There’s a hush in the air when the Autumn Equinox arrives in the Northern Hemisphere. The days and nights balance themselves—perfectly equal—before the tilt tips us toward longer evenings, golden leaves, and the slow exhale of the year.
The equinox happens twice a year, and in each, the Earth’s yin and yang energies meet in perfect harmony. In spring, yang energy rises—bright, active, outward-moving—pushing blossoms to unfurl and life to surge forward. In autumn, that same energy softens and begins to fall back, making space for yin’s gentle presence to lead—cooler, inward, restful, and receptive.
This balance is more than symbolic. This shift mirrors Earth’s physical cycles: from bursting growth toward dormancy, from external activity to internal conservation. The harvest is gathered in, the seeds of the next cycle stored safely, and the land prepares to rest.
The Autumn Equinox is a moment to honor both energies: the fire of creation and the depth of rest, the push of action and the grace of letting go. Harvest becomes a time to celebrate this union—an opportunity to acknowledge abundance, gratitude, and the natural rhythms that sustain us.
The Significance and Meaning of Autumn Equinox
Myth and story is how we humans have left messages for each other over time about events, beliefs, knowledge. And usually, behind any celebration that becomes a tradition, there is a story that underpins it with foundational weight and significance to our human experience. Autumn Equinox is no exception.
Psychologically, we live these yin–yang rhythms, too, just as the Earth does. Yang seasons (like spring and summer) encourage us to create, express, and expand outward. Yin seasons (like autumn and winter) call us to slow, reflect, and nurture our inner world.
While Equinox stands in perfect light dark balance, it reminds us that that balance isn’t about holding everything equal at once all the time—it’s about honoring the right energy at the right time. Just as we cannot endlessly plant and grow without exhausting the soil, we cannot endlessly push ourselves without pausing for renewal. The Autumn Equinox reminds us that letting go, resting, and reflecting are just as vital as striving, achieving, and creating.
Spiritually, yin and yang come together as a dance of creation. One plants the seed, the other tends the soil. One pushes the sprout toward the sky, the other gathers moisture and nourishment below. One celebrates the harvest, the other ensures rest and regeneration so that the cycle can begin again.
The Autumn Equinox is a sacred threshold in this dance. It’s a time to honor yang for its work—its fire, its outward striving, its bold expansion—and to welcome yin’s gifts of stillness, insight, and gentle restoration. It is also a season of gratitude, not just for the food in our baskets but for the land itself and our role as stewards. To celebrate the harvest is to celebrate partnership—with Earth, with the cycles of energy, and with the balance that sustains life.
Harvest Festivals Around the World
Across cultures, the Autumn Equinox and harvest season have been marked with rituals of gratitude, community, and balance. Though the names and stories vary, a common thread weaves them together: the dance of yin and yang, the honoring of abundance, and the reminder that all cycles include both action and rest.
Durga Ma: The Dance of Yin and Yang in India’s Autumn Festival
In India, autumn bursts to life with Navaratri or Durga Puja This festival tells the story of the goddess Durga’s victory over the buffalo demon of Chaos, Mahishasura—a being so strong that no god or man could defeat him.
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the yang Trimurti (Trinity) responsible for the universe's cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction, needed help. They called for help from. Shakti, the active force of the divine feminine that enables the Trimurti to act. She gave them Durga, one of the her faces, representing external strength and maternal compassion. She fought for nine days and nights against Chaos, and on the tenth, she triumphed. Seems fittting for the times we live in.
This myth holds the essence of yin and yang working together: yang’s action merging with yin’s compassion and fierce resilience. Alone, neither force could prevail, but together, they restored harmony. Each of the festival’s ten days honors a different form of the goddess, from grounding and discipline to courage, destruction, wisdom, and ultimately victory.
Communities celebrate with flowers, fruits, sweets, music, and dance, while in Bengal, Durga idols are immersed in rivers on the final day—a ritual of gratitude and release, as yang returns to yin so the cycle may begin again.
Mabon: Celtic Balance and the Turning of the Wheel
In the Celtic tradition, the Autumn Equinox is celebrated as Mabon, a time to honor balance, harvest, and the cycle of death and rebirth. Welsh Myth speaks of the god Mabon ap Modron (“Great Son of the Great Mother”), whose abduction from his mother symbolized the desolation of the land with his eventual return representing restoration and the balance of light and dark, yin and yang.
Here, yang’s fiery labor of summer gives way to yin’s quiet call for rest. Altars are decorated with apples, bread, wine, and seeds, while rituals include feasting, gratitude, and preparing for the darker months ahead. Mabon reminds us that harvest is a threshold, a moment of stewardship as well as celebration.
Chuseok: Korea’s Festival of Ancestors and Abundance
In Korea, Chuseok falls on the full harvest moon. Families gather to share food, honor ancestors, and reconnect with their roots through rituals like charye (ancestral memorial rites) and seongmyo (tending graves). Sweet rice cakes, songpyeon, shaped like half-moons, embody gratitude and continuity.
Chuseok holds both yang and yin: the outward celebration of family, laughter, and abundance, and the inward reflection of remembrance and respect. The harvest moon itself symbolizes their union—yang’s brilliance glowing against yin’s night sky.
Mid-Autumn Festival: China and Vietnam’s Celebration of Wholeness
The Mid-Autumn Festival centers on the full harvest moon. Legend tells of the archer Hou Yi, a hero who shot down nine of ten suns to save the earth from being scorched. He was rewarded with an elixir of immortality.
To protect it from a thief, his wife Chang'e drank it. The elixir. It made her so light, she ascended, where she lives in luminous solitude. Hou Yi missed her and began leaving her favourite moon cakes for her on the fullest moon, hoping he'd see her. The tradition evolved into into the Mid-Autumn Festival. . Families light lanterns and share mooncakes, their round shape embodying unity and wholeness.
This festival highlights yin (moon) and yang (sun) in their harmonious meeting. It is a time of reunion and gratitude, as families gather under the moon’s light to honor abundance and connection.
Shūbun no Hi: Japan’s Equinox of Reflection
In Japan, the equinox is honored as Shūbun no Hi, a public holiday rooted in Buddhist tradition. Families visit ancestral graves, leave offerings, and reflect during Higan (“the other shore”), a period symbolizing the journey from ignorance to enlightenment.
Yin’s energies are strong here—in reflection, reverence, and remembrance—while yang shows up in the care of cleaning and tending graves. The harmony between action and stillness mirrors Buddhist teachings: balance comes not from extremes, but from walking the middle path.
A Simple Autumn Equinox Ritual: Honoring Yin and Yang
The Autumn Equinox is a threshold moment when yin and yang stand in perfect harmony—light and dark equal before yin begins to gently take the lead. Creating a ritual around this balance allows you to honor the energies of both action and rest, giving thanks for what has been and opening space for what is to come.
1. Create a sacred altar of balance – Gather symbols for yin (water, stones, leaves) and yang (candle, grains, fruit). Place them together as a reminder that both forces are partners in creation.
2. Light your candle at sunset – Witness the dance of energies as daylight gives way to night. The flame honors yang’s brightness, while surrounding shadows invite yin’s calm.
3. Offer gratitude for yang’s gifts – Speak aloud or write down what you are thankful for: your efforts, achievements, and acts of creation this past season.
4. Release into yin’s embrace – Write down what you are ready to let go of and safely burn or bury it. Like trees shedding leaves, you create space for rest, reflection, and renewal.
5. Welcome the season of yin – Hold a bowl of water or stone in your hands, close your eyes, and imagine moving into autumn’s slower rhythms with clarity and calm. Invite yin’s wisdom, intuition, and restorative energy into your life.
Journal Prompts for the Autumn Equinox
* Where have yang’s energies of action, growth, and outward focus supported me this year?
* Where can I invite yin’s energies of rest, reflection, and inward nourishment?
* What am I harvesting—physically, emotionally, spiritually—and how can I celebrate it?
* How can I practice gratitude and stewardship of the land, honoring the cycles that sustain me?
Embracing the Equinox: Balance, Gratitude, and Renewal
The Autumn Equinox reminds us that life moves in cycles of action and rest, light and dark, yin and yang. As the season turns, we’re invited to pause—celebrate what we’ve grown, release what we no longer need, and welcome the slower rhythms ahead. In this balance, we find both gratitude and renewal.