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Late each September, we experience the second equinox of the calendar year. Derived from the Latin words meaning “equal” and “night,” equinox refers to the 12-hour days and 12-hour nights that occur twice each year. The fall equinox is a sacred day of equal parts light and dark, facing outward as well as turning inward, taking a moment of stillness before the Earth shifts its balance, and allowing our past and future to merge in the present.
When is the Fall Equinox 2024?
We experience the autumnal equinox on September 22, 2024.
What Does the Fall Equinox Mean in Astrology?
As the Earth rotates around the Sun, one half or hemisphere of it faces the Sun and the other faces away. During the previous six months, beginning with the spring equinox in March, the Northern Hemisphere has been tilted toward the Sun. The autumnal equinox brings this chapter to a close. As our proximity to the Sun lessens, our days shorten and our nights lengthen. As the outward energy of the Sun is felt less, the temperature of the air cools.
Spring and summer bring outward expression and movement. When we are in these chapters, it can be easy to dismiss our inward self. Fall holds a slower pace, a time of inward stillness, and an invitation of surrender. It represents releasing. Finding a new groove. Reorienting ourselves. It is a chance to explore that inner voice which exists only in darkness, stillness, and quiet.
The equinox in September is an opportunity to bring our past and future into the present moment. To witness each step that has gotten us to where we are now, and acknowledge that this exact moment is leading to all that is yet to come. It is at this time that we can bridge who we have been with who we are becoming, honor the parts of ourselves that we have expressed themselves and remain curious about the parts of ourselves we are still getting to know and learning to love.
This is the metaphoric death before the rebirth that we witness all around us. Like the Earth, we are also in a continual motion of becoming, releasing, transforming, moving, expressing, and receiving. As we come into a balance of light and dark, day and night, we are invited to honor that polarity within ourselves and trust in the cycles of life that sustain us, even during the darkest days of the year. There is only continued surrender.
The fall equinox initiates a chapter in which you discover the medicine within. It’s a time to heal through feeling and becoming aware of and releasing outdated patterns, beliefs, emotions, identities, and more.
Your Invitation
Many of us were taught, from the moment of our birth, to live from the outside inward. When we consider what the fall equinox means in astrology, it asks us to let go of what we have been taught about who we are and who we have become. It propels us instead to live from the inside out. It asks us to find our own perception, desires, and knowing.
The chapter to come reminds us that we cannot supplement what is already full. Transformation and becoming can take place only when there is space. The autumnal equinox allows you to empty your mind as you become the student, the inner explorer, the listener, and the waymaker who knows each moment of life is a teacher.
Consider journaling about what you have experienced since then the March equinox initiated a new chapter in your life six months ago. What intentions have come into existence? How have you changed during this time? What has happened that deserves to be celebrated? If you were initiating an inner retreat for the upcoming six months, what would you let go of so as not to take it with you? When you think of change, how does your body feel? Do you feel safe? If not, how could you support and hold yourself through seasons of transformation? What part(s) of yourself are you excited to explore? What is an intention you hold for the autumn months?
So let go of what constitutes excess in your thoughts and your relationship with your everyday life. Release all that feels like noise so that you can hear the wisdom that speaks to you. Meet yourself in the unknown, the mystery, the spaciousness, and the silence of the months ahead.
RELATED: 10 Grounding Yoga Poses to Balance Your Vata Dosha This Fall
This article has been updated. Originally published September 16, 2022.
Learn more about the influence of astrology in your life, including astrological events the Moon cycles, your Sun and Moon and rising signs, how journaling can help you connect with the current influences, and more with Jordane Maree at Girl and her Moon.
About Our Contributor
Jordane Maree is the founder of Girl and Her Moon, a platform and community exploring Soul through the lens of astrology, tarot, and energy healing. She is a writer, intuitive astrologer, energy and soul guide, and host of Girl and Her Moon, The Podcast. She is inspired, every single day, to be the mirror for you to see all that you truly are, you in all your infinite abilities, in total expansion, in infinite opportunity and love.
