Fall Equinox Mysteries - Find Your InnerInspiration Now
By CherylJanecky

Fall Equinox is a traditional time ofthanksgiving celebrations around the world. Fall is the time of harvesting, andalso the time to take stock of what you harvest personally. If your returnsthis season are not what you hoped, now is the time to reflect, find yourbalance and look for what within you must change to assure greater success inthe coming year.

Join in the flow of the times and addyour appreciation for all you've experienced and received this past year - andyour Joyful expectations for the coming year. You are setting your own futurein motion now with a potent surge of energy during the transition point. Don'tmiss it. Very soon everything changes.

From the Equinox forward, the night'slengthen and the days shorten. All of life turns within. You are moving fromyour more "Yang" masculine, action oriented self, into the realms ofthe inner-world, the "Yin" and your feminine, intuitive, receptive,creative self.

Fall Equinox: Science Facts

"Autumn" is a derivative ofthe Latin "autumnus." Equinox literally means "equalnight." Day and night are each 12 hours, and the sun rises in true eastand sets in true west. The Sun appears to "stand still" and findsbalance before continuing. After the Equinox you view the most rapid change inthe Sun's apparent motion.
"Everyone must take
time to sit and watch
the leaves turn."
Elizabeth LawrenceAs the nights lengthen and cool, the trees change into theirFall colours. The time of harvest is the time of gathering in fruits,vegetables and grains for Winter. The abundant harvest is symbolized by thehorn of plenty or the cornucopia overflowing with Fall bounty and huge feasts,music and dancing.

The Fall Equinox, in the Northern Hemisphere, isthe point at which the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator from north tosouth. In the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite is seen, and there it is thetime of Spring Equinox.

The equinoxes are points moving in awestward direction known as the "precession of the equinoxes." Ittakes 25,800 years for the equinoxes to pass through all the constellations ofthe zodiac. That time period is noted historically in the Vedic and Mayan textsas prophesizing great worldwide changes...Like the Age of Aquarius.

Fall Equinox in story and myth

Stories and myth are the histories ofa culture - some from religious texts and some from verbal traditions. Thetruths, wisdom and teachings of the time are embedded within parables, songsand dances. The Wheel of the Solar Seasons has turned, cycling through anotheryear once again. Your time is circular not linear, there is no end without newbeginnings, and no new beginnings that will not end. It is the Flow of GoodFortune to an ever-expanding future, and the flow of life eternal.

Stories and Myths of the inwardjourney

There are many wisdom teachings thattell of the same inward journey, and all are around the Fall Equinox. They arefrom different cultures and times and yet speak of the same cycle. An exampleis the myth of Persephone.

The Greek Goddess Persephone

In Greek mythology, Persephone (Koreor Cora) was the embodiment of Mother Earth's fertility - and at the same time- she was the Queen of the Underworld.

The story: Persephone, the daughterof Earth Mother Demeter, is abducted and becomes the wife of Hades who governsthe underworld. In Demeter's anguished seeking her daughter, she withdrew fromthe earth (hence winter and the withering of the crops) until Zeus orderedHades to return Persephone. Hades tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds,which compels her to return to the underworld for a season each year.

Her myth explains the naturalprocesses, with the descent and return of the goddess bringing about the changeof seasons. But there's more to the story.

Mystical meanings

Persephone is a Greeklife-death-rebirth deity or "resurrection" deity. She is a God who isborn, suffers a death-like experience, passes a time in the underworld, and isthen reborn.

The Winter months (soon to come) area time of "going into the inner or underworld" and there reigning asthe all powerful ruler. The mystery schools used the seasons as imputes forchange and personal growth. Like a god, you set your life in motion from yourinner world - and what you imagine, dream and speak - comes to pass.

When Demeter and her daughter wereunited in the Spring the Earth flourished with vegetation and color, but forsome months each year, when Persephone returned as Queen of the Underworld, theearth once again became barren. Those that stay on the surface of life at Falltime, find their future barren too.

Some of the other traditional Fallstories include the victory over ignorance by the Vedic or Hindu Goddess Durga;the Celtic or Wiccan story of Mabon reflects another time of balancing betweenthe worlds of life and death, and of outer consciousness and inner knowing.Mabon tells of the necessity of rest periods, that allow you to assimilate,review, and incorporate your experiences of the past. The Corn Maiden (ChangingWoman) is a Native American story of changing life cycles. These are insightsinto the power and wisdom of this time.

Worldwide Fall Equinox Traditions

The Fall Equinox is also known as thefirst day of autumn: Harvest Home, Harvest Tide, Mabon, Alban Elfed, Autumn Equinox,Autumnal Equinox, Cornucopia, Feast of Avilon, Festival of Dionysus, Night ofthe Hunter, Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, and Witch's Thanksgiving.

The first cusp of Libra was the FallEquinox term used by navigators and astrologers. It is the turning point,astrologically, from Virgo to Libra, symbolized by the scales, for balance.

"It was Indian summer,
a bluebird sort of day as
we call it in the north,
warm and sunny, without
a breath of wind;
the water was sky-blue,
the shores a bank
of solid gold."
Sigurd F. Olson
Native American's honor this time of harvest with feasting, bonfires, as wellas drumming, dancing, story-telling and various traditions from differenttribes. The Chumash month of Hutash is a Fall Equinox Sun ceremony celebratedduring September.

Harvest Home
European harvest rites revolved around the end of the grain harvest. In ruralEngland, the Harvest Home was celebrated on the last day of bringing in theharvest. The "Harvest Queen" was a doll made of the last sheaf of theharvest, tied with ribbons, and carried home to save for the following Springplanting. She was believed to hold the "life force" for abundance inthe next crops.

A harvest supper was a dinner ofthanksgiving and celebration. The home was decorated with wheat sheaths bundledtogether or corn stalks, wicker cornucopias filled with fruits and nuts,gourds, pumpkins, acorns and grapes.

The Druids celebrate Mea'n Fo'mhair
The Fall Equinox is a time to give thanks to The Green Man or the God of theForest. Offerings from the harvest of herbs, ciders, and wines were given tothe trees, his consorts, and in his honor. The tree is a symbol for the divinefeminine and as the tree sheds it's leaves - it turns inward, into the realm ofthe Goddess.

The Celtic Festival of Samhain
The ancient Celtic peoples occupied much of Northern Europe including parts ofFrance, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England, as well as many outposts inadjoining regions. The fire festival of Samhain was the origin of many modernday Halloween customs and marked the end of autumn and the beginning of winter.

"Listen!
The wind is rising,
and the air is wild
with leaves,
we have had our
summer evenings,
now for October eves!"
Humbert WolfeOn the Eve of Samhain, October 31st, the separation between thisworld and the "other realms" was penetrable. Witches flew onbroomsticks, and fairies, ghosts, ghouls, and hobgoblins roamed the earth

The hidden inner Wisdom
Samhain is also known as the season of gateways. For the initiate, thefestivities also marks the 3 day portal to both the future and the past.Samhain is a mystical path to the inner mysteries of the god and goddess withineach person. In addition, it is the "thinning of the veil" or agateway between the realm of the living to that of the dead. The shaman andmedicine people of many native traditions share this wisdom and practice.

Halloween is a Samhain adaptation.
Today Celtic celebrations are observed worldwide. The custom oftrick-or-treating and the symbols, parties, fires and celebrations retain theirpopularity.

Fall Equinox Season - Blending theold with the new
Roman Catholics in Europe still remember their dead ancestors on All SaintsDay, the first of November.

Bonfires continue to celebrate theend of the Fall Season. The Celtic custom of lighting fires on the Isle of Manon Halloween continues today.

"The winds will blow
their own freshness
into you, and the
storms their energy,
while cares will drop
away from you like the
leaves of Autumn."
John Muir
Join the festivities.

Visit Mother Nature in her leafyrobes of gold, red and orange. Feel the changes in the season and in life.Harvest Festivals are a universal expression of the desire to celebrate andgive thanks for Mother Nature's abundance.

Now is the time to discover your ownmystery and wisdom.

Take a moment and give your Attentionto your Life's path and purpose. If you want changes, now is the time toreflect on your past and commit to discover new approaches to your future. Itis in the quiet and inward-time of Winter that your Wisdom will surface as yourInspiration. Your wisdom then becomes a part of who you are. Gather togetheryour experiences and prepare to go on an inward spiraling journey. In this way,you become the seeds of your own Good Fortune.

Quick Good Fortune: "Go with theflow in Nature and find your path to success and happiness now."

Cheryl Janecky is the expert onattracting Good Fortune. Get the FACTS and FREE "21 Insights"Home-Study course. PLUS weekly tips and strategies. Begin here: http://www.quick-good-fortune.com

Find many more ancient customs onFall Equinox too. Start today- from the new sciences and ancient wisdom: getthe FREE facts to find [http://www.quick-good-fortune.com/Fall-Equinox-Hidden-Mysteries.html]FallEquinox Hidden Mysteries at Quick Good Fortune.com. Copyright 1974-2009 (c) TheGood Fortune Company LLC - All Rights reserved.

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