As autumn returns to earth's northern hemisphere,
and day and night are briefly,
but perfectly,
balanced at the equinox,
may we remember anew how fragile life is ----
human life, surely,
but also the lives of all other creatures,
trees and plants,
waters and winds.

Like squirrels,
may we make wise choices in how and what we harvest,
may earth's weather turn suddenly kinder,
may there be enough food for all creatures,
may the diminishing light in our daytime skies
be met by an increasing compassion and tolerance
in our hearts.

The Owl,  sacred to Athena, Goddess of Wisdom
(Courtesy of Russian Sunbirds)

18 August 2000:

Here in the United States, which is my country, autumn 2000 is a presidential election year.  We elect without coups or bloodshed, yet, oddly, we retain the rhetoric of war: battle, campaign, strategy, target, attack, triumph, defeat, glory.

From the mythic perspective influenced by ancient Greece (whose architecture also inspired that of our White House and other government buildings), there were two deities of war: Ares (Roman: Mars) and Athena (Roman: Minerva).  Ares was dramatic, reckless, full of physical energy; he loved to be in the fray, sweating and bloody.  His solutions were short term ones, made hastily and angrily abandoned when they failed him.   People around him paid the price.

Where Ares was short term, Athena was long term.  She used her intellect to devise careful strategies that would stand the test of time.  She won through intelligence, not hand-to-hand combat; she preferred to stay at a distance from the fray, making judicious choices, deflecting the heavy-handed weapons of Ares when necessary.  She lacked drama -- she left that to fiery Ares.  Although she might lose a battle now and then, she always won the war.  More versatile than Ares, she also understood the ways of peace.  Where he sulked during peacetime, it was Owl-goddess Athena who gave her people the gifts of olive oil, weaving, music, dance, and much more.

Detail of Athena with her Owl
Courtesy of the artist, Sandra Stanton

My worry as autumn unfolds in the United States is that too many of us are addicted to the exciting but ungrounded Ares-factor in our leaders.  Personally, I wish we could choose a syzygy to govern us (Carl Jung uses the word syzygy to indicate the union of two beings, opposite yet complementary -- zygote comes from the same etymological root).  In other words, I'd like to see a dyad made up of a Wise Old Woman and a Wise Old Man who could work together as one.  Instead of having political parties, the nation's women would choose the wisest woman among them, and the nation's men would choose the wisest man among them.  Once chosen, the two elders would share equal power for their term of office.  But lacking such a syzygy, my next best hope is that Owl-goddess Athena is already weaving a strategy to soften our addictions to drama, violence, negativity.  May she open our eyes wide, like her own penetrating grey eyes, so that we may see where wisdom and sound judgment lie........

NOTE: despite wishing for abundant harvests, the reality is that many people will go hungry in the coming months.  Here's one way to help -- and it won't cost you a penny: once a day, you could go to The Hunger Site and click on the "Donate Free Food" button; through the United Nations World Food Programme, each of the day's sponsors will make a donation of 1/4 cup of rice, wheat, maize or other food staple to a hungry person.   The site is now over a year old (see my Autumn Equinox 1999 page  for more information) -- and it's making a big difference.  It's a wonderfully unique and compassionate way to use the web.

If everyone gives a thread,
the naked one will have a shirt
[Polish proverb from Okana's Web]

Autumn LINKS

Harvesting Wheat
(Courtesy of Tradestone International)

http://members.aol.com/HPSofSNERT/holid.html#autumn

From "Slavic Pagan Holidays" comes fine data on harvest festivals from early August to early November.  Autumn in Russia's cold Ukraine begins early -- it's celebrated on August 2nd, the feast known as St. Ilia's Day. The entire autumn season is a time of music, apples, honey, and grain sheaves:

...Sometimes the last sheaf ceremony was merged with the ritual surrounding a small patch of field that was left uncut. The spirit of the harvest was said to precede the reapers and hide in the uncut grain. This small patch was referred to as the "beard" of Volos, the God of animals and wealth. The uncut sheaves of wheat in "Volos' beard" were decorated with ribbons and the heads were bent toward the ground in a ritual called "The curling of the beard". This was believed to send the spirit of the harvest back to the Earth. Salt and bread, traditional symbols of hospitality were left as offerings to Volos' beard....

Fox Enjoying Autumn Honey
(Courtesy of Tradestone International)

18 August 2000: I first grokked Waverly Fitzgerald's School of the Seasons for my 1999 Autumn Equinox page.  Since then, her jewel of a site has become a favorite of mine and her pages now appear on all my seasonal work.  The overall design is unusually tasteful and elegant.  Even more important, Fitzgerald has wonderful, well researched content on monthly celebrations, feasts, and cross-cultural holy days; her linked pages provide further information on many of these days.

This above link is for September.  For each current month, she begins with a large number of names from various cross-cultural traditions.  Then a calendar follows.  If you click on hyperlinks for a particular day, you'll be linked to more detail on another page.  The September feasts she covers include the Nativity of the Virgin on the 8th; Rosh Hashana; England's Day of the Holy Nut; the remembrance of the Virgin's Seven Sorrows; the God Pan; Yom Kippur; Autumn Equinox; the 9-day Eleusinian Mysteries; the Harvest Moon; Sukkoth;  the Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival; and Michaelmas on the 29th.

Fitzgerald's command of the lore surrounding these days is exceptional.  NOTE: a new month's calendar appears on the first of each month (sometimes a night or two beforehand).  So check her home page for October, November, and December.  The main link is: http://www.nas.com/jpcolbertart/seasons/sos.html
That link will give you access to her archives if you wish to get a sneak preview of what lies ahead in a given month.  The page also includes fascinating "special features" for each season.

Autumn's Web of Life includes Grandmother Spider, nuts and berries
(Courtesy of Russian Sunbirds)

[Added 20 August 2000]: Mike Nichols' series of detailed, well written essays on earth-based pagan celebrations are always worth reading.  This is his page on the history and lore of autumn equinox, or "harvest home" (he prefers not to use the Welsh term, Mabon):

...Mythically, this is the day of the year when the god of light is defeated by his twin and alter-ego, the god of darkness. It is the time of the year when night conquers day....the only day of the whole year when Llew (light) is vulnerable and it is possible to defeat him. Llew now stands on the balance (Libra/autumnal equinox), with one foot on the cauldron (Cancer/summer solstice) and his other foot on the goat (Capricorn/winter solstice). Thus he is betrayed by Blodeuwedd, the Virgin (Virgo) and transformed into an Eagle (Scorpio)....

Nichols touches on many themes.  For example, Celtic Druids have long been accused of practicing human sacrifice at this time of the year.  Nichols looks at the lack of solid evidence and argues convincingly that what these ancient celebrations had instead was the "mock sacrifice" of seasonal sacred theatre.  It was a metaphoric sacrifice, in other words -- not a literal one.  He writes:

...Jesse Weston, in her brilliant study of the Four Hallows of British myth, 'From Ritual to Romance', points out that British folk tradition is...full of mock sacrifices.  In the case of the wicker-man, such figures were referred to in very personified terms, dressed in clothes, addressed by name, etc. In such a religious ritual drama, everybody played along....

[Added 20 August 2000]: Again from Mike Nichols comes this carefully researched essay examining the Celtic deities of light and dark and their role in both equinoxes.  If you're looking for fine mythology, don't miss this one.  For example:

[After Llew is slain]...The Welsh myth concludes with Gwydion pursuing the faithless Blodeuwedd through the night sky, and a path of white flowers springs up in the wake of her passing, which we today know as the Milky Way. When Gwydion catches her, he transforms her into an owl, a fitting symbol of autumn, just as her earlier association with flowers (she was made from them) equates her with spring. Thus, while Llew and Goronwy represent summer and winter, Blodeuwedd herself represents both spring and fall, as patron goddess of flowers and owls, respectively....

A clever bear, getting ready to hibernate through the dark winter,
first finds a honeypot and stocks up on sweetness!
(Courtesy of Tradestone International)

[Added 15 September 2000]:  This is a lengthy, informative, rich page on Mabon from "Storm Wing."  She looks at lore concerning the god named Mabon and his mother Modron; she also explores Persephone and Demeter.  She gives suggestions for what to gather for your autumn rituals and also offers recipes for covenstead bread, Salem Witch pudding, Texas-style pecan pie, and blackberry wine (also for incense and potpourri).  At the end are several ritual incantations -- my favorite is to the Southwest's Blue Corn Girl.

For the Celtic Connection comes Akasha's lively page on Mabon, the Celtic celebration of September's autumnal equinox:

...The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honor the Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time....Mabon is considered a time of the Mysteries. It is a time to honor Aging Deities and the Spirit World....

Akasha looks at Mabon's themes, symbols, herbs, foods, incense, colors, gems, spells, and deities.  If you click on the Holiday Index at the bottom of the page, you'll be given access to recipes, activities (for children and teens), and ritual (see below for a direct link to the autumn ritual...).

This is a powerful, eloquent, lyrical harvest ritual from Akasha (see above).  I love her sense of sacred theatre.

Also from the Celtic Connection comes this lovely and evocative little essay by C. Austin on the "in between" nature of the Celts' autumn:

. . . . We have bid farewell to summer, but the sun's light has not yet faded. Such is the style of in between. . . . Night is falling on the year. The equinox grants us a moment of reverie, before we rush on to year's end at Samhain.

[FYI: this essay was written in the late 1990's, so ignore the date and times of the autumnal equinox here.]

[Added 15 September 2000]:  This is a nice little essay on Mabon by "Lance" -- he looks at the season's Wine Moon, Harvest Moon, Corn Man, Wicker Man, and also offers some wonderful suggestions for celebrating the season - for example:

       ...go through your garden, tending it, thanking the plants and flowers for their abundance, harvesting whatever is ready, collecting seeds;
       make a mandala of seeds and grains on the ground, an offering of the Mother's gifts to the animals and birds; infuse it with specific magick that will be released as the seeds are consumed or scattered;
        honor the elders in your circle or your life in some special way....

"Black Goddess,"
Hungarian Harvest Goddess, Dordona
[Click on the above link for an enlargement of this work]
Courtesy of the artist, Mary B. Kelly

This is the home page of artist/professor Mary B. Kelly, whose vibrant painting of Hungary's "Black Goddess" is shown above:

...Like her counterpart in Russia, her arms are raised. She is crowned by both the sun and the moon.

The home page offers links to paintings of many other goddesses, some of whom (e.g., Persephone -- don't miss that one!) are also connected to harvest festivals.

"This flower, manjushage, is nicknamed higan bana
 (flower of higan) because it blossoms around higan
 (autumnal equinox)" -- see directly below...

[Added 15 September 2000]: This charming site looks at autumn and the autumnal equinox in Japan.  There are many (usually clickable) photos connected with the months of September, October, and November.  Text is fairly minimal but very useful to those unacquainted with Japan's seasonal customs.

Autumn's Song
(Courtesy of Tradestone International)

This is "The Elders Speak: About Autumn," a page of wonderfully chosen, evocative quotes about the fall season.  The page comes from the "Weather Doctor," Dr. Keith Heidorn, whose entire website on all aspects of weather (from science to philosophy to art) is a richly mulled pleasure where I love to browse.  Note: from this page, you can get to his home page and from there to his no-frames site map, or click here for a direct link: http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/general/site_map.htm

[Added 15 September 2000]:  This is "North Carolina Traditional Weather Lore," a brief page offering an engaging Native American (Cherokee) tale that explains why some animals like the panther and owl can see in the dark, and why some plants and trees stay green through the winter.  There is also a nice collection of North Carolina folk sayings about autumn and early winter.

Maiden with Greeting Cup
(Courtesy of Tradestone International)

http://www.quinion.com/words/articles/cider.htm

From England's erudite Michael B. Quinion comes "CIDER INSIGHT: The jargon of an ancient craft."  This is on autumn cider-making in southern England. . . . . .

Her Protective Animal Familiar
(Courtesy of Tradestone International)

. . . . Yet another autumn-related essay from Michael B. Quinion is his engaging "TALKING TURKEY: Names for a much-travelled bird." [Note: a much longer entry on Quinion and his word-loving work is on my Samhain page -- see below for link.]

Finally, still on foods, and this time from about.com, comes this page of links to everything you might want to know about pumpkins.  It's called "The Great Pumpkin: Pumpkin Picking, Recipes & More!"  The focus is on New England and upstate New York, but much of the data is relevant elsewhere.

A pumpkin with a shimmering aura
(Used with the kind permission of the Salem Tarot Page --
check their well-done 3-card tarot reading)

 Samhain (Halloween),
and the soul-feasts of November:
I have created 2 separate pages for these at:

SAMHAIN

&

 el dia de los muertos
[Day of the Dead]

 

Related Mything Links Pages:

To Current Autumn Equinox Greetings & Lore Page

To Autumn Equinox/Mabon Greeting page (1999)

To August's Lammas page

To Summer Solstice / Summer Greetings & Lore 2000

To Eastern & Western Europe: Earth-Based Ways (Wicca)

To the Wheel of the Year

To Common Themes: WEATHER-WORKING: Introduction (An experimental on-going ritual in cyberspace)

To Common Themes: The Green Man page

To hear the embedded music, you'll need to have your JavaScript enabled (and not be on AOL). The "square" on the mini-console below will stop the sound; the "triangle" will start it again; the two lines will pause it; the slider controls the volume.

<BGSOUND SRC="Romanian~eerie~moldva094.mid" LOOP=infinite>

This Hungarian love song, Kerek a szolo levele, is at least 200 years old; it comes from a region in what is now Romania, so it's known among both non-Slavic and Slavic peoples.  Courtesy of Robert Szlizs, whose collection of Hungarian music is at Robert's Midi Creations.

Text and layout © 2000 - 2001 by Kathleen Jenks, Ph.D.
All rights reserved.

Page begun and published 18 August 2000.
Unless noted, all links are from last year, but newly revised and updated for 2000.
Latest Updates:
20 August 2000 (added 6 new links); 15 September 2000 (4 more links & rearranged page);
18 August 2001: archived (& un-Nedstated) to make room for current page.