10 Ways to Celebrate Autumn

To Know the Dark

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

by Wendell Berry

Autumn is my favorite season. I love the colors and the vibe of turning inward. It feels magical to me.

We are moving from light into darkness, from warmth to cold. We are preparing for the long winter ahead, gathering firewood, saving seeds, drying medicinal herbs, and reaping our abundant harvest of food. There is a lot of work and hustle that goes into autumn. Even if you don’t do any of these things, you probably still feel the hurried pace of the season. Doesn’t fall always feel busy? It is the big bustle before the calm. Soon there will be time for rest and restoration. 

We had a beautiful online ritual last week to bring in the new season. Ritual is one way to celebrate seasonal transitions, but there are other ways to honor the start of fall.  

1.  Harvest: Go apple, mushroom or berry picking or whatever is currently ripe in your area for the harvest. Or go to the farmer’s market.  
2.  Share: Have an outdoor potluck harvest dinner and invite your friends to bring over a dish and give thanks to the Earth for all her abundance. Zucchini bread, anyone? 
3.  Gratitude: Make a list of all the things you are grateful for. Ask the people around you what they are grateful for. 
4.  Give: Pay it forward. To show the Universe just how abundant and grateful you feel, give to charity, or volunteer your time to help others. Help your community to continue to thrive as the days ahead grow colder and darker. 
5.  Crafts: Autumn crafts are a fun way to bring in the new season. Start with a trip to the forest or park where you gather leaves, pinecones, needles, rocks, seed heads, dried flowers, bones, twigs, moss, feathers, etc. Anything of interest. Remember to ask permission and thank the forest for all its gifts. When you get home, the fun begins. Make a mobile, wreath, necklace, collage, sculpture, or whatever your creativity calls for. 
6.  Pumpkin: I love all things pumpkin, including pumpkin pie, the color pumpkin and pumpkin patch picking. Celebrate autumn by wearing a pumpkin-colored shirt while sipping a pumpkin spiced latte with your pumpkin scone at the pumpkin patch. 
7.  Cleanse: I don’t love cleaning but soon we will be closing all the windows and doors down tight to keep out the cold. Now is the time to clear out all the mud and dust of summer before winter begins. Open the doors, put on some music, steam some harvested garden herbs to fill the air with scents and deep clean your house. Declutter your closets of anything you don’t need and donate them to the local thrift store. Do a digital declutter as well. Unsubscribe from apps you don’t use or newsletters you don’t read. (Not this one, of course!)  
8.  Autumn Forest Bathing: Find a local guide or go on your own and make a forest tea with the plants thriving in your area right now.
9.  Persephone: Now is the perfect time to recall the tale of Persephone or Inanna’s descent to the Underworld as we prepare for our descent into winter and the inner worlds of our intuitive psyche. 
10.  Meditate: If you don’t have one already, start a meditation practice. Start small with 5 minutes a day. Download the free meditation app Insight Timer for a variety of different ways to meditate. (Follow me on Insight Timer, too!) Meditation helps you to appreciate the present moment and learn to love silence and stillness. This is a lovely way to prepare for the silence and stillness of the season ahead. 

How do you celebrate fall? I’d love to hear about it.