Fall Into Flow: 5 Ideas to Celebrate the Autumn Equinox

by Andrea Pacini September 20, 2020 1 Comment

Seasonal rituals are a great opportunity for an alignment check-in as they help deepen our connection to the earth and her natural rhythms. These acts of doing can anchor us more deeply into our lives by uniting our thoughts and actions and by physically marking transitions and acknowledging blessings, achievements and goals.

I’ve really been working with the concept of fluidity lately so please feel free to  take what you need from these ideas – these are just suggestions and are by no means a formal step-by-step process. As always, we are most in flow when acting from the heart in divine alignment with our true nature so please honor whatever your body and soul are telling you! 

September 22 marks this year's Autumn Equinox – the Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox are the two days of the year that day and night are most equal and balanced and by extension, invite us to also call more balance and equanimity into our lives as well.

Create More Balance

Start by doing a quick inventory of all of the facets of your life to gain some clarity about what areas could be more balanced and then design a realistic plan to help support yourself.

For instance, you work a lot and you'd like to have more fun. Maybe balance for you looks like making some intentional time to do more of the things you love - sign up for an art, dance or cooking class or buy some supplies and let yourself create organically at home. Schedule playtime into your day, even if it's a 5-minute solo kitchen dance party. Nurture the inner child within who wants to play and create!

Or you’d like to create more financial balance for yourself – what are some ways to do that? Usually this breaks down to spending less and saving more. Where can you cut expenses – maybe you’re holding onto monthly subscriptions or a gym membership you rarely use. Maybe you can start a side hustle. Maybe you can commit to making coffee at home or saving a certain amount of money every month. Oftentimes, just shining a light and bringing awareness to whatever you’d like to bring into balance can change the whole energy of it.

Draw a circle, divide it into equal sections and label them with the main areas of your life as shown in the image below (I also added two additional categories to my wheel: creativity and time in nature). Let the inner band represent 2 (least satisfied) and the outer band represent 10, or most satisfied - color the sections accordingly based on your assessment of each category of your life.

Express Gratitude

We can’t celebrate the Fall harvest without gratitude! Gratitude instantly raises our vibration and giving thanks for our many blessings is one of the main ways we can communicate with and consciously co-create with Source. Call to mind three things for which you’re most grateful – this can be in general, this year or the most recent season. What beautiful things are you harvesting during this season of your life? I also love the idea of celebrating gratitude with some art therapy by listing all of the things you love.

                                         Image via Pinterest

Connect with the elements

For the fall season, I’m really feeling a pull to reconnect to the earth. This will look different for everyone based on location, mood and preference. I’ve personally been very into earth offerings lately, offering fallen flowers from my garden to the ocean, burying crystals under trees, planting herbs and flowers and sharing my apples and carrots with the animals in my backyard. Earth magic can look and feel different for everyone – I suggest just allowing yourself to be led and do what feels good for you!

                                    a flower offering to the ocean

Connect with the EARTH element by laying down on the grass or sand, walking barefoot, sitting against a tree, hiking through the woods, climbing a mountain, tending to a garden, or burying your hands and feet in the sand or soil. If none of these options are available, try working with a crystal - I like clear quartz, red jasper, smoky quartz, bloodstone and amazonite for fall. Program a crystal with the intention to help heal the earth and bury it in the ground outside of your front door or garden or in a park, beach or other special place (read more about crystals here).

Connect with the WATER element by swimming in or spending time around bodies of water, drinking more water or hot herbal teas or taking a luxurious bath (my ritual bath kits are available here) – use rose petals and rose oil for heart-opening, calendula and cinnamon/vanilla oil for sacral chakra healing or lavender and sage oil for relaxation. Spice things up by emptying a tea bag into the bath for an extra dose of healing plant power! You can incorporate other elements into the bath as well, such as crystals (earth) and candles (fire).

Connect with the AIR element by sitting outside. Visualize the breeze swirling around you and removing the dead leaves (outdated patterns, beliefs, stories) that you’re ready to let drop. Breathwork is also an incredibly powerful way to move stagnant energy – there is a breathwork for every ailment and condition, I wrote about two simple techniques in this post.

Connect with the FIRE element by candle gazing. If it’s chilly enough where you live, bonfires and fireplaces are also lovely options (we don't get any of that cool weather cozy goodness here in south Florida though!) Light a candle and stare at the flame for 3-7 minutes. This practice helps heal the pineal gland, the center of our intuition, which becomes calcified over time and also helps ignite the personal power the resides in the solar plexus chakra (read more about the chakras here).

Create

Cook a feast for yourself or your friend and family, bake a fruit pie, tend to herbs or plants, create your own ritual oil - apple, pumpkin and spices such as cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg all make intoxicatingly delicious additions to the fall season!

I also like to create intentions to help bring clarity to my life vision. Jot down no more than 7 goals or achievements you'd like to accomplish by year's end. Keep the most important one folded into your pillowcase, under your mattress or on your nightstand.

Give Back

Small acts of kindness can go a long way in spreading light and helping to raise the vibration of the world, which we need now more than ever. Is there something you can do this season to help your community? Maybe this looks like donating cans of food to a local church or food bank, giving clothes you no longer wear to a women's shelter, donating pet food to an animal rescue, sending a card to an elderly relative or buying a warm drink for a stranger - the possibilities are endless!

Will you be doing a ritual to mark the new season? Which of these ideas speaks most to you? What's your favorite fall ritual or tradition?

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