September is such an exciting month for those of us who love Autumn. While the season doesn’t actually start until the Equinox on the 22nd (at 9:54pm here in the EDT zone), September still feels like that gateway month. We’ve suffered through the heat of June, July, and August, and we can feel the nights getting a little cooler, the breezes a little gentler, and the Halloween stuff is out in the stores. Ahhhh, bliss.

September was named after the Latin ‘Septem’, or 7, as it was originally the 7th month of the year before January and February were added in the Julian calender reform. On one hand, it would be nice to rename the months to account for their positions now, but calling September November (for 9) just seems strange.

Here in Georgia, we’re still a good 2 months from peak leaf season, but some things are starting to change, notably the poplars. They drop their yellow leaves early, bit by bit. The sumac looks like it may be getting ready as well. We’ve been turning off the AC and opening the windows, as the nights have been getting down to the low 70s or upper 60s, though temps are still in the upper 80s during the day. At least the 90s seem to have broken, and we’ll take any little break we can. The birds are going crazy in the back yard, getting ready to move South if they’re migrating, or gathering food if they’re staying. We have a family of cardinals that will be here through the Winter, and they’re going nuts with all the other birds.

It makes me wonder what I should be organizing and preparing for.

Lunations:
New Moon in Virgo Sept 9th at 2:04pm EDT
Full Moon in Aries Sept 24th at 10:52pm EDT

Astronomy:
September 6- Saturn goes direct at 5:43am in Capricorn
September 30- Pluto goes direct at 5:37pm in Capricorn

Celtic Tree Month:
Hazel (August 5- September 1): Wisdom, intuition, studying ancient knowledge, fertility and good luck, divination (including hazel rods used for divining for water), poetry and science, playfulness and enchantment, healing arts.
Vine (September 2-29): Collaboration and networking, aligning your energy for the dark half of the year, resolving outstanding issues, completing projects, memory and concentration. Prophetic speech, truth, introspection, relaxation, depth, fruit harvest, finding balance between dark and light (Equinox), divination.
Ivy (Sept 30- October 27): End of the harvest, looking back at our successes and losses, strengthening our resolve to face the future, taking the long-term view, fidelity and fertility, protection, healing, good luck for women and brides, guards against negativity and disaster, reaches around and through obstacles to find light and nourishment, reaching out, expansion.

Holidays (non-Pagan):
Sept 3- Labor Day
Sept 9- National Grandparents Day
Sept 10- Rosh Hashana (Jewish)
Sept 12- Ganesh Chaturthi (Hindu)
Sept 12- Muharram (Muslim)
Sept 17- Constitution Day
Sept 19- Yom Kippur (Jewish)
Sept 24- Sept 30 Sukkot (Jewish)

Holidays (Pagan):
Sept 10- Boedromion Noumenia, a Greek festival honoring all the gods, where offerings were given
Sept 12- Feast of Athena as protector and defender
Sept 13- Feast of Aphrodite and Hermes, honoring the divine feminine and divine masculine
Sept 14- Genesia, Greek festival where offerings were made to the dead
Sept 15- Feast of Greek Artemis, as hunter and destroyer of life
Sept 21- Demokratia, Greek festival of democracy and justice
Sept 22- Dozhinki, Old Slavic festival honoring Jarilo’s symbolic ‘death’ with the last grain harvest
Sept 22- Oct 1- Greater Elusinian Mysteries, explores Demeter’s search for her daughter Kore, who had been taken to the underworld

Themes for the month: The second harvest of fruits, getting in the last vegetables for the year and canning/preserving them, the transition from the light half of the year to the dark half as the balance turns at the Equinox, Persephone dipping back down into the underworld (and the Eleusian mysteries), back to school and cheap school supplies!

General activities for the month: Being outside a little more as it gets cooler, DragonCon!, thinking about any projects you want to take on for Autumn or the holidays, harvesting fruits like grapes and apples and making jams, wines, and ciders.

Herbs I’m using: Not an herb, really, but I get obsessed with apples in September. I want to try EVERY SINGLE VARIETY and see how they did this year. I want caramel apples, fried apples, apple pie, everything apple ever. Also cinnamon, because it goes really well with apples. And I’m starting to scout the aisles for pomegranates, as I’ll be using them in incense for Persephone this year.

Stones I’m using: I did a ritual on the full moon in August, and felt really connected to petrified wood. It kind of hopped out at me and said ‘teacher stone!’ I’m also working with grounding/cleansing/protective stones, as I’ll need those for DragonCon to keep good boundaries between myself and the other 70,000 people. So black tourmaline, hematite, smoky quartz, tourmalinated quartz, etc. Lastly, I’ll be using lepidolite after DragonCon to calm and soothe myself.

Goddess of the Month: I’ve been working with Diana for a women’s group I’ve been meeting with, and I had forgotten how much I love her and her Greek counterpart, Artemis. She’s so independent, wild, free, and empowered. I love that energy. And while Hecate and Persephone are my main deities, I love bringing her fresh energy into my practice. <3

3 card reading:

First we see the 2 of Swords reversed. So it looks like there’s something we’ve been struggling with, but it’s finally over. It felt like we just couldn’t make any headway, or we were locked in a stalemate that seemed like it would never end. But again, we’re on the other side of that struggle, and for better or worse, we can stop worrying about it.

Second, we have Strength. So we’re being called upon to find our inner reserves and bring up the strong part of ourselves that can deal with the backlash from this struggle. This means we may need to face our fears, face our shadow sides, or face what we’ve been lying to ourselves about. This is fine, it’s part of the process and will help us become stronger and more secure in the end.

Finally, we see the 8 of Swords. So we’re feeling constricted, bound by our circumstances. But if we look closely, we’ll find that these limitations are ones that we’re imposing on ourselves. It’s time to stop saying ‘I can’t because…’ The truth is that we’re holding ourselves back from something that could be amazing and could change our lives if we let it. Remember that change can be scary and intimidating, but it can launch you to the next level of your life if you steer the boat rather than just riding the waves.

Our witch rune for special guidance is The Feather. The Feather tells us that while this all seems very heavy, we’ll do well to find something that helps us feel light-hearted right now. This can also indicate that communication or intellectual thought will play a part in all this. That can be great, as long as we don’t overthink things, which can help cause the feelings of being bound indicated by the 8 of Swords.

********************************
To Autumn
By John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,–
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

My personal tides: I’ve been waiting for some changes that I really need, and I’m getting antsy. I’ve filled out paperwork, jumped through hoops, and generally done everything I can do. Now I have to wait and see how things will turn out. It’s making me a little crazy. This is the month that some things should come together, however, for better or worse. And even if it’s for the worse, at least questions will be answered. The Virgo energy of this month means that it’s time to get all this shit together! 🙂

My personal goals: I have a big day that I’ll stay vague about on the 21st, but otherwise my goals are to just move forward on the transformation that we’ve been looking at for a few months now. I want to spin our dreams about what our future will look like into reality. On a mundane level, I’m also starting a new game (this is my first time GMing a game), and I’m really excited about it. I want to give my players an immersive, mystical, fun experience that they won’t forget.