About the Autumn Equinox

What is the autumn equinox

The autumn equinox is the precise moment when the Sun crosses directly above Earth’s equator, marking the astronomical start of autumn. Equinox comes from Latin, meaning “equal night” as day and night are roughly 12 hours long worldwide. In the Northern Hemisphere, it happens in September, usually around 21st-23rd. In the Southern Hemisphere, it happens in March.

Autumn equinox in Neopagan religions

The celebration is called Mabon. It honors the equal length of the light and dark before the nights grow longer. People give thanks to the earth’s abundance and the autumn harvest.

It is a time to slow down, reflect, and prepare for the cold winter months.

Autumn equinox in Mesopotamia

In Mesopotamia, the autumn equinox was the time of sowing; there was a festival dedicated to the moon god Nanna (or Sin) to bless the newly planted seeds. It was the turning point signaling the transition from the scorching dry summer (Emesh) to the cooler planting months (Enten). It was also a time to honor the major deities, like Anu, Enlil, and Enki.

Simple ritual for the autumn equinox

Ingredients

    • A white candle.

    • A black candle.

    • A brown or deep orange candle (or any autumn-related color, or use white as a universal color).

    • A needle, or some tool to carve into the Autumn candle.

    • A vegetable oil.

Preparation of the Autumn candle

Carve the following symbol into the candle:

As you do so, recite the following: “May the arms of Chaos reach down and embed this candle with the powers of Autumn. May you bless me with the rejuvenation before the longest night comes.”

After this is done, rub a vegetable oil on the candle; while doing so, recite the following: “I bless you with the power to grow what is planted deep within.”

Do what is described above either one day before the autumn equinox, or on the same day as the ritual.

The Autumn Ritual

Place the 3 candles on your altar in a triangular pattern. The triangle should point at you, with the Autumn candle being right in front of you. The black candle should go to the left far corner and the white candle at the right far corner. If you want to use any incense, put it at the center of the triangle, if the space permits.

    1. Close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.

    2. Say: “As above, so below.”

    3. Light the black candle.

    4. Say: “As within.”

    5. Light the white candle.

    6. Say: “So without.”

    7. Stay silent for a while to get a feeling for the moment.

    8. Say: “With the power of the second breath!”

    9. Light the Autumn candle.

    10. Say “May my power flourish just like Nature flourishes before the long night!”

    11. Close your eyes.

    12. Say: “Bless what is seeded within as it may grow unhindered!”

    13. Open your eyes and say “As above, so below.”

    14. Take the black candle with your left hand; as you blow it, say “As within,” but keep holding it.

    15. Take the white candle from the right side with your right hand; as you blow it, say “As without,” but keep holding it.

    16. Say: “As below, so above.” Now you can put the candles aside.

    17. You can let the Autumn candle lit, or you can blow it out and store it for the next year; this concludes the Autumn ritual.

About the Summer Solstice

What is the summer solstice

The summer solstice is the time of the year when the day is the longest and the night is the shortest. It’s the beginning of the astronomical summer. Usually happens between June 20th and 22nd on Northern Hemisphere and between December 20th and 23rd on Southern Hemisphere.

Summer solstice in Neopagan religions

Litha is a modern Pagan and Wiccan holiday that celebrates the summer solstice. It is also known as Midsummer. Many traditions greet the rising sun: Wake up with the sunrise and soak the sun in.

Other celebrations include dancing around large bonfires, singing songs, telling stories, writing down on a piece of paper what’s bothering you, and surrendering it to the flames.

Summer solstice in Mesopotamia

Mesopotamians didn’t celebrate the light and fertility at midsummer. Instead, they dreaded the solstice as it brought extreme heat, droughts, and possibly famine. They associated the peak of the sun’s power with Nergal, the fierce solar deity of the netherworld, war, and pestilence. During this time, people held six- or seven-day funerals for Tammuz (Dumuzi), the god of food and vegetation, as they believed he dies each year as the summer heat killed the crops. During this funeral, they placed a statue of Tammuz on a funeral bier, while women mourners and goddesses like Ishtar (Inanna) wailed, sobbed, and sang lamentation hymns.

Simple ritual for the summer solstice

Ingredients

    • White candle

    • Black candle

    • An orange or yellow (or any summer-related color, or use white as a universal color)

    • A needle, or some tool to carve into the Summer candle

    • A vegetable oil

Preparation of the Summer candle:

Carve the following symbol into the candle:

As you do so, recite the following: “May the arms of Chaos reach down and embed this candle with the powers of Summer. May you burn with the power of the Sun”.

After that is done, rub vegetable oil on the candle; while doing so, recite the following: “I bless you with power to illuminate the way and to burn what is hostile.”

Do what is described above either one day before the summer solstice or on the same day as the ritual.

The Summer ritual

Place the 3 candles on your altar in a triangular pattern. The triangle should point at you, with the Summer candle being right in front of you. The black candle should go to the left far corner and the white candle at the right far corner. If you want to use any incense, put it at the center of the triangle, if the space permits.

    1. Close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.

    2. Say: “As above, so below”.

    3. Light the black candle.

    4. Say: “As within”.

    5. Light the white candle.

    6. Say: “So without”.

    7. Stay silent for a while to get a feeling for the moment.

    8. Say: “With the power of the ever-burning Fire!”

    9. Light the Summer candle.

    10. Say: “May Nature be protected from the heat”

    11. Close your eyes.

    12. Say: “But may the emanating heat of the Sun scorch my enemies”.

    13. Open your eyes and say “As above, so below”

    14. Take the black candle with your left hand; as you blow it, say “As within,” but keep holding it.

    15. Take the white candle from the right side with your right hand; as you blow it, say “As without”, but keep holding it.

    16. Say: “As below, so above.” Now you can put the candles aside.

    17. You can let the Summer candle be lit, or you can blow it out and store it for the next year. This concludes the Summer ritual.

About the Spring Equinox

What is the Spring Equinox

The spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere is the time when the sun’s subsolar point is leaving the Southern Hemisphere and reaches the equator. At this point, the day and night are about the same length – Equilux actually usually comes a few days earlier, depending on the latitude. This time is commonly associated with Easter, eggs, bunnies, fertility, growth, nature waking up, etc. It usually happens around 20-21st March in the Northern Hemisphere.

Spring Equinox in Neo-pagan religions

Spring equinox is usually celebrated as the Ostara holiday in Neo-pagan religions. Ostara should be derived from the Germanic dawn and fertility goddess, Ëostre. Ostara is celebrated with traditional gemstones, incense, and colorful flowers. An Ostara ceremony includes the cleansing and decorating of homes, meditations on the message of renewal, and an appreciation for the days getting longer after the winter.

Spring Equinox in Mesopotamia

In Mesopotamia, the Spring Equinox was associated with the return of Inanna from the underworld. With her, Inanna brings warmth and fertility. It coincides with the spring harvest and the annual flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Spring Equinox was also associated with the triumph of the gods over the primordial chaos and the creation of the universe.

Simple ritual for the Spring Equinox

Ingredients

    • White candle

    • Black candle

    • A pink candle (or any spring-related color, or use white as a universal color)

    • A needle, or some tool to carve into the Spring candle

    • A vegetable oil

Preparation of the Spring candle

Carve the following symbol into the candle:

As you do so, recite the following:

“May the arms of Chaos reach down and embed this candle with the powers of Spring. May you wake up as Nature wakes up”.

After that is done, rub vegetable oil on the candle. As you do so, recite the following:

“I bless you with the power to wake up what is sleeping, to strengthen what is weak, to manifest what is unspoken”.

Do what was described above either one day before the Spring Equinox, or on the same day as the ritual.

The Spring ritual

Place the 3 candles on your altar in a triangular pattern. The triangle should point at you, with the Spring candle being right in front of you. The black candle should go to the left far corner and the white candle at the right far corner. If you want to use any incense, put it at the center of the triangle, if the space permits.

    1. Close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.

    2. Say: “As above, so below”.

    3. Light the black candle.

    4. Say: “As within”.

    5. Light the white candle.

    6. Say: “So without”.

    7. Stay silent for a while to get a feeling for the moment.

    8. Say: “Just like Inanna returned from the underworld, and just like life returns to Nature”

    9. Light the Spring candle.

    10. Say: “May my powers grow and mature. May be visible what is hidden and may be reachable what is beyond”.

    11. Close your eyes.

    12. Say: “May the star of Chaos bless me with powers beyond the natural”.

    13. Open your eyes and say “As above, so below”

    14. Take the black candle with your left hand; as you blow it, say “As within," but keep holding it.

    15. Take the white candle from the right side with your right hand; as you blow it, say "As without," but keep holding it.

    16. Say: “As below, so above”; now you can put the candles aside.

    17. You can let the Spring candle be lit, or you can blow it out and store it for the next year; this concludes the Spring ritual.

Project: Working with elements - Days 32 through 35

Well, thank heavens this is over. Taking a greater oath right after a hiatus was definitely exhausting, yet very refreshing. With this project over, the fasting associated with Akasha is over as well, but it was a very interesting side effect.

Also, during the final days of the project, I've come up with one more greater oath, this time associated with planets. It would start on Monday and go till the next Monday for working with the Moon energies; then it would go from Tuesday until the next Tuesday for Mars, Wednesday till Wednesday for Mercury, etc. This way, you would start with the loving mother Luna, go through the war and struggle of early life, mature and get better at communicating, until, finally, you would acquire the respect of the father, Sol.

I am definitely not going to do it right away; this will require some planning. I was thinking of creating 7 distinct servitors to help initiate you into the energies of each celestial object. I will also require some more glyphs for my alphabet of desire, and I will have to modify the Gnostic pentagram ritual to work with hexagrams.

Project: Working with elements - Days 30 and 31

Partial fast still continues. I started eating just once a day, and only a little bit to keep my stomach happy. The interesting part is that my family also started eating less; it seems the residue from working with Akasha does have some effect on those around me.

Project: Working with elements - Days 25 through 29

Days 25 up to 28 were stable, to say the least. Nothing extreme happened with the Earth element, but I did have some lapses.

At the beginning of this project, I decided to do just the work related to the elements and nothing else. But during the week of the Earth element, I started working on my new atavistic alphabet (alphabet of desire). The new consonantal alphabet I've shared previously has proven very useful in creating the glyphs.

I had also temporarily invoked the Water element on Friday to increase my empathy, and I invoked the Fire element on Sunday to dry faster since I hadn't checked the towel situation before taking a shower.

Day 29

This brings me to the first day of working with Akasha. Today I didn't expect much. Akasha is the subtlest of elements and cannot be accumulated or released. This, and the fact that I've started working with Akasha right after working with Earth, the least subtle element, kept my hopes really low.

But lo and behold, for some reason I haven't felt hungry today, so I have skipped my lunch. Normally this would cause some issues later in the day, but today everything was fine. This became really curious during the evening, so I researched it a bit. Fasting is actually associated with Akasha. Fasting is done to cleanse the inner space and free yourself from gross physical processes. Fasting is really used to amplify Akasha!

During the final trataka of the day, the symbol of tattva also seemed to be three-dimensional, as an actual egg would. And speaking of the tattva, here is the one I use:

Project: Working with elements - Days 23 and 24

I think the negative aspect of the Earth element manifested, flegmatism. Generally, I think the Earth element is very good at grounding, but there were several instances in the past two days when I just couldn't give a damn. While the Air element is good for thinking and observing a problem from a distance, the Earth element can lead to fully letting problems pass by, observed but unbothered.