Fall is a different kind of renewal from Spring. Rather than a blooming and enthusiasm we experience when Spring pulls us from the cold of Winter, Fall is a quieting. It is both a softening of the heat and a descending of nature—where summer leaves drop to the earth and feed the soil to once again be reborn in the coming Spring.

By Amy Cushing

“And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.” ~ Oscar Wilde

Usually, the emergence of fall brings excited exclamations of pumpkin spice everything and cozy sweaters.

For those who live in the desert, it means temperatures cool to the low 100s (it’s a dry heat, they say), but that’s just fine by us. We still greet fall with exuberant glee as the cooler mornings arrive on our doorstep.

There is more to Autumn, however, than the golden leaves, shorter days, and sublime temperatures.

Fall officially begins when the sun shifts in line with the equator and sits directly overhead at noon. The same occurrence happens during the Vernal—or Spring—equinox and creates days and nights of equal length. For those who live further from the equator, the length of the days and nights may vary, but it will be the time of the year when they are most closely divided.

Equinox is a word created from two Latin terms: aequus, meaning equal and nox, meaning night.

The National Weather Service notes that the autumnal equinox usually arrives sometime around the 22nd or 23rd of September. As the sun shifts directly above the equator, the northern hemisphere experiences summer turning into fall, while the southern hemisphere moves from winter to spring, with their autumnal equinox occurring in March.

The Earth’s titled axis, approximately 23.5 degrees, creates the Earth’s seasons because of the differing amount of sunlight throughout the year as we orbit the sun. The equinoxes represent the two times of the year when the tilt of the earth is neither toward nor away from the sun, but nearly even with the equator. Therefore, days with the most equal amounts of daylight and nighttime are typically September 23rd and March 20th.

There are two moons significant to the autumnal equinox.

The most notable is the Harvest Moon. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the Harvest Moon was a signal for farmers to complete their harvest. The tilt of the Earth and the moon’s orbit line up so that the moon rises about 30 minutes earlier each night after sunset for several days. This bright moon provided more illumination for farmers to yield their crops.

This year, the Harvest Moon’s brightness will arrive on September 28th.

The Hunter’s Moon follows the Harvest Moon and typically occurs in October. This year, the Hunter’s Moon is expected to peak on October 28th. The moon is known for its large, orange-tinted appearance and will appear over the horizon for several nights.

Not only does Autumn create amazing shifts for our planet, but it also symbolizes a calming and a reimagining. Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote:

 “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”

While philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche opined:

 “Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.”

Fall is a different kind of renewal from Spring. Rather than a blooming and enthusiasm we experience when Spring pulls us from the cold of Winter, Fall is a quieting. It is both a softening of the heat and a descending of nature—where summer leaves drop to the earth and feed the soil to once again be reborn in the coming Spring.

It’s a time of reflection, when the torrid days of summer relent to refreshing mornings and cool evenings. In the desert, it is a break from what seems like endless, sweltering days, when we open our doors at the first autumn sunlight and think, “Ahhh, it’s here!”

The relentless summer cedes into a welcomed coolness.

Fall creates anticipation in the air. Maybe it’s the lure of the coming holidays or the longing of a new beginning, the expectations permeate the atmosphere. It’s like a crisp hello inviting something new, something rejuvenating yet peaceful.

I suppose it’s hope, an anticipation for a new starting point from which to shoot for the Harvest Moon and reap the benefits of the year’s work.

And that’s what infuses for me each fall: hope. Hope for change, for new beginnings, and for a step away from the chaos of the year. A chance to take in what means the most after a year of continual effort.

A moment to take that which has grown within you and feed your soul.

 

Photo by Valentin from Pixabay

 

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Ayurveda Recommends More Hugs in Autumn.

Finding The Zen in the Pagan Roots of Halloween

 

 

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