Full Moon In Pisces
September 10th
New Moon In Virgo
September 25th
Autumnal Equinox
September 22nd
Can you feel the change of season in the air?
Do you hear the call of Fall, the smell of the Earth calling you into her Autumnal embrace, her slower pace?
What is the language of the lands you live on? Is it in the mists that are rolling in, or the cooler evenings? Is it in the fireflies, the birds feasting on sunflower seeds or the shift in your garden?
Notice what is changing around you and within you as the golden ripe energies of August escort us into September, a month that invites us to cultivate balance.
Cyclical Insights
The fruits are falling off the trees. The ripeness of Summer is offering its seeds for the seasons to come. Harvest the bounty and share with your loved ones. Honor the Earth and all she has grown for you, for the long Summer days are behind us now and how we gather sets a tone for the dark months ahead.
As we enter September, we move out of the Leo fire sign of radiant August into the Earth sign of Virgo, traditionally the sign of the Goddess, Mother Earth. The heavens are supporting us in creating new, healthy habits that nourish the Earth element within us (think healthy eating, hydration, movement, routines), in our homes and environment (releasing clutter, creating coziness, tending to our garden and land). Virgo season offers us the gift of grounding, organizing and preparing for Fall, or the new school year.
On September 21st, we enter the portal of balance known as the Equinox. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the first day of Fall, and one of two days all year when the length of night/dark is equal to that of day/light.
This is a powerful time to set intentions for cultivating balance and for tending to your inner world as well as your outer one. Our ancestors of many cultures honored this day and would gather for a feast honoring the year’s harvest and making offerings to the Earth in gratitude. Consider decorating your dinner table with leaves, acorns and other treasures released from Nature that hold the energy of this day. Make a meal of seasonal local foods, support your local farmers, and create a plate for the Earth spirits that you leave out for the night as an offering.
While the Earth’s dance around the Sun harmonizes us to the energies of balance on the Fall Equinox, the heavens also support us as we enter Libra, an air element sign of balance. There is an opportunity to calm the air element inside of us, our nervous system that may have gotten frazzled after months of heat and activity. Consider drinking Tulsi, Chamomile or other relaxing teas, calm your inner heat and ambitions, take a slower approach and a mindful perspective on how you engage your energy.
As the days grow shorter, we move out of the year’s peak of productivity and abundance, and enter an energy of harvesting – gathering, patiently processing foods, seeds and herbs, to prepare for the colder months ahead.
It is wise to look upon our lives and our many projects as if they are a garden. While it’s natural to have our hands in many baskets in the Summer, now is a good time to cut back on some of our responsibilities and create more space in our lives for reflection, connection, intimacy, and magick.
Themes of This Moon
Atmosphere: Cooler and longer nights, morning mists, browning plants that go to seed. The Earth is beginning to let go of her abundant Summer harvest and exhale into the season of Fall.
Movement: Harness the energy of Virgo to create a new movement ritual. Balance your nervous system with easy, achievable, and consistent routines that also calm anxiety and quiet the mind. Morning stretching outdoors and yoga will gracefully support this seasonal transition.
Tree: Apple — Nothing heralds the coming of the crisp months of Fall like the falling apples in orchards, the pressing of cider and baking apple pie. Apples came from the wild in Kazakhstan, and began to travel through Europe in 1550 BC. Apples symbolize love, they may help lower cholesterol and blood pressure and are a wonderful source of fiber, antioxidants and vitamins.
Flower: Chrysanthemum — A flower that comes in a rainbow of colors, blooms as Summer turns to Fall and symbolizes the start of a new season. Native to Asia, they are a symbol of a long, healthy life. They are seen as a perfect blossom and represent the Sun in Japan, and believed by Buddhist monks to hold yang energy that add brightness and liveliness to a home.
Herb: Linden — Linden flowers make a supremely anti inflammatory, 
soothing, cooling, heart opening, calming, medicinal, nourishing and safe herbal tea.Love, protection and warding off evil. They come from the tree, which blooms in the late Summer, attracts bees and smells like jasmine honey. Drinking the infusion balances blood pressure, calms anxiety and opens the heart chakra.
Ways to feed the Earth Mother in September
• Let the plants in your garden go to seed, offering important food for the birds and wildlife.
• Create a bird bath or fountain for bees, birds & wildlife that is often thirsty.
• Feed birds with organic bird seed, and put Sunflowers out.
• Create new home rituals with the support of Virgo season - start composting your kitchen scraps with your family and at work.
• Offer compost or compost tea to your garden in gratitude for the cycle of growth and to support the plants in their replenishment. Cover the soil with mulch or wood chips.
• Water your garden only in the evening or early morning hours when the Earth is breathing in. The water will go deeper into the soil and will not evaporate and be wasted as it is during daytime watering.
Poem by Gary Snyder
Ah to be alive
On a mid-September morn
Fording a stream
Barefoot, pants rolled up
Holding boots, pack on,
Sunshine, ice in the shallows,
Northern rockies.
Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters
Stones turn underfoot, small and hard on toes
Cold nose dripping
Singing inside
Creek music, heart music,
Smell of sun on gravel.
I pledge allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the soil
Of Turtle Island
One ecosystem
In diversity
Under the sun –
With joyful interpenetration for all.
