September 22, 2021 – Wednesday – The Day of Autumn Equinox
Although the date might shift slightly from year to year, in 2021, the date of Autumn Equinox is September 22. The word “Equinox” comes from two Latin words which translate to “Equal Night,” and on the day of Autumn Equinox, the entire planet is hovering between dark and light, with the number of dark hours each day and the number of light hours each day being about the same. It’s odd. In my own life, I feel that I am also hovering, and I recognize that my inner light is shifting, too.
There Are Two Equinoxes — One is in the Spring, and One is in the Autumn. The Spring Equinox is during March and the Autumn Equinox is in September. During Pagan times, the people celebrated the Spring Equinox more enthusiastically than they did the Autumn Equinox. Because the amount of darkness increases gradually after the Autumn Equinox, people have traditionally marked that day as the beginning of their own Seasonal Depressions, but I don’t experience autumn in exactly that same way.
Because I have been blogging for several years, I am able to look back at the times when I am most productive, and invariably, early fall is the time that I am most productive as a writer. During other times of the year, I am more productive in other ways, but during the autumn, as the hours shift away from the sunlight’s harsh sting and toward the soft haziness of the moon, my spirit also shifts, and I become more philosophical.
Six years ago, I stepped out into my garden at night, and I allowed myself to bask in the soft glow of the moon, and I wrote the following poem:
Early Autumn Night
by Jacki Kellum
Just a hint of summer now,
A lone and autumn call.
Soft and quiet, like silver thread,
Wings still whisper to my bed,
And one sole star hangs in the sky,
Goodnight, Goodbye, my sun.
And so today, the day of Autumn Equinox, I leave that thought with you. Today, I am celebrating the coming of a softer and quieter time, the time when my writing voice will return.