The Spiritual Meaning of the Autumn Equinox

~ Copyright 2011 Belsebuub and Angela Pritchard

The autumn equinox is a mysterious time. It marks an essential passage in the spiritual work that is often overlooked, misunderstood, and mistaken as dark and heretical.

The autumn equinox is the time of balance between day and night, before night takes over and brings the coming winter, a time of darkness and death. This duality between light and dark exists within humanity, and in the work of spiritual transformation. All things must die before they can be born, all spiritual ascent requires descent first, and all those who long for light must firstly face their own inner darkness and overcome it.

We will look at the esoteric meaning of the autumn equinox, remnants of which can barely be found in lasting traditions from the times of ancient people’s who celebrated it and knew of its real significance, and how it is still relevant to those wishing to do a spiritual work and celebrate it in tune with the rhythms of the cosmos today. Generally, the more ancient the site or tradition, the closer it is to the spiritual message.

For reading on the ancient sites which align to the autumn equinox, see Ancient Sacred Sites Aligned to the Autumn Equinox

What is the Autumn / Fall Equinox?

Equinoxes occur twice a year—in spring and autumn, when night and day are approximately equal lengths, which is when the sun’s path crosses the equator.

Interestingly, the sun enters the astrological sign of Libra at the autumn equinox, which is the sign of the scales and of balance. The glyph for Libra represents the setting sun, expressing the balance between night and day.

The autumn equinox heralds a time of growing darkness, as after it the sun continues to descend and diminish (as it has since the summer solstice) so that the nights now become increasingly longer than the days, bringing the change of seasons and the cold and death of winter.

The Larger Spiritual Context of the Autumn Equinox

The meaning of the autumn equinox is intertwined with that of the four points of the year (the two solstices, and the spring equinox), which each mark stages in the esoteric work that begin anew each year, and form a symbolic cross in the wheel of the year, with the sun (Son/Christ) at the center.

The solstices and equinoxes are to do with the journey and transitions of the sun, and the sun represents the Son, a both universal and personal spiritual force whose birth or incarnation into a spiritually prepared person has been enacted symbolically by enlightened figures throughout time, such as Jesus, Dionysus, Horus, Mithras, Odin, Krishna etc. and by the sun and stars in their movements in relation to the earth every year. This is why the lives of these great figures follow similar events which correspond with astrological movements e.g. the birthday of all these deities is celebrated at the winter solstice, and their death and resurrection at the spring equinox. This is no coincidence, but part of the greater design of the universe, revealing the process of spiritual awakening to humanity.

In times now lost, different groups of people understood this profound teaching and message that literally comes from above, and knew that the outer drama enacted in the heavens, was actually an inner representation of a human becoming spiritual, with the sun representing the spiritual aspect that incarnates within a person.

The Spiritual Meaning of the Autumn / Fall Equinox

Traditionally, the autumn equinox is a celebration of the harvest, as it is when summer has finished giving its fruits, which are collected in preparation for winter. But there are other indicators given by the most ancient sacred sites that mark the autumn equinox: a descending passage into a subterranean pit lit by the star of “Satan” in the Great Pyramid of Egypt, a seven-scaled feathered serpent of light descending a giant pyramid in Mexico, a giant Pyramid of the Sun aligned to the equinoxes built on a cave symbolizing the underworld, and even giant statues facing the sunset that leads to growing darkness on Easter Island.

What was known to the ancients, and is known here today, is the part darkness plays in the work of spiritual transformation. Those in the orthodox superstitiously fear it, and many in the new age completely ignore it. But at the autumn equinox it can be found in the cycles of nature, and the alignment of our planet – and traces of it can be found here and there in ancient legends and myths that have become distorted over time.

The God of Light and Darkness

In the pagan cultures of Europe the sun god has two aspects. One is the god of light—the day, and the other is his twin rival, the god of darkness—the night. They are Gawain and the Green Knight, Gwyn and Gwythyr, Llew and Goronwy, Lugh and Balor, Balan and Balin, the Holly King and the Oak King, etc.

The god of light is born three days after the winter solstice, as the sun, having reached its lowest and weakest point, begins to ascend and gain strength. The god of darkness is born three days after the summer solstice, as this is when the sun begins to descend and weaken while the nights and darkness begins to grow.

Christ and Lucifer

In Christian esotericism Christ has a shadow, which is Lucifer, as in ancient Egypt Seth was to Horus. Through his life Jesus enacted the symbolic events one must pass through to reach awakening. Although also enacted by many others, their accounts have become either lost or distorted over time, and so it is the account of Jesus’ life which is the most modern and clearest reference.

Lucifer holds a set of scales, representing balance and justice. The scales also represent the equinox, which occurs as we pass into the constellation of Libra, symbolized by the scales.

When drawing parallels to the pagan myths, Christ is the god of light, and Lucifer the god of darkness. Some have confused John the Baptist, whose birthday is celebrated on June 24th, three days after the summer solstice, as the god of darkness. John however, has a different role. He is both the Avatar, the prophet who always announces the coming of the Christ in darkness before the light comes, and also the initiate, the one who does the work of spiritual transformation.

Light, Darkness and Transformation

The mystic starts from where they are, which is in darkness and why John is born when darkness begins to increase and light decrease. They are subject to Lucifer, the tempter, and must defeat him to reach the light. Christ is the spirit which is born within once someone is spiritually prepared enough, symbolically celebrated at the winter solstice when the light begins to increase and darkness decrease. As Christ, the spiritual within, grows and increases, John symbolizing the initiate, must decrease. The darkness of the person (all that is evil and inferior) must decrease as the light increases, transforming the person spiritually. This reference is found in the Gospels:

A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
~ John 3: 27-31, the Bible

Although the subject of superstition for millions of people, the Devil and Satan are only creations of the orthodoxy – they do not exist, although darkness and evil forces do. These figures at one or other times were possibly meant to represent Lucifer, or were confused with him, but it is only Lucifer who really exists. Again, misunderstood and demonized by the orthodoxy, Lucifer in most people’s minds is a figure of evil, but his true role is a spiritual one which is necessary for someone’s awakening.

Without darkness there would be no shadow nor any recognition that light even exists; it is darkness that allows us to see just as much as light does. Without darkness, there can be no light, as in the work of spiritual transformation light must be extracted from darkness. This is how true knowledge, wisdom, and love are attained, and why Lucifer esoterically is known as the light-bearer. Each one of us must start in darkness, understand it to be able to overcome it, destroy it within ourselves, and become the light.

Both Christ and Lucifer are something personal. Lucifer, the dark side of the human, must be faced and overcome to reach the Christ within. Lucifer is the tempter, the trainer of the one who walks the path to enlightenment, and is eventually assimilated into total light once darkness is finally destroyed symbolically at the time of ascension celebrated at the height of the summer solstice.

The Seed and the Wicker Man: A Time of Death and Sacrifice

In Celtic traditions, which still survive today, the autumn equinox is a time of sacrifice; they made a figure from the stems of grain, which they sacrificed by fire. The cut stems represent the values and principles within a person.  In England a wicker figure made of barley stems representing John Barleycorn, the spirit of the fields, is burnt, as it is said that he must die in order to become a man. The one who walks the path must die inwardly to make way for the Christ and to become a true man.

John the Baptist is said to have died 6 months before Jesus whose death was at the time of the spring equinox, which would make John’s death at the time of the autumn equinox. The autumn equinox is a time of death, as just as in nature at this time of year the seed must die before it can grow, so must the subconscious and the egos die to make way for the birth of the Christ within, celebrated at the winter solstice.

Within the death of the seed at autumn can be found the symbol of the mercurial seed, which is the latent creative spiritual potential within a human. This seed of spiritual potential is contained within the sexual energies, the seminal waters. The sexual energies contain life, as through sex, a child is conceived from out of a seed and egg. When the sexual energies are used in the sacred practice of alchemy, they form the basis of the divine alchemical fire in which the egos, the darkness within, is destroyed, and the spirit is born. This practice has been symbolized as tantrism in the East, medieval alchemy in Europe, and the bridal chamber of the esoteric Christians. Through the alchemical process, light is extracted from darkness and the initiate is “born again” – not of flesh, but of the spirit.

Mercury transformed converts the elements of nature into divine fire, which is the Kundalini – the awakened power of the goddess Shakti, the Mother. The eternal feminine principle of the Mother works within mercury to destroy the egos. In China there are terracotta figures buried beneath a pyramid; they are encased in mercury, symbolizing the alchemical mercury and the descent to the underworld.

The third century theologian Hippolytus of Rome (similar to present-day anti-cult figures) writes about an ear of wheat being used to symbolize the sacred seed in Athenian initiation ceremonies, in his Refutation of All Heresies (5.8.39):

The Athenians, when they initiate in the Eleusinia, exhibit in silence to the epoptai the mighty and marvelous and most complete epoptic mystery, an ear of cut-wheat. But this ear of wheat is also considered among the Athenians to constitute the perfect enormous illumination that has descended from the ineffable one, just as the hierophant himself declares.

In the Mayan account of creation, found in their sacred text called the Popol Vuh, humans were created from a mixture of ground corn (seed) and water. This corn was said to be found hidden in a sacred mountain, and was the bones of the buried remains of the Corn Goddess – showing the sexual energies belong to the Mother, but lie latent within a human being like that which is dead. Hidden under an immovable rock which was only split open by a strike of lightening, the corn got singed and became three other colors, making four in total: black, white, yellow, and red. These colors represent the change in the color of the sexual energies that occurs in the process of alchemy as they are purified from a lustful to more chaste and spiritual state. Here again, the human being is the grain, the seed (which is the corn) of hidden potential, whose energies can be transformed in alchemical fire (the lightening). However, in the Mayan account humans were born into darkness, which is the darkness of the subconscious. It was not until the sun rose in the East from out of a cave that there was light and life. Mithras, Jesus, and Viracocha were all said to have been born into a cave, and Krishna into a prison. This is the birth of the spiritual Son/sun within, who brings the light and life of the spirit to the darkness of the human being symbolized as a cave – explained further in The Spiritual Meaning of the Winter Solstice.

The Descent into the Underworld, and the Law of the Fall

At the time of the autumn equinox, ancient Welsh myth tells how Llew, the god of light, is killed and descends to the underworld where he becomes king of that realm whilst his shadow, the god of darkness, dominates in the earthly world, which symbolically is the human. The god of darkness, Lucifer, dominates as the teacher and trainer in this time of learning.

The initiate walking the path must descend into the underworld to face their own inner darkness—the evil of the egos and subconscious—to prepare for the birth of the god of light within, celebrated at the winter solstice. However, Christ, the god of light, is still born into darkness at the winter solstice, as the sun has only just begun to gain strength.

Christ is born into the stables with the animals, which represents his birth into the darkness and the egos of the initiate (and also a cave, which represents the womb of creation and his birth in the initiate who is still in the underworld). He starts as just a small spiritual child within that grows as the sun gains strength. As he grows within a person, he works to destroy their inner darkness, resurrecting at the spring equinox where he overpowers the darkness, and finally ascending at the summer solstice until the light is at its maximum strength, which is complete enlightenment.

This is another law in esotericism—the law of the fall, where someone must first descend before they can ascend, and why ancient myths and monuments symbolize the descent into the underworld (down steps, into caves, etc.), and spiritual ascents (up stairs, at the apexes of pyramids, etc.). At the autumn equinox, the time of balance between night and day, before the growth of darkness, the initiate must arrive at balance and from there descend.

The Numbers 7, 8, 9, and the Feathered Serpent

On Easter Island there are seven statues that face the sunset on the autumn equinox. They represent the seven solar bodies that must be created through alchemy (referred to as the “bodies of gold” in ancient Egyptian texts, and the “wedding garments” by Jesus) and the seven initiatic grades of fire that have to be attained before descending into the chaos of the underworld. In the secret initiatory schools of Mithrasim there were seven degrees of initiation which corresponded to 6 planets of the solar system and the sun. At the pyramid of Kukulcán (the feathered serpent) in Mexico, at the autumn equinox, a feathered serpent made of seven triangles of light descends the pyramid – again symbolizing the seven bodies and initiations.

John, the man in the wilderness, must make straight the way of the Lord to prepare for the coming of the Christ within, which is a process of spiritual purification – in which the seven spiritual bodies must be created and the seven initiations passed. These seven spiritual bodies correspond to the seven dimensions, and will become the vehicles for the Christ/the Son. The wilderness is a symbol of an animalistic state as the nature of what is within a person – all the anger, hatred, lust, pride etc. is of an animal, whereas the Christ converts us into true men (both men and women). This purification involves cleaning the sexual energies, which are the sexual waters within a person, and this is symbolized in the life of Jesus as baptism and also turning water into wine.

The initiate becomes a feathered serpent with the spiritual work, which is why this symbol was so central to Mesoamerican spirituality and associated with the progress of the sun at the pyramid of El Castillo in Chichen Itza, Mexico. The Christ is within the feathered serpent. The serpent represents the divine Mother, the feathers of the eagle represent the Father. A feathered serpent occurs when a person merges with the Son, and the Son returns to the Mother, and then the Father absorbs the Mother. Then the three – the Father, Son, and Mother are as one again, which is a return to wholeness and the divine source of creation explained in How Enlightenment is the Process of Creation in Reverse. When the feathered serpent flies, the initiate ascends, which is the time of the summer solstice.

In the Great Pyramid of Egypt there is a descending passage to a subterranean pit beneath the ascending passage that leads to the King’s Chamber. At midnight on the autumn equinox, the star that represents Lucifer shines down the descending passage into the pit. At the same time the star of Alcyone, the principle star from the Pleiades constellation around which our own sun and solar system revolves, aligns with the meridian of the Pyramid. Here perhaps is the greatest ancient clue to the meaning of the autumn equinox. It is before the birth of the god of light at winter solstice, that the initiate must descend into the underworld under the guidance of Lucifer.

In their explanation of creation, the Mayans divided the underworld into nine layers or strata. Like the Mayans, Dante Alighieri’s work The Divine Comedy assigned nine layers to hell (and nine regions to heaven). At the autumn equinox at the pyramid of Kukulcán, the Mayans symbolize the descent of the serpent through the nine layers of hell as a serpent of light that descends the 9 terraces of the pyramid.

In ancient Babylon, in the autumn, Dumuzi (whose name means “rightful son”) became the god who was sacrificed with the cutting of the corn. As the grain was cut and stored, the god was said to go into the underworld to return next year when the sap rose in the trees and vegetation returned to the earth.

His myth was paralleled in Akkadian lore by Tammuz, who died every year at the beginning of autumn, and was reborn in the spring.

Adonis (“Lord”) was worshiped by the Semitic peoples of Babylonia and Syria. Every year, when winter came, he had to descend to the underworld and live with its queen, the goddess Persephone.

Esoterically, at the center of the earth the symbol of infinity is found as the holy 8, which is also a symbol of equalization or equinox. The forces upon a person revolve from this point. There are nine regions of the abyss to ascend from this point (or nine to descend to it) – each is pain; the ninth is the center of the earth. We have to go through pain to reach happiness. This is the ninth sphere, the womb in which the Christ gestates. Human pregnancy lasts for nine months.

To descend requires alchemy – the work in the ninth sphere, which is sexual. In descending the initiate climbs down Lucifer’s ladder. After the descent, having completed a work of many trials and tests in the underworld, the initiate has to climb Lucifer’s ladder, or Jacobs ladder, to ascend. There are nine regions of the inferno and nine heavens. The initiate must descend to the nine infernos to reach the nine heavens – to descend requires sex, which is why alchemy is sometimes referred to as the work in the ninth sphere. Scaling the heavens is how we get to the city of nine gates.

I [Peter] replied, asking him, “What is the name of the place to which you go, your city?” He [Jesus] said to me, “This is the name of my city, ‘Nine Gates.’ Let us praise God as we are mindful that the tenth is the head.”
~ The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles, from The Nag Hammadi Library

Mentally renouncing all actions, the self-controlled soul enjoys bliss in this body, the city of the nine gates, neither doing anything himself nor causing anything to be done.
~ Krishna, The Bhagavad Gita

The Role of the Mother Goddess

In ancient Summeria, the goddess Inanna descends into the underworld at the time of the autumn equinox. And in Greek mythology the goddess Persephone descends at the same time, before returning to the earth again at spring. In Egypt, the mother goddess Hathor was associated with the Milk Way during the third millennium BC when, during the fall and spring equinoxes, it aligned over and touched the earth where the sun rose and fell. Soon after the autumn equinox is the Hindu celebration of Durga Puja, which is the celebration of the Mother of the Universe, the warrior goddess Durga of which it is said Kali is an aspect.

In ancient spiritual teachings there are often multiple deities. This can be because there are multiple aspects of spiritual forces, principles, and figures, and each deity represents a certain aspect to illustrate their role. Marriage and birth between gods in mythology can represent their connection and relation with one another, alluding to them being part of the one. While the mother goddess has loving qualities, she also has fierce, powerful, punishing, and destructive ones, represented by multiple warrior goddesses around the world.

The divine Mother goddess, symbolized as a female of great power, is a feminine aspect of each person’s own spiritual being. She has different roles, but at the autumn equinox, her role as the one who fights alongside the person doing the spiritual work to destroy their egos is most prominent. This is most clearly portrayed in an aspect of the divine Mother found in the depictions of the Hindu goddess Kali (not to be confused with the demon Kali, which is written differently in Sanskrit) meaning “she who destroys.” Kali brandishes a weapon in her hands which beheads numerous demons. Her hands are bloodied and the heads of her enemies hang around her neck. Her enemies are the egos of the person, and she fights them within the person working to change. Kali is said to inhabit a cremation ground, which is the place where the egos are killed and destroyed in tantric alchemical fire.

This is also why some ancient texts often state that one should offer animal sacrifices to the Gods, and specifically to Kali. Unfortunately many have interpreted this literally, when really the animals are symbols of the egos (or seven deadly sins) which are animalistic in nature, such as anger, pride, greed, envy, lust, etc. The death and destruction of the egos before the gods is a form of sacrifice because the individual is giving up something inferior to gain something superior – with every ego that is destroyed, subconsciousness is converted to consciousness, darkness to light. The egos are also depicted in images with Kali as evil people, because they are as separate evil personas within our psyche.

The Warrior Aspect of the Goddess Found Around the World

The Mother goddess is a feminine spiritual part of us, which has been represented by different cultures around the world, but with amazing similarities – showing the universal nature of her existence.

Like Kali, the Aztec goddess Coatlicue is a Mother goddess with her deadly and destructive side emphasized. It is said that in her both the grave and womb exist. She bears an astonishing resemblance to Kali, with her teeth, breasts, and tongue bared, wearing a necklace made of human hearts, hands, and skulls.

In Egypt, Sekhmet is the mother goddess Hathor in her destructive aspect, and as an icon appears to be thousands of years old. Sekhmet has the head of a lion and dresses in red, the color of blood. She is said to be the fiercest of all goddesses – her name means “powerful one,” but she also had titles such as “Mistress of Dread,” “Lady of Slaughter,” “Lady of Flame,” and the “one before whom evil trembles.” She is the female warrior goddess, and it was said that death and destruction were balm for her warrior’s heart. Like Persephone who married the god of the underworld Hades, she was also said to be married to Ptah, an Egyptian god associated with the underworld, creation, and darkness. Both Kali and Sekhmet were said to wreak such fierce destruction that they had to be placated to stop them from destroying humankind.

Incredibly, in Buddhism, the warrior aspect of the goddess also bears a resemblance to the Egyptian Sekhmet, Aztec Coatlicue, and Hindu Kali. She is Senge Dongma (Simhamukha in Sanskrit), who was created to destroy demons, and like Sekhmet, she has the head of a lion and can be the color red. But also, like Kali, has been described as the color of dark clouds like those that bring rain or storm, and can appear as dark blue or black. Again, like Kali, she too is associated with cremation grounds, she holds a ritual knife in one hand, and a scull cap of blood in another, and has a headdress of five skulls and three eyes as Kali is sometimes depicted with. Like Kali and Coatlicue, her eyes are wide open, her tongue, teeth and breasts are bared, she wears a skirt made of tiger skin, and a long necklace made of human bones and severed heads.

In Hinduism, the goddess Durga who is closely connected to Kali and is also a fierce warrior wielding numerous weapons to slay demons, is depicted as mounted on a lion or tiger, paralleling the lion part of Sekhmet, Senge Dongma and also Inanna. The Sumerian goddess Inanna was known as the Queen of Heaven, and as a goddess of sexual love and warfare. She was a powerful warrior whose chariot was drawn by lions and was often symbolized as a lioness in battle. The lion and tiger are both ferocious and powerful, and all are their prey. They are symbolic of the spirit which has the power to defeat evil.

Senge Dongma is known as the “Guardian of the Secret Tantric Teachings,” and is depicted as circled by flame, with mythological links to a cremation ground. Kali is primarily a tantric goddess who inhabits the cremation ground. Durga is “Keeper of the Flame.” Sekhmet is known as “Lady of Flame.” The fire is the sacred fire of kundalini, which is tantric. Inanna is a goddess of sexual love. The warrior aspect of the goddess is so intimately related to tantrism and fire, because it is in the fire of sexual alchemy that she destroys the demons, the egos, and also why she is linked to cremation grounds – the place where the egos are incinerated in divine fire.

The same deathly aspect of the mother goddess can be found in Greece as Hecate and Persephone. In the Pistis Sophia (an ancient esoteric Christian text), Jesus explains how the soul of a murderer is taken down into the chaos before Persephone and the receivers punish it with her chastisements for a time. Hecate has been depicted as a giant woman holding a torch and sword. It is interesting to note that at least Hecate (a pagan goddess) was demonized and degraded by the Church who associated her with witches and sorcery.

At the autumn equinox she descends into the underworld with the initiate to destroy the egos. In the spiritual work, it is this feminine power that has this role. Thus, Kali is also known as the mother and redeemer of the universe.

Note: Hinduism is a very ancient religion, which means that although at its root it is a white esoteric teaching, it has also been distorted and infiltrated over time to create branches of black magic. There are traditions, some of them at least hundreds of years old, which worship the goddess Kali but practice black tantrism and should obviously be avoided.

Preparing the Way for the Spiritual to Be Born Within

The autumn equinox is when the initiate, the person working towards enlightenment, must descend with the aid of their divine Mother (the female warrior goddess) into the underworld/chaos/abyss/hell, to fight the egos and evil within, to emerge with the light and knowledge gained in darkness and later ascend. Here it is Lucifer, the light-bearer, who is the tempter and helper in the work to incarnate the Christ/Son. It is a time of sacrifice and death where the seed within a person must die (symbolized by the wheat, rice, barley, or corn), forming the basis for the divine alchemical sexual fire that the Mother uses to destroy egos so that the Son can be born within a person. The autumn equinox is a time of preparing the way for the Son to be born at the winter solstice.

The symbols of this preparation can be found throughout the ancient world, in the cosmos, and indicate what to go through to awaken spiritually.

The spiritual meaning of the autumn equinox has been obscured with time, much more than the other three events in the wheel of the year. This is because as the spiritual work was lost, the esoteric meaning became vague and must have seemed to represent sinister, evil forces. Thus the symbols were given other meanings and turned into other things in the way that Santa Claus symbolizes Christmas day. Parts moved to cross quarter days and meanings changed into celebrations of the dead, of evil spirits, harvest festivals, bonfires, sacrifices, drunkenness, and debauchery. Fortunately the builders of ancient sites such as the Great Pyramids left the message of the real meaning in their architecture, which mirrored the meanings found in the cosmos and survived in sketchy details through myths, legends, and religions throughout history.

~ Copyright 2011 Belsebuub and Angela Pritchard

More on the Autumn Equinox
Ancient Sacred Sites Aligned to the Autumn Equinox
A Ceremony to Celebrate the Autumn Equinox