Video Summary:

This Thursday, September 22nd is the Fall Equinox and also the first day of fall. In many spiritual traditions, especially aboriginal, earth-based traditions, this is celebrated as a really powerful time to tune into yourself and the earth.

One way to talk about the Fall Equinox is in terms of the Medicine Wheel or wheel of life. In my tradition, the Medicine Wheel begins in the east which represents springtime. This is when things are being born, the birth of plants and animals in nature, new aspects of ourselves, or a new thing we're creating.

And in the east, this thing being born is totally formless. As it moves into the south or the summertime, it begins to develop form. The summer is a time of learning and a time of trial and error. It's an active, dynamic time that functions as a crucible to accumulate form.

As we move into the Fall Equinox, which is the west on the Medicine Wheel, it's a time when things have taken form. And as we move from spring to summer to fall, it's a continuum in which we're accumulating form. So at Fall Equinox, you can be looking at what you've been developing and how it is taking form.

Another perspective views the Fall Equinox and Medicine Wheel in terms of harvest and a developing plant. In the spring, we plant a seed, and it grows through the summer and into the fall. As it gets into the fall, it's ready for the harvest.

So it cycles from formlessness to form, from pure vision to substance. And fall is a time when we can harvest it and glean value from it. The metaphor is that there’s an opportunity at this time of year to harvest things in ourselves, the things that we planted in the spring. Now it's time that it can make a difference.

It was a dream in the spring, and now it's a reality. The Aboriginal people of Australia do ceremonies in the Dreamtime first, and then it takes form in reality. Their only notion of time is the duration between Dreamtime and reality. They don’t even have words for time, but they have many words for moving from Dreamtime to reality.

The grizzly bear is the spirit guide of the Fall Equinox and represents strength, power, and courage. The bear teaches us about right use of power and how to stand in our personal power. Fall Equinox is a time of maturity and harvest when the power of our current cycle is at its peak.

So what is your Fall Equinox about? What is your harvest, and what is coming into power? What kind of personal power are you wielding? Remember to celebrate the equinox and align yourself with it. Its energy for it is here for you to access and utilize for your life and your people.