This week the Sun comes to its Autumn Equinox point, which means daylight hours grow shorter and moonlight hours increase.
For a longtime the Moon has been imagined to be a celestial body that stirs up passions ~ but these passions are usually held in check by the light of the Sun. But when we come to Autumn Equinox, the Sun and Moon trade places in the celestial hemisphere, and we actually have greater moonlight than sunlight for six months. This begins Thursday, September 22nd, when the Sun appears to slip across the celestial equator and in the northern hemisphere we start to have greater darkness. Then the Moon begins to dominate, and things begin to stir.
And here’s what’s happening in the stars: The constellation of the serpent Hydra has been snaking along through the sky beneath the “high constellations” of Summer, which have just set, and when the Sun crosses the equator at Autumn Equinox, the serpent seems to follow, over the western edge of the world. It was once imagined that in this position, the serpent could wrap itself around Summer’s bounty. This would have a damaging effect on the harvest, so seasonal festivals were always about strengthening the human being’s ability to face and overcome this serpent.
This is storied about beautifully in Celtic mythology, where it’s described how human beings inherit a task from the creator gods of Tir-na-Moe, the Land of the Living Heart. Their task is tostay with the Earth and fend off the serpent until there is nothing unbeautiful in the entire world. The way the creator gods intended for humanity to fend off the serpent is with truth, goodness, and beauty ~ all excellent qualities to join with this year’s equinox mood.
As Ella Young wrote in her “Celtic Wonder Tales”: Let the wave break, let the star rise, let the flame leap, ours if our hearts are wise, to take and keep.
Here's a link to the story: The Celtic Wonder Tales by Ella Young