In the Northern hemisphere Autumn is traditionally related to sunset and the direction West, the place of transformation and death, as in the English expression “to go west” (to die).
In ancient Rome the Autumn Equinox marked the time when the goddess Proserpine began the descent into the underworld, where she would stay until Spring.
It is the moment when the world or the environment that has been familiar, gradually fades away until it eventually disappears. The luminosity and heat of summer begins to dissolve, giving way to increasing darkness.
This is a most intense moment of the yearly journey. It is the opportunity to relinquish our worn-out clothes and welcome the novel garments adapted for upcoming enterprises. Here we have the opportunity to release our previous conventional identification and step into a more advanced identity.
It is an initiatory death often known as the Way of the Spiritual Warrior, or shamanic death. By cultivating introspection and connecting with our deeper multidimensional self, we can withdraw from the fears generated by the belief in separation and gather the love and support which we need to advance along the path of transformation.
Being aware of, and accepting, the strategy of initiatory death, and the rebirth that follows as a natural development, makes it easier to accelerate profound mutations without activating the fiction of suffering pain or loss.
The leading challenge in autumn is to learn to die well to what no longer serves and be open to receive what truly supports our true intention and purpose in life.
Relevant questions here are: “what is there in my life that wants or needs to die? What ways of being in the world do not serve my current Intent and all that I am discovering through my inner work? What no longer serves me, my loving companions, the community where I live, the planet and the universe?”
When we see the world solely through the perspective of our personal identity or the culture we apparently belong to, we let the invention of our personal or collective ego rule as the centre of the universe rather than allowing our true self to be at the centre.
Autumn is a rather controversial zone which can cause major confusion, if we lose track of our relationship with our true self and get entangled in the thought system of the personal or collective ego.
Our true purpose in life is served through the release of our forlorn fidelity to pain and the readiness to probe other modalities of existing in the universe.
We need to become aware of your role as channel and meeting place for energies of multiple realities and worlds.
We need to comprehend that in each single moment we have the opportunity to elect whether to support unity or separation, and that this choice involves being aware of the nature of our conflicting thoughts.
Autumn is a time of steady retraction where changes are experienced in the nature of social relationships as well as in dreams, shamanic journeys and connections with alternative worlds.
In order to receive something new and promote healing harmony, we are asked to relinquish what is old and no longer needed, what causes grievances and conflict. This is the blessing of this season.
In ancient Persia the celebration of the Autumn Equinox (Mehregan) was created to honour Mehr, the goddess of light, love, friendship, truth, commitment, strength and peace. In Persian her name means kindness, goodness and identifies Libra in the official Iranian calendar and an alternative name for Mithra.
And as we enter Autumn, we meet the first sign of this season, Libra, bestowing the qualities of harmony, peace, luminous cooperation and sacred partnerships. These are most important gifts, which we need to be open to give and receive, in order to face the darkest months to come.
Please join us in celebrating the Autumn Equinox with a distant meditation, click here for information on our worldwide meditation.
I wish you a very happy Autumn season.
© Franco Santoro