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Autumn Equinox 08

Mayan New Year
Summer 08

by Crystal Pomeroy

For the Mexica (pronounced Meh-SHEE-ka) Nation, Autumn Equinox is a time of reaping but also of renewal. Ripe fruits are ready for harvest, but their remains fall away to fertilize the earth. Death, visible in autumn's changes, is not seen as an enemy, but an opportunity to release that which weighs us down for the next phase of life.

There is a fascinating convergence between Scorpio's autumnal essence and the Mexican Guardian, "Our Lord that Skins Himself," whose picture appears in some codices and to this day is the subject of controversy (as with many things Scorpion). The Spanish colonizers claimed that his image (a man with his skin half pulled off) proved the existence of brutal torture practices among the natives.

Holders of the Mexica tradition claim that this picture is not to be taken literally, but rather refers to the inner work of discarding the acquired personality. For the Mexicans, this metaphor (in apparent analogy to the Christian crucifixion) was related to the snake, who sheds its skin in a perpetual process of self-renewal. The serpent is related to Scorpio, sign of mid-autumn and the only sign with multiple symbols, guiding us to move from the level of aggressive survival (scorpion) to instinctual renewal (snake) and eventually to the eagle wings of self-dominion.

Each seasonal portal activates the so-called critical zero degree of a cardinal sign. Sacred sites around the world were designed to receive the light of the sun exactly as it connected with those points. Those who were receptive could capture an instantaneous power of transmutation. This year, the Equinox Sun is particularly potent, triggering the cardinal cross that has prevailed in the skies this year and which climaxed at the Summer Solstice, intensifying the potential for change.

Also, the portal is exact on Wednesday, just before Thursday's Full Moon, considered a lunar phase of acute power. In the Mexica calendar, we are in a 20-day cycle called "Sweeping," in which the wind takes away dried leaves and husks—and with them, our defects of character.

The following ceremony, which is best done at the equinox hour of evening or night, combines Mexica, Wikka and metaphysics, synchronizing the power of intent with the finishing energies of Fall to eliminate habits and situations so we may reach our personal and planetary heights.

Equinox altar-ations

Mole (pronounced MO-lay), a chile paste (and traditional Equinox offering), available in Hispanic specialty stores and sections of the supermarket (or, a chocolate bar, and/or dried chile).
Autumn fruits: yams, pomegranates, apple, pumpkins and so on
Fall leaves
Orange and/or purple candles and flowers
A table or circle where the participants can sit and write
A viand with mole, chili or chocolate for sharing after the ceremony

For each participant:

The juice of a large lemon or lime
Two sheets of white paper
A pen or pencil
Sage smudge or incense
A quill or equivalent writing implement to use with the juice, such as a long feather, thin, pointed, stick, a long bobby pin, a dry pen, etc.
A fireproof vessel or fire place
An image or small figure of a broom

The Ceremony

Take the incense/smudge, mole, chocolate and/or chili (use one hand for the incense and the other for the food or two people can do this), and "offering them" at each of the cardinal points as you stop, look in that direction and say:

I/We request the permission of the Cosmic Forces and assistance of the Angels of the (name corresponding cardinal point) to detect and eliminate obsolete habits, situations and relationships.

I. On one of the two sheets of paper, each participant lists the mental, behavioral and relational patterns, as well as conditions or situations that s/he wishes to eliminate

II. If done with a group, pause to share some things from your list aloud, and the resume and finish the writing.

III. On the other page, write them again with lime juice.

IV. Wait for the lime juice to dry.

V. Light a candle saying,

I turn on the light of Truth which reveals the ephemeral nature of undesirable situations.

VI. Hold the pages with the citrus writing near the flame, just close enough so that it heats without igniting, as you chant continuously,

As you appeared from unreality, to unreality you now return.

VII. When everybody's list has become visible, draw a cross over the list and say, By the power of the cardinal cross, I deny that these appearances have any power to last. Their time has come, the cosmic and angelic forces of elimination have swept them away.

VIII. Continue to repeat words like those above as you burn the papers.

IX. Seal your Equinox ceremony:

If you did it inside, sweep the area and discard the ashes. Repeat the following seal thrice:

Omnipresent Good fills my mind and life and they are sealed in the Name of Archangel Michael now.

Could the Mexica Days of Sweeping reveal a hidden facet of pagan Equinox practices? Does the popular witches' broom of Halloween symbolize the ability to brush away that which has outlived its purpose? Could that be the force that most upset the persecuting patriarchy of Christianized Europe?

It is indeed ours to choose what we hold in our existence, and what has outlived its welcome. The winds of autumn bear an unusual kind of invitation: to meet with our inmost self and our cosmic helpers as we resurrect our gift of elimination.

References

Busteed, Marilyn, Richard Tiffany and Dorothy Wergin, Phases of the Moon (1974, Shambala, Berkeley, CA).

Roderick, Timothy, Wikka, A Year and A Day.

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