Okay y’all. It is several days late, but did you know that Tuesday (Sept 22) was the Autumn Equinox?
It snuck up on me too, mostly because it was 95 degrees on Tuesday. That was a cold front. It has been over 100 for months.
The Autumn Equinox is traditionally seen as a time for bounty, harvest, and starting the preparation for winter. Historical celebrations of the Equinox traditionally involve wheat, root vegetables, apple picking, etc. Basically, Thanksgiving light. Despite pumpkin spice exploding everywhere in South Texas, we are still having pool parties, our plants are dying from heat, and we can’t go outside without feeling like we are walking into a furnace.
Once I realized it was the Equinox, I spent a little extra time reflecting on it. As I thought, it struck me that the Autumn Equinox is the seasonal equivalent of The Crone Moon. The Crone Moon starts with the last quarter moon—when the moon is equally half illuminated and half dark—and then progresses to darkness with the new moon. The Autumn Equinox is when the 24-hour day is exactly half light and half dark and then progresses to increasing darkness until the Winter Solstice.
This Crone Moon / Autumn Equinox equivalence excited me and made me drop my writing plans for the week to do an Autumn Equinox (Crone Season) tarot pull for you instead.
Just like when we have our monthly reminder to reflect on our past, release, and introspect during the Crone Moon, it is time to look at this process on a larger timescale for this quarter of the year.
To do this, I went to my handy-dandy tarot app, Labyrinthos. I mostly use the app for its “Thinking, Feeling, Doing” daily pulls for quick reflection and centering each morning. However, it also has many different spreads, including an Autumn Equinox pull that I am sharing with you.
Let’s get to it and get some themes for reflection as we move into the part of the year where the sun wanes and we have more time in darkness for contemplation. Or not—life is crazy. Who has time for silent contemplation in the darkness? So, let’s be real. This pull can give us something to think about as we skim our emails/Substack app while waiting for the elevator or in line at the grocery store.
Here’s the spread:
1. Transition: What changes are occurring in my life right now?
2. To Navigate: How can I best navigate through these transitions?
3. Harvest: What achievements have I accomplished in the past season?
4. To Reap: How can I fully embrace and celebrate these accomplishments?
5. Wisdom: What lessons have I learned this past season?
6. To Integrate: What shifts can I make in my life now to acknowledge these lessons?
7. Preparations: What can I do now to prepare for the future?
8. Rest: How can I best recharge for the months ahead?
I love how this spread mimics our Crone Moon tarot spread. A lot of reflection on where we have been, where we are going, how we can get there—but in a slow, deliberate, introspective way.
So, what cards did I draw, and how can they direct our thinking in this dark portion of the year?
Transition: Four of Wands
This card evokes the idea of community celebration. Pretty cool for a time that is “Thanksgiving light.” It is a time to pause and reflect on the things we have accomplished and should be proud of. It is a time of stability. When thinking about this card in terms of transition, I get the sense that whatever transitions we have recently gone through or will soon go through will feel supported. Maybe we won’t be looking to begin new large transitions at this time. Instead, we can reflect on transitions we have recently undertaken, celebrate their success, and develop quiet confidence in the future of that change.
To Navigate: Ten of Pentacles
Tens represent the culmination of a journey, and pentacles represent the physical and material world. Not just money, but also health, work, and home. We are navigating the end of an era (short or long) that has been very focused on our basic needs as well as the here and now. It is time to tie up those loose ends and reflect, celebrate, or learn from our efforts in this realm.
Harvest: Five of Cups
This is a card of loss and disappointment. See how the figure in the black cloak looks downcast at the three spilled cups. But there is hope! There are still two full cups behind him that he is either ignoring or hasn’t seen yet. Maybe our harvest of the prior season isn’t all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. It could be we harvest the lessons of the difficult journey we navigated. It could mean that we take the introspective energy of this new season to find out what is filling our two remaining cups. We aren’t back up to full steam emotionally, but there is good stuff there that we may have been ignoring. We are entering a period where we are learning what no longer fills us up emotionally. We now have time to discover what is in those two remaining cups, drink from them, and decide how to refill the ones that spilled.
To Reap: Nine of Wands
Here we are further on our wands journey. That Four of Wands transition maybe started off with a bump before it reached stability. The Nine of Wands is here to remind us that we are resilient and that those bumps in the road, the things that caused us to spill our emotional cups, are what give us the strength to bounce back. This is a time to reflect on how resilient we really are, and a time for us to think about how we got ourselves into the situations where we had to be resilient. What can we learn from those situations, and do we want to repeat them?
Wisdom: The Devil
I feel like whenever this card comes up I have to start by saying tarot isn’t satanic. It uses imagery that has emotional impact that people can use to learn more about themselves. The Devil card is about excess and materialism. Notice the two people on the card who are in chains. Notice how they can get out of those chains any time they want to. During this season, we have the time to evaluate our lives. Are there any situations you are in that feel over the top? Anything you feel you need to let go of because it has become just too much? This is your sign that it is within your power to break your chains to that situation. They weren’t really holding you there in the first place.
To Integrate: The Empress
Can you think of a better image of fall and the abundance of harvest time than The Empress? She looks like the personification of an overflowing cornucopia. Naturally, she represents the bounty of nature, motherhood, and fertility. We have spent the year building to this abundance. We need to pause and take stock of what we have accomplished and grown over the year. Let’s use this more introspective time of year to incorporate the lessons we have learned—The Empress says there have been a lot of them. Use her energy and this opportunity to synthesize and incorporate it all before you emerge to a new cycle of growth.
Preparations: The Hanged Man
Loving this for how to prepare for the darkness of the Crone part of the year. The Hanged Man wants us to slow down and change our perspective. He is literally looking at the world upside down. Notice he is just chilling there. Just hanging out. He could get up if he wanted to, but he doesn’t. To me, the golden light emanating from his head is just one giant lightbulb going off. The more he sees, the more he thinks, and the slower and more deliberate he becomes in his inspiration. So fellow crones, one of the best things you can do to prepare for growth this season is to flip your ideas of how things “should” be on their head, pause, and reflect. Don’t just do something. Stand (hang) there.
Rest: Two of Pentacles
The Hanged Man was the perfect card to lead us to this final message. As we discussed before, pentacles are about the physical and material world. As we approached Crone Season, we were navigating the end of a cycle in this realm. Now, the Two of Pentacles is signaling to us that we are going to be grappling with indecision about where to go next. Instead of jumping into it and forcing a decision for your next journey, rest. The answer will come to you when you quiet your mind and allow your body and mind the time to recover from all the work that has gotten you to this point.
Putting it all together. What does this mean?
The message is screaming at me. You have been doing hard things all year. You have done a lot, and maybe you feel like you have lost a lot too. But in that loss, there is beauty. In this season, rejoice in your resilience. Take time to pause and really examine who you are, what you want, and where you may want to go next. Notice I said EXAMINE. Don’t do anything yet, Crones. You have been through some stuff, and you are finally coming up for air. Don’t let whatever comes next be your “rebound.” Use your crone wisdom and discernment to determine what is right for you not just in this season of the year, but in this season of your life. Pause now. It isn’t being lazy. It is using the wisdom of the earth to go dormant for a while so you can grow back healthier and stronger than before.
And in this season of “harvest,” if we want to use a plant metaphor, now is the time for you to decide what kind of plant you are. Are you a necessary and reliable staple like wheat? Are you bringing beauty like a rose? Joy like a daisy? Strength like a tree? Are you going to bring danger to some and healing to others depending on how you are used, like foxglove? Or are you going to be like me and embrace your oddness like a Venus flytrap?
Just make sure whatever plant you are, you drink enough water. It is hot out there, y’all.
Enjoy Crone Season!
The content on Crone Powers is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice. I am a doctor, but I AM NOT YOUR DOCTOR. Always consult your medical and mental health professionals before ADDING—NEVER SUBSTITUTING—spiritual modalities to your care. Remember, woo only works when you do the work.
The views and opinions expressed here are my own and do not represent those of my employer or any institution with which I am affiliated.