Guided Meditations and Writing Prompts as Fall Equinox Rituals

The Autumnal Equinox is on Sunday, September 22, 2024, 5:43 a.m. PST, and here are some creative writing prompts to meditate on

The act of contemplating the gradual return of Yin can function as a collection of Fall Equinox rituals done privately or as a group.

Fundamentally, the approaching Autumn Equinox is a time for goodbyes. We say goodbye to the warm sunsets, to the green canopy of leaves above our heads, to nectar dripping down our arms as we bite into overripe peaches. The early weeks of fall may speak of harvests, yet we know there is an inevitable slow descent into frosty days, darker skies, and eating from what we’ve stored from times of plenty.

In many ways, what’s in storage is psychosomatic. Memory has a way of revealing what is important to us, highlighting what we love, and all the stories that hold both light and shadow. And in a season where the land shows itself as increasingly darker and shaded, it’s also a natural time to sit with figurative and literal deaths, grief, and sorrow. Within Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the fall season corresponds with the Metal element and the lungs, the organ that holds grief and sadness.