5 Ways to Welcome the Autumn Equinox

The days are growing shorter and the weather is cooling down. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we approach the Autumn Equinox, a turning of the wheel to a day where there is equal balance of light and darkness.

The energy shifts from expansive, outward and upward with Summer’s growth and abundance to an inward direction. This is an opportune time to slow down and pause, to take stock and reflect back on what has ripened in our own lives, what is primed for harvest, and what is ready to be thrown out to be composted to allow space for something else to flourish.

Below are some simple ways to mark the start of the season and tap into the energy Autumn brings:

1) Take a nature walk

I am blessed to live in the Pacific Northwest, where the deciduous leaves turn magnificent colors of gold, yellow, orange, and red. Here, the Earth’s celebration of Autumn is a glorious feast for the eyes! Simply by taking a step outside and I can revel in the beauty of the season.

Even if you live somewhere where seasons are not as obvious (I grew up in San Diego, CA where there’s only Summer and not-Summer lol), I am confident you can go find a park or natural area nearby and seek this out. Even a walk down your city street will show signs of the turning of the wheel, although they might be more subtle and take a more critical eye to notice.

What changes in the environment do you notice?

What do you notice about how the air feels on your skin?

Are there different activities you feel drawn to?

If you have access to fallen leaves, connect to your inner child and play in them! Enjoy crunching them under your feet, gather some and toss them into the air. Collect some of your favorite shapes or colors and take them home to create some leaf art or bring nature into your home.

2) Begin a gratitude practice

Thanksgiving isn’t the only time to focus on our blessings. If you don’t have one already, bringing a gratitude practice into your daily life is a sure way to highlight the abundance that is already yours. Gratitude is the precursor to happiness. Read more about this in my blog post The Secret to Happiness, which I wrote last Fall.

I am grateful for fresh air to fill my lungs.

I am grateful to be healthy and strong.

I am grateful to be safe and protected.

I am grateful for access to clean water.

I am grateful to have a home.

I am grateful for my desire to remember my connection to the natural world.

See, it’s pretty easy! Once you begin, the blessings get easier to spot! Even if you list the same thing 10 times, that energy attracts more abundance to you and it will be easier to find the more you do it. So get started!

3) Do a deep clean / belongings purge

“The trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let dead things go.”

– unknown

Channel your inner Marie Kondo and clear your schedule for a weekend/day/hour/or 20-minute increments. Pick a room/drawer/closet and take everything out. I know, I know, yes it will be a bigger mess in the beginning to start out with. But it’s important to clear the space, hey- even wipe down the surfaces, and prepare the space with intention what it will be holding.

If it doesn’t serve you or add joy to your life, thank it for serving its purpose at some point, and either donate it (if it’s in usable condition), recycle it, or trash it. It will feel SO good, trust me. It might just spur you on a deep cleaning spree of your whole home, which is a ritual I do before I decorate for each season.

4) Decorate and make leaf art

Remember those beautiful leaves you collected from your nature walk? Well, let’s put them to use! Pinterest has a plethora of tutorials on how to make garlands and mobiles, leaf prints, or clay leaf bowl with your findings. I love adding natural elements to my altars as well.

If you don’t have fresh leaves to use, you can get felt or faux ones at craft supply stores and make garlands and mobiles, centerpieces, or a wreath for your front door.

I led an Autumn kids craft last year at our local Hoodland Farmers Market with headbands and paper plate wreaths to take home.

5) Bake something yummy

Fill your home with delicious scents that stimulate memories of Autumn. Pumpkin spice anyone? This is an easy way to connect to our Ancestors, through food!

I make a special meal/dessert/dish at each holiday as a tradition to share with my family. Perhaps you have a recipe that has been passed down through generations? If not, make your own traditions! Being intentional and consciously choosing where your time and energy go is such a rewarding practice. YOU create the life you want for yourself.

Some of my favorite baked goods for Fall are baked apple crisp, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cranberry bagels. Yum!! Memories are easily triggered by smells so fill your home with music, scents of comforting delicious food, and sounds of laughter and happiness this season.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these recommendations and will try one (or all) of the ways to welcome the season of Autumn. Don’t be afraid to make your own that resonate with you!

Autumn blessings,

Christen

🌑 New Moon in Virgo đźŚ‘

The early morning at 4am PDT on Thursday, September 17th, 2020 brings us our New Moon in Virgo at 25 degrees. Look to your birth chart to see where this will be showing up in your life (available for free at Astro.com or set up a birth chart reading with me.)

Virgo is the mutable Earth sign, grounded but not rigid. It is able to shift shape and adapt. With its archetype being the Virgin, it embodies wholeness, not needing anyone to help it feel complete because it already knows it is. The energy of Virgo is all about noticing details and areas that could use improvement, being of service, while being self-sufficient. At a New Moon, the Sun and Moon are in alignment, bringing our attention and emotions together to set new intentions.

The Moon Mood for this Virgo New Moon asks us to care for ourselves so we can better care for others. Like that saying goes, “you cannot pour from an empty cup.” The outer world reflects our inner world so if we want a peaceful world, we need to have peace within ourselves.

Aspects:

The Sun and Moon form a T-square between the North and South Nodes.

The Sun and Moon oppose Neptune in Pisces.

The Sun and Moon trine the stellium of Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in Capricorn.

Mars in Aries sextile the North Node in Gemini.

Mars in Aries trine the South Node in Sagittarius.

Mars in Aries squares the stellium of Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in Capricorn.

Mercury in Libra square Jupiter in Capricorn.

The placement of the planets and where they are located in the zodiac influences how their energies work with or against each other.

The T-square formed by the Sun and Moon to the North and South Nodes intensifies our emotions and awareness of where we have been collectively and where our souls want to go. There are many challenges attempting to get our attention! But this is not all happening for nothing, the pain serves a purpose so have faith in that. The pressure can be relieved by leaning into the soothing power of water, art and creative outlets, and allowing plenty of time to sleep and dream.

Mars retrograde in Aries turns its forward moving, action-oriented energy inward. With a square to the stellium of Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in Capricorn- who have been so active in exposing the problems with our systems of Patriarchy that are not serving us- it is imperative not not get caught up in self-loathing and anger. This energy is useful to give you the extra push needed to make inward changes that will benefit us all, as shown by Mars’ position to the North and South Nodes at this New Moon.

Jupiter rules wisdom and is in Capricorn forming a square to Mercury in Libra. Mercury in Libra has balance in communication with a desire to be fair, but this cosmic relationship makes it difficult to effectively communicate without being overly critical, controlling, and bossy. Awareness is key, so check yourself and soften your tone to get your point across to receptive ears.

Affirmations:

“I soften my tone and speak with gentleness and love.”

“I pause to think and breathe before responding with love and kindness.”

“I know who I am and what I am meant to do in this lifetime.”

“I release fear and welcome trust.”

“I release control and open to flow.

“I love, forgive, and accept myself and others fully.”

“I love and care for myself so I can better love and care for others.”

Ritual:

Tonight, I will be making a Boundary Spray which clears energy and invites protection into the home.

To make this, simply fill up a large jar or pitcher with spring/distilled/purified water, and add sea salt. I am being called to use Rosemary from my garden (dried culinary or essential oil form will work too), Cedar, and Yarrow so will add those to the water. Then I will place the pitcher on my window sill with black tourmaline, smoky quartz, and labradorite surrounding that to be infused with the New Moon energy.

These are my plant and stone Allies that I feel led by, please feel free to adjust it to resonate with you.

After sitting out under the New Moon energy overnight, strain any herbs from the jar/pitcher and fill up a spray bottle. Spray liberally throughout your house, focusing on corners and areas energy is likely to collect as you pray/invoke cleansing and protection with your intention.

As always, if you would like additional support through a personal astrology reading, or help clearing and fortifying your own energy system through Reiki– I am available for distance sessions.

Be well,

Christen

Photo credit: Guzmán Barquín @guzmanbarquin

Gentleness in Grief

Having lost both my parents, as well as the passing of cherished pets, family, and friends- I am no stranger to grief. Grief is what comes from the loss of relationships or experiences, of something we have had or the loss of hope of what could be.

Everything in life is transient, none of us is immune to grief.

This year has been a tough one for most. We are in the midst of a mass extinction from ignoring the climate crisis that has been vying for our attention for decades. There is a global pandemic that has produced quarantines and isolation, physical “social” distancing, and many changes to our everyday life in a short amount of time. We grieve the dying planet, we grieve the loss of our lifestyle we had not long ago. Some of you may have lost loved ones to COVID, or your home to the wildfires that are currently raging on the West Coast, or experiencing grief in countless ways that are surfacing right now.

However and for whatever reason you are grieving, I honor you and your experience.

Instead of resisting the discomfort, because it IS uncomfortable, I have found it helpful to surrender to it. Sit with it and just let it be. Grief wants to be witnessed.

Tune into where you feel it in your body. Is it an upset belly? An aching heart? Shortness of breath? A lump in your throat? Something else?

I experience grief in my lungs and feel like I can’t breathe fully or catch my breath. There’s a heaviness on my chest.

I invite you to place your hand where you feel the grief being held in your body and read these affirmations. Repeat the ones you feel resonate with you as often as needed, or make up your own.

Affirmations:

“I surrender to what I am feeling and allow it to pass through me.”

“I know who I am and what I am meant to do in this lifetime.”

“I breathe in love and forgiveness, I breathe out love and forgiveness.”

“Even though I feel overwhelmed with discomfort in this moment, I know it will not last.”

“I love, forgive, and accept myself and others fully.”

“I accept what I cannot change and trust all is happening for my highest good and the highest good of all.”

To take the edge off and ease the discomfort of grief, I have found these Allies to be supportive:

Plant Allies:

Rose

Bleeding Heart

Osha

Star of Bethlehem (an ingredient in Bach’s Rescue Remedy flower essence, also available by itself)

Stones:

Rose Quartz

Apache Tears

Amethyst

Food as medicine:

Potatoes

Cauliflower

Coconut

Pear

Cashews

Macadamia nuts

I call on my well and wise Ancestors for comfort and support, as they also walked this Earth in human form and know what it is like to live the human experience.

If some time has passed and the grief isn’t fresh, it may be helpful to look at the experience through a different lens. What goodness can you find? Are there any people you met, opportunities you had, or changes that were made that otherwise probably wouldn’t have happened without it? How have you grown? Look for the lessons.

With my dad’s passing, I became much closer to my friend Tim who held space for me while I sobbed and grieved his sudden death. Later, a romantic relationship blossomed- we have now been together for 17 years and married for 12!

When my mom died during my pregnancy of my first son, it gave me a wake up call to re-evaluate what I trusted in our mainstream Western medical system and led me to question everything I thought I had known about health. I now am on a path of true health and have learned so much about natural medicine and natural living that benefits me and my family I otherwise probably wouldn’t have been as motivated to discover.

It can help to bring resolution and meaning when we reflect back on challenges. If this is not the stage you are in yet, please don’t try to rush it. Honor yourself where you are now. It will come.

There are many stages to grief and healing is not linear, nor is it ever truly over. You might think it is and then “wham!” you’re feeling all the feelings again- and that’s ok. It’s all a part of the process.

The most important thing is to be gentle with yourself and your experience.

Comfort yourself like you would tend to a child.

Follow your intuition on what YOU need, because ultimately you are the expert on yourself and know what will nourish your soul best.

If I can be of support through energy work and intuitive healing for some extra TLC, please reach out and work with me.

With love,

Christen