Letter 2: 2024 Autumn Equinox, Manifestation, Libra Season, Grief, The Lungs, The Large Intestine & Releasing Rituals

Happy Mabon & Autumn Equinox!

“As without, so within. As darkness begins to take over may you be blessed enough to turn inwards and find warmth, peace, and all that you are grateful for. All things must die before they are reborn, as you too must find yourself facing this same darkness in your internal search for the light. May the Autumn Equinox enlighten you on your path!”

I hope this finds you well at the start of this beautiful season. I find that the beginning of Autumn has a more gentle effect on us spiritually, emotionally and physically, rather than the end of the season, right before winter begins. To me, it can be easily associated with how we view change in our own lives. 

We welcome fall, and the changing of the leaves, accepting the new landscape of colors and smells, we change our patterns and behaviors to make room for cozier activities as it gets cooler and the air becomes more crisp. Somewhere along the way though, more towards the end of October to the beginning of November, we start to dread the upcoming frost, the loss of color, the freezing temperatures and the shortened days. In our everyday lives we might struggle with this behavior as well. We start to notice change and even welcome the new behaviors we are seeing within ourselves, thinking we are gaining momentum, and then we start to notice the things being lost along the way and are filled with that same dread of continuing down the path that we know is leading to darker and colder places. 

BUT, not to sound so dramatic and dreary. We of course know that winter is followed by spring. The rebirth season where the things we started to notice we were losing, are coming back but in a new way and in an even more magical way than they were when we “lost” them.

“The seasons are the ebb and flow created by the movement of the stars, planets, and heavens above.”

Anyways, analogies aside, let’s get back to Autumn.

The second Equinox of the year is a time when both day and night are of the same length, they balance each other and bring in a new season of change. In ancient folklore and mythology, the autumn equinox symbolized the time when Persephone, the Goddess of Spring and fertility, was to return to the underworld. In pagan traditions, it is the time of the year when we must collect what we have grown throughout the whole year. It is a time when everything is bearing the last of its fruit and is ready to be taken in to be saved for the upcoming colder months. It is also a tradition to begin honoring ancestors. (This practice is brought up again with more focus, during samhain.) You can honor them by placing any fruits or vegetables from your harvest onto graves as a symbol of rebirth. If this is too cryptic for you, like it is for me, then you can also place something that gives the symbol of rebirth, on your altar space. 

This tradition reminds me so much of the practice of Manifestation. Manifestation is the art of setting goals, and envisioning a new life for yourself. There are intense practices that include vision boarding and meditating on it everyday.

 But, all year long we might have found ourselves making goals and trying to replace old patterns with new ones and never really seeing any results. Trying new hobbies, new exercises, subscribing to newsletters and more. But, all of these actions that you thought didn’t have any use, or the ones that didn’t seem to stick, weren’t for nothing. At this time in the year, your spirit is thanking you for trying new things and doing what made you uncomfortable. It thanks you for trying and even though those things might not have felt like they were doing anything for you, I can promise you that they were. Little by little you are changing, and you are growing. You are getting closer to the life you are trying to create, even when it is seemingly unbearably slow and you don’t seem to notice the effects. Take time today, or this weekend, to take 10 deep breaths (or 3 if you don’t like overkill) and sit and be thankful that you are where you are, because it is leading you through the dark of Autumn and into the rebirth of Spring. (Figuratively and realistically.)

This time of year is also perfect symbolism for balance. We begin Libra season September 23rd. The zodiac that is represented by the scales, and the Justice tarot card. Libra is an air sign and is ruled by the planet Venus. Just another reason why you should believe that everything you’ve done or wanted to accomplish over this year is coming to a head, it is beginning to balance itself out in your life in a way that brings you harmony on your journey, may this be noticeably large, or small. Libra season brings the readiness for change, release, and finding balance in your everyday life. This is just another example of a gentle beginning before we get into Scorpio season, which will really need all of your energy if you are ready to commit to releasing, changing and transforming. 

In energetics, Autumn represents the Lungs and the Large intestine. This is so, because of how Autumn is about releasing, letting go, and greatly associated with grief. During my time learning about the Emotion Code, I realized I mostly was getting into it because most of my anxiety was stemming from grief I have been holding onto for a majority of my life. Grief can be described as a deep seated feeling of loss that you are unable to overcome, so much so that it starts to affect your day to day life. Grief is one of the lowest vibrating emotions, next to shame and guilt. 

Also, I just wanted to mention that I never said this was going to be a lighthearted newsletter with generic shadow work prompts. This is all about bringing your own awareness to things that can be really dark, and scary. So if at any time you become triggered in your personal shadow work, or if it gets too close and too uncomfortable, then please show your nervous system some compassion. Becoming too overwhelmed by information can mean that your nervous system is not ready to let some things go. This is totally normal because your spirit and your body work at their own pace, and they will be ready to let it go at some point. 

So, with that being said, let’s get into these body parts and their corresponding emotions. By the end hopefully you will be able to notice grief when it shows up, where it shows up in your own body, and why it will be important that you release it in your own shadow work.

In the book “Feelings buried alive never die” By Karol K Truman, the lungs and the large intestine are associated with the following emotions; 

The Lungs

• Feelings of Grief

• Not feeling approval

• Hurts where love is concerned

• Feels life is monotonous

• Not being able to do things your way

The Large Intestine

• Wanting to live in the past

• Desire to stay in the comfort zone

These emotions and feelings being stored away and not recognized as what they are can lead to physical ailments, and in some cases major dis-ease as well. I feel closely represented by the lungs' emotions, but in my case I am psychosomatic. (Meaning a physical illness or other condition caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress.) Where the issue shows up in my lungs but there is not actually anything wrong with my lungs. This is because I have these issues emotionally and am more connected to them spiritually than I am physically. It will show up different for everyone but the same outline of the underlying reasoning that it is there stays the same. 

There is great importance in letting go. Not being able to move forward and holding onto the past by holding grudges against your past self or others is no way to live. I speak from current experience. I am holding onto serious resentment to someone close to me for something that happened years ago, and I have been unable to move forward for reasons of pain and possibly that I am a Scorpio. All jokes aside though, I wholeheartedly believe this is the reason I have felt issues with my breath and my lungs, and even my large intestine as luck would have it. It is important for your own quality of life that you practice the art of letting go of the past or letting go of expectations for the future. 

Grief is an important response that we have as living beings that helps us to understand how much we really honored something being in our life. You should always allow yourself room to wail and cry and express any anger that may come up. It is okay, and I am giving you permission to feel these emotions because in our westernized society, we are generationally taught to not express grief, and to stay strong and stoic even when we have lost something important to us. There are no bounds that say what this has to be, you could have lost a friend, a pet, a plant, your favorite pair of pants, a job, either to death or to change. 

“If we do not grieve what we miss, we do not praise what we love.”

 

I am going to let you sit with all of this information and hopefully share it with others in need. If you or someone you know is in need of deeper assistance than shadow work due to grief then please seek the further and necessary assistance of a professional.

I will now share with you one of my favorite witchy releasing rituals. It is so easy and so metaphorically magical for letting things go, it is a perfect Autumn Equinox ritual as well.

1. Take one scrap of paper and write everything you want to release from the bottom of the paper to the top of the paper, starting with the most important to the least important. If it is your intention to release one big thing, I recommend only writing the one thing on the paper. 

2. Next, you will fold the paper in half away from you, turn it counter clockwise, and fold it in half away from you again. Repeat this until the paper is too small to fold. 

3. In a safe vessel, like a fire safe bowl or a fire pit, burn the paper until it turns to ashes

4. As the paper burns, envision smoke rising out of you as well, this symbolizes all of your grief that is ready to be released being carried away into the universe.

5. Take the ashes, and bury them, or discard them in any way. 

6. You may mark the “grave” if you wish, but if you do this make sure to leave a freshly harvested fruit or vegetable to symbolize rebirth (wink).

Happy Equinox!