Welcoming Fall: Spiritual Practices for Seasonal Transitions

The Fall Equinox marks the first day of autumn. This crisp season of transition is the perfect time for rituals focused on gratitude for your successes, grounding into what's best for you, and letting go of barriers. This empowers you to embrace powerful transitions that'll help you manifest the best version of yourself.

Seasonal spiritual practices channel the distinct ambiance of the season and take advantage of the rhythms moving through nature at that time. For fall, this means bringing in the harvest, letting go of what doesn't serve us, and preparing for a cozy season of hibernation.

Practice Earthing in the Crisp Autumn Air

Earthing is the practice of putting your bare feet on the natural ground to connect with Mother Earth. Whether your landscape is dirt, clay, or sand, allowing contact with your skin is a powerful practice that'll help you ground and center. 

How to Do an Earthing Ritual

Plan a special seasonal grounding ritual.

• Wiggle your feet into the leaf litter and breathe in the crisp, cool air.
• Take a meditative walk or find a comfortable spot to sit on the ground and observe the colorful changing leaves. 
• Focus on the feel of the ground, the stability of the earth, and the innate power that runs beneath you. 
• Close your eyes and envision roots extending from your trunk, through your feet, and into the earth. 
• Ground yourself and picture the earth's abundant energy running up through you. 

Repeat this earthing and grounding ritual regularly throughout the fall season until connecting with the earth becomes second nature. This practice will serve you well through the winter months when it's often too cold to practice earthing, and you need to ground more instinctively without the same physical contact.

Host a Full Moon Gratitude Ritual

The Autumn Harvest Moon will occur on Sept. 17 and 18, 2024. Full moons represent abundance, completion, and celebration. The harvest moon is the ideal time for spiritual practices focused on gratitude and thankfulness. 

• Host a harvest moon party with seasonal decorations.
• Have each guest bring a seasonal dish to honor the abundance of the fall season. 
• As you partake in the meal, go around the table and share the things that you're thankful for. 

If this sounds a lot like Thanksgiving, that's because it is. This season naturally lends itself to celebrations of the cornucopia of life.

Meditate on Personal Balance

On the fall equinox, day and night are the same length. This day is a period of transition. Before the fall equinox, the day is longer than the night. After the fall equinox, the opposite is true up until the winter solstice. With ever-lengthening nights, you have more time to indulge in hibernation, restfulness, and the gestation of new projects and ideas.

While summer is about long days and winter is about long nights, fall is about balance. 

• Practice a focused meditation on the topic of balance. 
• Consider where you're leaning too heavily in one direction or another. Do you put more effort into the office than your family? Are you investing more in reality television than in enriching reading material?
• Consider where you need to shift to improve balance so you can achieve the goals most important to you.

Have a Bonfire Ritual

Just as the trees drop their leaves, so too can you use the fall months to purposefully shed what doesn't serve you. Build a bonfire to symbolically burn away anything that's plagued you through the summer season and hindered your growth. 

Fall is a time for gathering in the best of your harvest, and winter provides a meditative space for hibernation before you burst forth into a season of spring growth. Don't go into your winter cave with a bunch of unnecessary baggage. Burn it away now.

Consider writing down the things that you want to let go of on pieces of paper or cardboard so you can throw them onto the fire. You can also burn pictures, carvings, or other symbols of the things that you're releasing from your life.

Have a Fall Equinox Retreat

In 2024, the Fall Equinox occurs on Sunday, Sept. 22. This weekend occasion is perfectly timed for an equinox retreat to settle down and fully embrace the changing season. Spend Saturday preparing for the equinox by cleansing your body and home to release any of the summer clutter you don't need to carry into the fall. To cleanse yourself, take a soothing meditative bath using seasonal herbs, oils, and crystals such as the following:

• Citrine: Brings prosperity and abundance.
• Tiger's eye: Supports introspection and discernment.
• Magnetite: Enhances balance.
• Rosemary: Enhances memory and cleanses negative energies.
• Honeysuckle: Promotes nostalgia, positivity, and resilience.

As you bathe, listen to an autumn meditation dedicated to releasing anything from the season that's held you back so you can focus on supporting and nurturing only that which serves you.

Cleanse your home using a sage smudge. Mugwort is a nice seasonal addition as well and is known to stimulate dreams. Welcome the spirit of autumn into your home by simmering cinnamon sticks and apple peels in a pot of water on the stove or in a crockpot. 

Once you've created the right environment, you can spend the rest of your weekend retreat creating a seasonal altar and journaling or meditating on your plans for the fall harvest. Build a bonfire on the fall equinox and release any troubles that entered your mind during your meditations so you have a fresh start for autumn.

These fall rituals will help you make the most of the season and enjoy the best that it has to offer. Practice deep gratitude for the best parts of your life and let the rest go. If you need expert guidance on that last tricky part, talking to one of our expert Psychics can help.