🌕 Moon Festival, Autumn Equinox, Earthing

 

The air smells different. A Brugmansia (man tuo luo 曼陀羅) with pendulous yellow flowers lives around our corner, radiating perfume at dusk each evening, seducing moth-pollinators. With the changing seasons, her flowers shrivel brown and descend, revealing long green pods filled with seeds of potential, and a new scent. As we gather into autumn, what changes are you noticing in the landscape— of both the lands that you inhabit, as well as the landscape of your inner wilderness?

We celebrate Autumn Equinox on Sept. 22, and the Moon Festival (zhong qiu jie 中秋節) on Sept. 10. The Moon Festival is a traditional Chinese harvest festival on the autumnal full moon. Families gather to celebrate the year’s abundance with food, stories, and music. My most poignant memories growing up involve eating too much deliciousness with the adults, then running off to play on the hill with other kids after singing and dancing in performances. As an adult, I played music under the fat autumn full moon on a different hilltop nestled into the Yang Ming Shan Mountains (陽明山) above Taipei, sipping tea, singing, and laughing until just before sunrise. How are you celebrating the changing seasons and autumn harvest? Who are you celebrating with?

The Earth Element governs the "long summer" (chang xia 長夏) season between summer and autumn, when shadows start lengthening, plants are at their greatest height, and we celebrate, relax, then start drawing our energies inward. We gather our communities to feast on the fruits of summer’s harvest. Dust to dust, Earth to Earth, our bodies are made of this very Earth, and further Earthing with each bite of Earth-given food. Governing the Stomach and Spleen meridians, Earth relates to digestion and nourishment. As you welcome this time of changing seasons, smells, and colors, consider:

• How do I nourish my body, mind, and Spirit? 
• How do I nourish others? How am I nourished by others? 
• What is fruiting beauty in my life? 

NOURISH

• Upcoming Event: Five Elements, Esalen 10/10-10/14
• New Podcast: Reclaiming Indigenous Medicines, Dr. Gary Ferguson
• Article Archives: Restoring the Spleen Decoction (gui pi tang 歸脾湯）

May you slowly savor autumn’s bittersweet transitions,

Jiling Lin, L.Ac. 林基玲

acupuncture . herbs . yoga

JILINGLIN.COM

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Solstice & Equinox

 

Winter Solstice (2020/ 12/ 21, 2021/ 12/ 21) 

How do you REST? What seeds are you nourishing under the sleeping winter Earth?

Tonight, we celebrate the longest night of the year. During Winter Solstice, one of Earth’s poles is tilted furthest away from the Sun. After this long dark night, we welcome the returning light and lengthening days, even as Winter deepens her chill.

Spring Equinox (2021/ 3/ 20) 

What seeds are you planting this spring? What are your visions? How are you walking your dreams into reality? What is rooting and budding to life within you as our Earth warms and stirs?

Our Sun crosses Earth’s horizon exactly to the east at sunrise, then directly to the west at sunset. Day matches night, for Spring Equinox. Plan your internal and external garden for the year ahead, then plant it with loving intention!

Summer Solstice (2021/ 6/ 20)

What are you passionate about? What do you LOVE? What do you SHINE into the world? What do you CELEBRATE?

Summer solstice is the longest day of the year. One of Earth’s poles is tilted closest to the Sun. The Sun appears at its highest altitude, for an early sunrise and late sunset. We welcome the heat and activity of playful passionate summer!

Autumn Equinox (2021/ 9/ 22)

As the fruits of summer fall into autumn, what do you release? What gifts do you share? What are you grateful for? What is SACRED?

Our Sun crosses Earth’s horizon exactly to the east at sunrise, then directly to the west at sunset. Day matches night, for Autumn Equinox. We welcome the season of slowing down, drinking nourishing broths, bundling up, and celebrating with community.

Resources

• Find your local dates for Solstices/ Equinoxes on TimeAndDate.com
• Get a pagan perspective at We'Moon
• Enjoy an acupuncture tune-up with me at JilingLin.com

("Nature Heals" artwork by Troy Chafin, from Amplifier Art)

Moon + Ritual

How do you align yourself with the Moon? 

Do you have daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and/or yearly rituals? 

The darkness of the New Moon provides a spacious opportunity to reflect, vision, and start afresh. Spend some solo time in nature with a journal. Gaze up at the stars. What are my intentions? What am I creating this month? What am I manifesting? What actions am I taking, to create a life that's in line with my intentions, for the highest good? Take a bath. Cleanse. Let go of what didn't work from the previous month, re-calibrate, and move forward with empowered clarity. Write down solid actionable intentions and achievable actions for the month ahead. 

The fat brightness of the pregnant Full Moon inspires lunacy and celebration. Gather with friends and share gratitude, grief and praise. Share journeys and reflections since the last Moon. What has illuminated my path? What illuminates my path ahead? Place water in glass jars in the moonlight for Moon Infusions. Take night hikes under the light of the Moon. Howl. Dance. Revisit intentions from the New Moon, and re-calibrate as necessary for the remaining Moon cycle. 

Calendars

I draw Moon cycles onto my yearly paper-calendar, and sync a Moon-calendar to my Apple-Calendar. Each year, I draw a Moon table at the back of my journal charting the whole year's Full/ New Moons, where I also chart my own Moon cycles, and track parallels. 

Astrology

I'm subscribed to Mystic Mamma and WeMoon's mailing lists, where I receive monthly emails about the astrological significance of the New Moon, Full Moon, Solstices, and Equinoxes. They provide insight and inspiration when life gets murky. 

Everyday Lunacy

For both Full and New Moon, I enjoy baths, journaling, candles, and nature-time. I often consult the I-Ching for a "Hexagram of the month," and send my intentions off with incense. 

By realigning with the Moon's natural cycles, we re-attune to our primal animal natures, while engaging our uniquely Human gifts to conceptualize and create via the cerebral yet Heart-centered reflection and visioning process. We have immense power. Use it responsibly. Live to your highest potential, co-creating the most beautiful healthy thriving Earth- community you can. 

Enjoy.

~

Afternote: 

I feel Earth's shifting and Moon's changing tides most profoundly when I live close to Earth. Bare feet pattering across raw Earth day and night, season by season, attuned to rhythms of plants, and patterns of change. 

I currently live in downtown Ventura, where we sleep with shades drawn and windows mostly shut, as it's noisy and bright outside. 

Whole different world. 

I still track the Moon, and honor her cycles. It helps me stay grounded yet uplifted.
Human.