The Autumn Equinox

The year in many cultures is displayed as a circle, decorated by the season. As the Autumn equinox approaches, people blessed to be in a climate that have seasonal change, experience the vibrant colors in the foliage and that smell in the air, that tells you Autumn is here. I however, live in the tropics, so I have to be more creative.

The time of the equinoxes, whether spring or fall is when night and day are of equal durations. It marks the Greek Zoidca sign of Libra, the scale, the time of balance.

During this time of balance, it would do yourself and your family some good to cleanse away some of that negativity. The Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah is celebrated close to the equinox time period.

On the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, the tradition of Tashlikh, which translates to cast away, where families throw stones symbolizing their sins, into a body of water leading to the ocean. You do not need to be Jewish or spiritual to see the physiology benefits this exercise provides. It's a physical activity, great for small children to adults. It's a great way to clear the air, for the Jewish New year or just to help restore the balance in your home.

 One night this month, I burned some sage, after I was done with it, I snuffed it out and left it on my sink. I do this with flammable objects like sage, for this very reason. This was a different kind of sage than I'm use too. It's dryer and after I thought I smudged it and it wasn't smoking, a cinder must have grown to have burned it all the way through. Thankfully, this mishap was contained in my sink and no real damage was done. Upon recognizing my own sensibility, I couldn't help but acknowledge that my home, in a sense cleansed itself.

As the snake sheds its skin, so must we shed what is dead in our lives,

After a good mental and spiritual cleansing, it is good to give your mind and spiritual positive boost. Hence why we have these rituals throughout out our lives. Although the wheels traditions can at times become mundane, you can always change things up.

Adding the tropics to your Autumn traditions!

1. Leaves, even if the leaves are green this time of year or not, this a great time of year to learn about different leaves. To teach children to identify both harmful leaves and editable ones. Some fun activities to try with this. Make leaf charts. Make leaf prints.

2. Death. This is an ideal time of year to discuss death. Whether in nature such as animal or plant, or historical example, such as dinosaurs or ancient ancestors or your personal dearly departed, this is a healthy time to teach children about our own mortality. As springs brings up subjects of sex and birth, the turning of the wheel must be dying and death. You could go to a historical museum to look at fossils. Put together a dinosaur skeleton puzzle. Pull out the old family albums or visit a graveyard.

3. Oranges, the tropics pumpkin. The Oranges grow naturally in tropical area's and where pumpkins have trouble in the heat. I will always carve a pumpkin, but decorating an orange with cloves is a fun and safe activity to add to your tradition.

http://indiasroses.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/how-to-orange-clove-pomanders/

4. Add tropical fruit to your traditional Autumn goodies. Banana Pumpkin Bread, add some pineapple to your maple coffee, put some orange slices in your Apple cider. All are great ways to incorporate the tropics into your Autumn holidays.

5. Collecting rocks and sea shells and painting them.
This is a great way to spend time with your family, doing something creative together.

I also suggest this fun book Bats at the Beach





No matter where you are, you can celebrate the coming of the cold months, make it memorable, no matter how you do it.
Happy Autumn Equinox to you all!