Honoring Balance at the Autumn Equinox
In deathcare work, the changing seasons often mirror the cycles of grief and renewal. The autumn equinox is one such threshold—a moment of balance before the descent into the darker half of the year. It’s a time to honor both the abundance we’ve gathered and the inevitability of release.
The autumn equinox is one of those liminal thresholds in the Wheel of the Year that asks us to pause, breathe, and notice where balance lives in our lives. Day and night meet as equals for a brief moment before the tilt tips us into the darker half of the year.
This season has always felt like a gentle turning of the page—a time when the heat of summer gives way to crisp mornings, shifting leaves, and the invitation to slow down. The equinox is often called the “second harvest,” a time of gratitude for what we’ve grown, gathered, and learned over the past months.
But balance doesn’t just mean equal light and darkness outside—it also means checking in with our inner lives.
What needs to be harvested in you right now?
What are you ready to release back to the soil?
Where could you invite more balance between work and rest, giving and receiving, living and letting go?
In the death-positive space, the equinox is also a reminder that life is cyclical. Just as the trees drop their leaves to prepare for winter, we too can let go of what no longer serves us. Death is not the end of the story, but part of the natural rhythm that allows new life to emerge. Honoring this truth helps us live more fully, with gratitude for the fleeting beauty of each season.
Ways to Celebrate the Equinox
Create an altar with autumn fruits, seeds, and leaves to honor both abundance and impermanence.
Visit a cemetery or ancestor’s grave to leave seasonal offerings, grounding yourself in gratitude for those who came before you.
Cook a harvest meal with seasonal produce—apples, squash, root vegetables—and share it with loved ones.
Journal by candlelight about what balance looks like for you as you enter the darker half of the year.
Whether you frame it as a witch’s sabbat, a seasonal marker, or a moment of personal reflection, the autumn equinox is a threshold worth honoring. It reminds us that balance is never static, but something we continually tend—just like the cycles of life, death, and renewal that weave through all of existence.
At Deathcraft, I see the equinox as a sacred reminder that life and death are entwined. The falling leaves, the lengthening nights, and the quieting of the earth invite us to reflect on impermanence and to honor our ancestors. However you observe this turning, may you find balance in both your living and your grieving.
