How to Celebrate The Autumn Equinox

All year long you’ve been cultivating your spiritual toolbox! With the coming darkness of the Autumn Equinox, this is the time to reflect on the things you’ve been working on and maybe even transfer some of your good jujus to your surrounding community.September 22nd of this year will mark the equinox. Use this time to honor the changing of the seasons. You can do this by commemorating Mabon!

What is Mabon?

Mabon is the Pagan/Wiccan celebration of the Autumn Equinox. It was used as a time to pause and celebrate the second harvest of the season. It is still celebrated today but more often as a time to have gratitude and share abundance with others.I've gathered some celebratory tips that will get you in the mood for fall and leave your heart feeling full and grateful.

Find Balance

The Autumn Equinox brings us back to a time of equal darkness and light. Interestingly enough, this is the day that the sun moves into Libra! And guess what?! Yep, Libra’s symbol is the all too familiar balancing scales.

Creating balance within yourself is a way to feed your soul that will undoubtedly have a ripple effect on the people surrounding you. By keeping yourself in balance you shed positive light and energy...and hopefully, a little bit of good karma will come back around your way, too!

Some tips for bringing balance into your day:

• Disconnect! Make a plan to build in some tech-free downtime into your day.

• Balance your energy by taking a long walk (without your phone!)

• Invite a friend over for tea, and enjoy the lost art of conversation over tea and scones.

• Skip your vinyasa yoga class for a restorative one.

• Do an energy reset meditation.

Apple Picking

While most other fields are bare by now, this is apple picking season! Frolic through an orchard and reap the benefits. Apples are thought to be magical and are even used in some forms of divination!

A delicious tip for bringing apples into your home:

• Fill your home with the magic of apples by creating a stovetop potpourri! Anyone who you have over will be tricked into thinking there’s a yummy apple pie hiding somewhere!

• Ingredients: 3 cups water, 1 apple, 3 cinnamon sticks, ½ tsp nutmeg, 15 whole cloves.

• Directions: Cut apple and add all ingredients to small saucepan. Cover all ingredients with water. Keep the potpourri on low heat to fill your home with a sweet fragrance! (Be sure to turn off the heat when you are asleep or away from your home.)

Feel the Gratitude & Share the Abundance

During times when the well-being of a family rested solely on their farm’s harvest, people knew the importance of helping out their neighbors who did not have a good year in the fields. Whether it be spiritually or physically, perhaps this season has gifted you with an abundance.

Some tips for feeling the love and sharing it with others:

• First, you’ll want to get into the right frame of mind. The best way to do this is to have a gratitude ritual. Find some quiet time, grab your favorite crystals, incense, and maybe some fall-inspired bits and pieces. Lay out your items, arrange them in a grid or any way that feels right to you, and meditate on things you’re grateful for. This activity is intuitive and open, make it what you want, the most important thing is to focus on what you’re grateful for.

• Donate towels, sheets, and newspapers to animal shelters. If you have the extra time in your schedule, sign up to take your animal friends for a special walk while they wait to meet their furever family.

• Host a dinner for your friends and family. Invite some new friends, too!

Do you have a favorite Mabon or Autumn Equinox ritual that I didn’t cover? I’d love to hear about it. I hope these tips will come in handy, now go out and spread the love, happy Mabon! Find more rituals for Mabon here and meditations for the Wheel of the Year here.

3 Summer Solstice Rituals to Light Your Fire!

The summer solstice occurs around June 20th and brings with it the most daylight hours of any day of the year! It’s no surprise that there are centuries of Summer Solstice rituals involving heat, fire, and the sun. I’ve selected a few of my favorite ways to honor the sun, light your internal fire, and get creative with a free coloring page to help you build your own Sun Mandala.

Fire & Candles

Bonfire: In ancient times, fire festivals were a given for celebrating the Summer Solstice. Communities would parade around town with torches, or set tar barrels on fire and roll them downhills! While acts like this may land you in the slammer by today's standards, a more acceptable way to celebrate midsummer is by having a bonfire!

Candles: If you live in the Southwest like me, the idea of having a bonfire might seem like the last thing you want to do in 115 degrees heat! Another option is to light a candle and keep it lit all day at your altar or favorite sacred space (only if you’re staying at home! Safety first!). Spend some time at your altar or sacred space giving thanks to the Sun for its life-giving heat. 

Building Your Internal Heat

Enjoy a yoga pose that best honors the Summer Solstice. This is definitely a pose that will ignite your internal fire! The goddess pose is a wide-legged squat that will challenge your mind and body. For an added bonus practice this outside to energize yourself with the sun's rays! Coincidentally, the goddess pose is also known as the fiery angle pose! This is a great posture for building heat in the body and increasing circulation.

Create Your Own Sun Mandala

My favorite and the most beautiful option for honoring this change of season is to create a Sun Mandala. How to make your own Sun Mandala:

• Forage for flowers, leaves and twigs

• Use sage to cleanse an area inside at your altar or outside where you’d like to create your mandala

• Lay your flowers and greenery in a circular pattern

• As an added option, add any crystals that you’d like. Carnelian, quartz, tiger eye and sunstone are great options for honoring the Sun.

• Add a candle in the center or smaller candles into the design.

• As you create your Sun Mandala reflect on the gifts the Sun and the Summer give you and what abundance you’d like to bring into your world this season.

Your Sun Mandala can be simple and small, or a glorious group project with friends. Get creative with it, I’ve got a printable sun mandala color page that you can use as a cheat sheet for where to place your flowers and candles, or it can function on its own as your Sun Mandala. Get your free printable sun mandala here. Be sure to share pics of your Sun mandala and tag @cassieuhl on Instagram. You can find more rituals for the Summer Solstice in this blog post.