Autumn Equinox symbolism

PaulinCork

Below are the results of a poll I carried out on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/corkpagans/, asking what Autumn Equinox meant to people
And comments, which I later added.
Please add your own comments..
Paul



Aspect of Autumn Equinox Symbolism Number of voters who said it rang true for them
(five people took part)



honouring of the sacred balance between darkness & light (4 votes) This symbolism grows from the fact that day and night are of equal length at Autumn Equinox.
Christianity and many New Age thinkers are dualistic, embracing Light and rejecting Darkness. (e.g: Christianity has God and the Devil)
The Goddess in Wicca is Darkness and the Crone as well as Maiden and Light. She is the Mother Who contains both. The tomb is Her Womb of rebirth
Many Pagans prefer to embrace the Whole of Reality, celebrating the complementary polarities of Light and Darkness.
A lot of Pagans relate to the Taoist Yin Yang symbol, which shows how Darkness and Light, Yin and Yang dynamically complement each other and contain aspects of each other


ending of a cycle, before Samhain starts the next Year 4 votes Many Pagans celebrate their New Year at Samhain/Halloween, reflecting the Celtic custom of beginning each new day at dusk, and the year at the beginning of winter.
The inward, planning time comes before the action.
Its often easier to begin by accepting the Darkness and then moving into the Light, as taught in Celtic myth where the prince who accepts the embrace of the ugly Crone finds that she becomes a beautiful Maiden, whereas his brothers who reject Her are cursed

a time to mourn Summer's passing 3 votes Just because we accept the new, doesn’t mean we can’t feel sadness at what we’re leaving behind. Healthy grieving is part of letting go.
the Goddess becomes Crone 3 In Ireland we can honour her as the cailleach

Harvest Moon 3 votes
Mabon 3 I know Mabon has become a traditional name in Wicca, bur I don’t understand how Mabon, the Divine Son of Welsh myth relates to Autumn Equinox

2nd of 3 harvest festivals 2 votes I see Lughnasadh as the first harvest festival, giving thanks for the grain
Autumn Equinox as the second harvest festival, giving thanks for the fruit and wine
And Samhain as the third harvest festival, giving thanks for the meat (of those animals, which couldn’t be overwintered and were slaughtered at Samhain)


fruit and wine harvest 2 votes


celebration of Darkness 2 votes
begining of Autumn To me, Lughnasadh is the beginning of Autumn, and the Equinox is mid-Autumn
the Holly King defeats the Oak King 2 In Wicca the Holly King is Darkness and Winter, and the Oak King is Light and Summer.
I think of the Holly King as the Horned God, and the Oak King as the Green Man
I am beginning also to honour Cu Chulainn as an aspect of the Dark God, and Finn MacCool as an aspect of the Bright God




the Holly King is conceived in the Womb 1 vote If we celebrate the Birth of the Light at Winter Solstice, it makes sense to celebrate the birth of the Holly King at Summer Solstice
Autumn Equinox is nine months before the next Summer Solstice, so its when I celebrate the conception of the Holly King, Horned God


Vine Moon 1 vote
Vine Moon happens at this time of year in the Tree/Moon Calendar created by Robert Graves.
I realise that that calendar isn’t ancient Celtic, but I find it beautiful and meaningful and it connects me to trees and to the Moon so work with it a lot.

Blackberry moon 1 vote
Blackberry is the native plant which Graves suggests as an alternative to Vine


moving into Libra sign of Balance 1 vote
The astrological sign that the Sun moves into at Autumn Equinox perfectly sums up for me the symbolism of the harmonious Balance of Darkness and Light



sacred to Egyptian Goddess Ma'at 1 vote
Ma’at is the personification of the Way of Balance, likethe Tao, or Dharma. She weighs the souls of the dead to see if they’re in Balance.




sacred to Greek God Dionysus 1 vote
Dionysus because he’s the God of Wine, and is the Dark complement to Apollo.


joyful festival , time of the Trigram Tui 1 vote
In traditional Taoist/ Daoist thought, each one of the Eight Trigrams of the I Ching symbolises a different time of year.
Tui, the Joyful lake fits well with Pagan symbolism of the joyful Fruit and Wine Harvest, and also with Water/West/Autumn symbolism



symbolised by the Runes Wunjo, Sowilu and Dagaz 1 vote There are three rows of Eight Runes in the Elder Futhark.
The first Rune of each Eight/Aett fits well with Samhain,
The second rune of each Aett with Winter Solstice etc.This arrangement gives Wunjo, Sowilo and Dagaz to Autumn Equinox.

Wunjo means joy,

Sowilo is the Sun
Sun is by seamen / always hoped for / when they fare far away / over the fishes' bath / until the brine-stallion / they bring to land. - Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem

Dagaz is dawn/ dusk
The following, from http://www.winterscapes.com/uppsala/runes.htm#dagaz
….is interesting:..Day is the lord's messenger / dear to men / the ruler's famous light: / mirth and hope to the rich and poor / useful for all. - Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem. Dagaz is the mystery of day. However this is not the same concept of day as meant in modern english. Twenty-four hour periods were counted by nights by the old Norse (where the term fortnight, meaning two weeks, comes from). To them a day would mean the period from sundown to sunup as well as the period from sunup to sundown. Thus day has the implication of transition from the one to the other. Indeed this can be seen more clearly in that the Old Norse name of this rune, Dagr, means also twilight (either the am or pm twilight).The mystery of dagaz is that of the twilight, the union of day and night, the change of a thing into its polar opposite. Dagaz is the resolution of paradox, the point of view that contains both perceived opposites.


Michaelmas, sacred to the Archangel Michael 1 vote Many Pagans, influenced by the New Age and by Ceremonial Magic work with Angels.
In the Scottish Highlands, Michael takes on many of the attributes and functions of the Sea God, Manannan

Sacred to the Irish God Manannan and to the Cailleach Hadn’t thought of this when I created the poll

PaulinCork

So come on gals and guys, lots of you have read the autumn equinox stuff, but I want to hear what equinox means to other people, so get writing.