Both can be true: welcome to Libra season & autumn
Welcoming balance and letting go
Today is the Autumn Equinox, which is also the first day of Libra season. In this newsletter, we’ll explore creative rituals and intentions to observe this season ahead. I’ll be sending out an additional newsletter in the week to come discussing how to set intentional focus areas for the quarter to come.
There’s an idea that’s been floating around the personal development world for the last few years that, up until recently, I’ve felt some resistance to. The idea is that multiple — sometimes opposing — ideas can be true at once. You can love someone even if they treat you poorly. You can mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth the individual even if the monarchy is built on colonial ideals and practices. You can forgive someone and still be upset with them.
All of these things can be true at once, and it’s an idea I’ve only recently come around to embracing. I’ve spent a lot of my life living in the ideas of black and white, but much of our world is a state of grey. People, places and things aren’t 100 percent this or 100 percent that; we’re mostly a mix of ideas that have constant tension and opposition.
This is how so much of life is — not perfect balance, but an ebbing and flowing of ideas, opinions, and emotions. It’s rare that we are in complete equilibrium, and when it does happen, it’s often only noticed in hindsight. We may only notice both what we want to leave behind and take forward with us after a season is over.
Libra season helps us notice what balance is, but also teaches us that imbalance is natural, and something to be embraced. Through accepting that external imbalance, we come more into ourselves and bring the balance within. So that even when competing forces exist, we have a sense of calm and acceptance around them. We can accept the notion of multiple things being true at once, and consider what we need to add or take away in order to bring the internal balance we desire.
I’ve shared before that fall can feel hard to me, and you might feel that way too. Any new change means mourning what you may be leaving behind, and intentionally letting go. And you can be happy for this nature-prompted opportunity to clean house, while still feeling sad about it. Both can be true.
Libra marks the beginning of autumn. It is a cardinal sign of the zodiac, which means it starts the season; it will be followed by Scorpio and Sagittarius to round out autumn. This triad gives us a lovely structure to create the larger season:
Libra is about dreaming and scheming what want fall to look like for ourselves, taking into consideration anything we want to implement, focus on, or leave behind after summer. At the end of Libra season, we can start putting these building blocks into place, and acting on the strategy we desire.
Scorpio season is about putting those blocks into place, and creating intentional action.
Sagittarius season is about wrapping up action, considering what we want to take forward into the next season.
Within the cycle of the year, here’s where we are currently:
Something to keep in mind is that this beginning that Libra season offers is all about intentional slowness. It’s the beginning of a cycle, and a miniature exercise in understanding your strategy before you execute on it.
The intentional slowness is what allows you to build the strong foundation that reminds you what you’re working toward, so that you’re able to execute it later in the cycle. This intentionally slow and reflective time is the opportunity to mindfully craft the blueprint for what you want your season ahead to look like.
Fall can feel like a time of loss, and I encourage you to feel that. But it can also be a time to gain so much; more inner time, more intentionality, more slowness. Libra is a sign that is perceptive, considerate, and observant. The season begs taking that external worldview, looking at the type of life you’re looking to lead for the quarter ahead with an objective point of view. Don’t be afraid to take a step back. And just like the trees this season, don’t be afraid to let things fall away.
Some ritual ideas for the start of fall and Libra season:
Observe changes. Take an objective eye to the season around you, and notice the external changes — the temperature dipping, the crispness of the leaves, the quieting of the insects in the air. What’s changing inside of you that you might not even be noticing yet?
Consider balance. What parts of your life potentially feel like they may not be balanced? Where are you not spending enough time? What is taking up more than you desire? Where can shifts start being made?
Create a ritual with all four elements. A fire ritual combines all four elements — the air that stokes the flames, the earth the ritual takes place on, the water that extinguishes, and of course the fire itself. This could be as simple as lighting a candle, and as complex as lighting a fire and burning paper with what you’re letting go on them. Do what feels right for you.
Pick up leaves. Write your wishes or what you’re letting go, and leave them to decompose in your yard, or crumble them up.
And as always: a visual moodboard for Libra season ahead.
Balanced, considerate, and harmonious.
