Time to Dream: Celebrating Fall Cross-Quarter
Dear Reader,
I’m writing to you from the comfort of my home, nestled in my chair, sipping stillness and warm tea. It’s a sunny autumn day. The big ash tree outside my window has lost almost all its leaves, bare branches swaying in the wind. I’m feeling a little bit tired, cozy, quiet, curious, and held today.
What are you noticing in your surroundings, and how are you feeling today?
How are you experiencing this time of year?
The heart of fall
The beginning of November features a seasonal crossroads in the yearly cycle of the Sun. At Fall Cross-Quarter, the Sun reaches 15 degrees of Scorpio in the tropical zodiac and marks the exact midpoint between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. This year, the exact Scorpio/Fall Cross-Quarter falls on November 7th, 11:46 a.m. CET (convert to your time zone).
At the height of fall, we’re entering into the darkest time of the year, which will peak at the Winter Solstice at the end of December and stretch all the way to the Aquarius Cross-Quarter at the beginning of February. It’s a time of ending and closure, letting go, and making ourselves lighter, so we may be carried by the rivers of intuition and intimacy. It’s a time of rest and retreat, shifting our energy inward, doing less and moving at a slower pace, so we may be guided to deeper levels of connection. It’s a time of getting lost, moving grief, and feeling our way through the darkening nights, so we may be returned to ourselves.
Are you ready to enter the heart of fall?
What dreams are dreaming you?
What wisdom are you distilling as we near the end of the year?
What are you laying to rest that is no longer alive in you?
What is preparing the ground for your dreams to take root in the spring?
What are you yearning and longing for?
What may you want to get lost in for a while?
The questions you find throughout this post are intended to help you weave yourself deeper into the mysteries of autumn. You can take them on your walk, into your journal, your dreams, or any other creative or contemplative practice.
What this time of year is good for:
Rest, rituals of release and relaxation, spending time in non-linear realms, creativity, intuition, divination, dream magic, grief work, compassion, kindness, connecting with ancestors, introspection, reflection, receptivity, inner mysteries, composting, cutting away beliefs that hurt, tying up loose ends, healing old wounds, herbal bathing, nourishment, imagination
Transition into winter
At the Scorpio Cross-Quarter, we’re transitioning from the autumnal dream time to the deep sleep of winter. I’ve been noticing how my evening rituals have been changing recently. Going to bed early has become non-negotiable, and sitting in only candlelight, drinking chamomile and lavender tea, and giving myself a warm oil massage are all helping me to wind myself down before bedtime.
How may you support your body to prepare for winter sleep?
How may you make your evenings more relaxing and nourishing?
I’m wishing you a beautiful rest of autumn, wherever you are. I know I’m looking forward to making autumn vegetable soup, burning candles in the dark, and dreaming that which is yet to come into being. I quite like this time of year, and the slower pace of things suits me well.
What is your relationship to autumn?
Are you perhaps a child of autumn, having been born during this season? And if so, what does that mean to you?
Until next time…
I very much look forward to speaking with you again around the time of the Winter Solstice, which marks the shortest day and longest night of the year and heralds a time of renewal and rebirth. It will fall on December 21st, 10:49 p.m. CET this year (convert to your time zone).