How to Celebrate The Fall Equinox as a Modern Witch

You've seen the days start to get shorter and the temperatures start to fade. That means the autumnal equinox is just around the corner (or the vernal equinox , for the southern hemisphere). According to softschools.com {target="_blank"}, "Following the autumnal equinox, those in the northern hemisphere begin to experience the sun's rays less directly, resulting in colder temperatures. In the southern hemisphere, they experience the opposite. This is because the earth rotates on an axis with a tilt of 23.4 degrees. People would not experience seasons if the earth did not rotate on a tilted axis. The temperatures would remain the same and the length of day and night wouldn't change. There would be no seasons."

Instead, the autumnal equinox marks one of two days a year where the length of day and night are precisely the same. Its significance has been recognized for thousands of years across rituals, traditions, and groups of people. As a modern witch, you have a number of ways available to you with which to greet the first day of fall. Think of a fall harvest: it is more than just the time of year for pumpkin spice lattes, a sudden interest in tarot, or Halloween. A harvest is a reaping, an examination of the end of a season and a marker in between another. Whether or not you celebrate Mabon {target="_blank"} (the "second harvest" of Wicca) officially, or just want to mark the shortening days until the winter solstice, there are as many options to celebrate as there are leaves just beginning to fall from trees. Below, see only a few of our favorite ideas.

Give Thanks to the Season — Starting in the Sky

A new season means new constellations. The next time night falls, look up in the sky: the scales of Libra are there as a marker for the season. Confused? According to Space {target="_blank"}, "When the Romans invented the Libra constellation, approximately 3,500 years ago, it contained the Autumnal Equinox — the point in the sky where the sun crossed the equator on its way from the Northern Hemisphere to the south. That's the time of the year when days and nights were equal." Witches Trunk Show by Magickal Folk boasts an entire Libra-based autumn workshop, curated to "cover all aspects seasonal energy including yoga for Libra, moon rituals, a guided visualization and mediation, myth & lore around the Constellation of Libra, related deities, as well as the fate, light, shadow and alchemy of Libra." Knowing more about the autumnal equinox starts with knowing more about Libra, and Magickal Folk's Fall Series subscription box is a great place to start.

In addition, Magickal Folk explains, "During the Libra season, we balance the scales, perform rituals of justice, honor the empress, find grace, forgiveness, and awaken our inner beauty along the way. We feel it is important to understand the physical effects of the items we take internally so we will also learn about the medicinal and magickal properties of those items in the kits through Materia Medica and hands of herbal learning." Different subscription options offer you different elements of witchcraft with which to dig deeper into this time of balance, from altar tools to spellwork to modern apothecary tools.

Enhance Your Practice (Wiccan or Otherwise)

Think of the autumn season like acorns: what we put away now can nourish us well into spring. That's why taking some time to invest in your practice can strengthen your intuition and keep you focused on what matters — what's inside. Box of Shadows is a Wicca-Inspired subscription for "eclectic" souls, and they explain that they "aim to be a resource that focuses on the ever-important path to continued growth, over outward aesthetics." Again, it helps to think back to the nature of the season: If harvest season is about collecting grain to then be stored, or burrowing acorns to be unearthed in the spring, then marking the autumnal equinox can be about making spiritual, intuition-based deposits into the practices that make you feel full, warm, and known — especially before a winter spent inside, during a pandemic. Connect yourself to the spaces around you and invest in your Wiccan practice, then cozy in and let the sun go down.

Set an Intention for the Season

Harvest festivals and full moons can be moments to pause and recognize the journey towards a culmination, but there's more to the equinox and the harvest season than looking back at what brought us here: you can also look forward to the shorter days and restorative season on the other side of Samhain on October 31. Use the Tamed Wild Box to define your intention-setting lunar ritual, or a ritual specifically for the equinox. Billed as a "monthly delivery of magic and earth medicine," Tamed Wild includes 4-5 items with each delivery, ranging from crystals, herbs & teas, ritual tools, altar items, jewelry, essential oils & other lifestyle pieces. A perfect autumn bonus? Every delivery includes a 1/2oz sample of artisan-blended tea. What better way to mark the autumn equinox than with a nice warm cup of tea and your intentions for the season ahead?

Invite Magic Into your Life

Again, each Mabon celebration, or marking of the autumnal equinox, provides an opportunity to reap what you have sown — literally, if you've planted, but also metaphorically. The Wiccan holiday of Mabon is also "a time of balance and reflection" and giving thanks, according to Learn Religions {target="_blank"}. The autumn marks a perfect time to work on your current goals and develop plans for new ideas, so you can relax and hibernate (so to speak) in the winter.

Those new ideas and hopes that you hold close at the equinox can be pulled into the full magical circle of craft with Sacred Iseum 's Sacred Boxes. After all, autumn is back-to-school season, too, so why not expand your knowledge of the craft so that by the first day of spring, your practice is deepened and magic is more thoroughly in your life? Sacred Iseum's handcrafted items will enhance your magical life, and the accompanying information on how to use them will help educate and empower you.

The autumnal equinox, like the spring equinox and the summer solstice, holds a powerful position on the Wheel of the Year celebrations, so mark Mabon from September 21-24 if you wish to celebrate, and set your intentions to deepen your practice as the nights get deeper, too.