The following is excerpted from the chapter "Reflections on Seasonal Rituals" in the 10th Anniversary Edition of She Lives! The Return of Our Great Mother copyright 1999 by Judith Laura. All Rights Reserved. An earlier version of  "Autumn: A Time to Harvest" was published in the Autumn 1993 issue of Voices of Women.

Autumn: A Time to Harvest

Autumn is the time of harvest. In the pre-Christian agriculturally-based Celtic traditions, harvest was observed by three holidays: Lammas, August 1; Mabon, at the autumn equinox; and Samhain, which we known as Halloween.

Lammas was the gathering of the "first fruits," the crops that ripened first, and the other two the harvest of later crops. These holidays also marked the lessening of the light from the sun, the return of the dark. In their mythology, at this time of year the male god died to be reborn at Winter Solstice, also called Yul.

The Jewish religion also celebrates autumn holidays, which echo earlier Near Eastern agricultural observances: Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, celebrated at the new moon of the Hebrew calendar’s seventh lunar month; Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and atonement; and Succot, a week-long harvest holiday that begins at the full moon and during which people dine in a temporary hut or booth built next to the house and roofed with tree branches set wide enough for the light of the moon to flow in.

On the secular side, in the United States, in a move prompted at least consciously by business and political motives, October 1 has been designated as the beginning of the new "fiscal" year. And we have two secular holidays with strong religious undertones: Halloween and Thanksgiving. Some Christian churches celebrate All Hallows Eve (or Hallowmas) on October 31 with All Souls Day celebrated Nov. 1.

In a way that is similar in some respects to the Jewish New Year, Samhain (or Halloween) is, in many Pagan traditions, celebrated as the New Year: The end of one cycle and the beginning of the next. It is a time to honor ancestors; to look inward; to not be afraid of the dark but to embrace it as part of the life-death cycle. Often ancestors are honored with food offerings, and it is believed Samhain is the easiest time to contact the spirit world.

We can see remnants of this tradition in the secular celebration of Halloween. Children in sometimes scary costumes bring "spirits" to our front doors and parties; lest they "trick" us, we give them "treats." It could be said that by this playfulness, we–and our children–may conquer our fear of the dark, of death, and of the spirit world.

What are other ways to relate to agricultural harvest holidays even if we live in urban or suburban areas where we may not literally harvest the crops, unless we're lucky enough to have gardens?

Getting in touch with the cycles of the earth has a way of affirming our nurturing role in a way that is powerful rather than subservient. When we think of harvest at this time, we can think not only of the crops from the earth, but also of what we have harvested over the last year in terms of new knowledge, new relationships, new spiritual understanding. These also nourish us and are our bounty. We may want to devise rituals using the harvest of food crops as a metaphor for these other forms of nourishment.

Another basis for ritual at this time of year might be getting rid of the old, the outmoded in our lives and making way for the new. This can include asking forgiveness of those we have hurt, trying to make peace with those with whom we may have long-running feuds, and consciously ending behavior that we know is not in our own best interest and replacing it with more affirming actions. A ritual of throwing into a fire (or simply throwing out) symbols of behaviors you want to end and replacing them with symbols of desired actions can give you strength to change your life. Some believe such ritual can help effect the change.

Thanksgiving, our North American harvest holiday, has few formal rituals. Perhaps we can take this as an opportunity to innovate. For example, in the spirit of the first Thanksgiving, we could focus on being more accepting of religious and ethnic differences. This theme might be incorporated into a ritual either preceding or at the Thanksgiving meal. And in our thanksgiving, let us specifically give thanks to the Mother of all for Her abundance. And let us also thank human mothers and other nurturers, who labor to prepare the feast.
The Autumn Celebration in this book includes elements of the Jewish High Holy Days and of the Pagan harvest festivals. It is held at sunset, the time of day corresponding to the suncycle time of year. Symbols of harvest include autumn leaves and apple juice. The flaming of the leaves and of the fire, along with increasing darkness, are welcomed with wonder. Ancestors are honored, we find ways to part from aspects of our life that have become outmoded, and we move joyfully forward.

Autumn is a time of mystery and faith: Faith that the cycle will continue, that from death life will spring anew, that the Goddess will be with us in darkness and through death and that just as her child will be reborn, so we--also Her children--can be reborn in Her and from Her. It is a time when faith overcomes fear and when children and being childlike are celebrated as symbols of the new year that is beginning even as the ancients are honored as part of the old.

Read Meditation from Autumn equinox ritual first published in 1999 edition of She Lives! and reprinted in Matrifocus

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