into winter. The temperature grows colder, plants stop making food, animals prepare for the long months ahead, and the daylight starts growing shorter. The leaves on the trees turn different colors like red, yellow, orange, and bronze. There are also more leaves on the ground than usual.
Along with the leaves changing color, the temperature grows colder, plants stop making food, animals prepare for the long months ahead, squirrels become more active in collecting acorns, and they look chubbier in appearance. Daylight starts growing shorter because there are less hours of daylight.
The season for all senses, visually pleasing reds, oranges and golds. The delicious taste and of pumpkin spice coffee and freshly baked apple pies; the sound of crunching leaves underfoot, and the smell of wood-smoke.
Enjoying those first days when it’s chilly enough to wear a sweater. Feeling chill on your skin replaced by the oppressive summer heat, wearing jackets, scarves, and hats.
Cozy at home sipping coffee spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, with a slice of apple pie still warm from the oven.
Hope your autumn is an enjoyable feast of brilliant colors, the air filled with scented spices, and the much welcomed cooler weather.