Autumn Retreat Day 1: Welcome!
And so it begins, with a Harvest Supermoon
Hello and a very warm welcome to day one of our Autumn Equinox Retreat.
If you’re getting these emails it means you’ve signed up as a member of my brand new Seasonal Retreat community and I’m so happy you’re here. I’ve got such a lovely week of cosy seasonal activities lined up for us all.
It also feels very special to be kicking things off on the eve of a Full Moon, and not just any old Full Moon either; tomorrow’s moon is a Harvest Moon AND a Supermoon.
The Harvest Moon is the name of the the Full Moon that falls the closest to the Autumn Equinox. And the Supermoon bit means it’ll look bigger and brighter in the sky than a regular moon. It’ll also have slightly more gravitational pull than usual which means stronger lunar energy all round.
I’m feeling super energised by it and I hope you can all enjoy it this week too, wherever you are in the world.
Ok, so back to the retreat. Today I’m going to start with a dive into the magic and history of the Equinox, then I’ll give you your itinerary for the week as well as the link to the Retreat group chat.
I’ve also found us the perfect soundtrack to listen to this week which I’m slightly obsessed with. Skip to the end to grab that right now if you want to play it while reading this newsletter!
Right, let’s dive in shall we? I’m very glad to have your company this week as we step into the best season of all: Autumn.
What’s so special about the Autumn Equinox?
It’s no secret that Autumn is my all-time favourite season. I talk about it ALL the time. Harvest festivals, misty mornings, apple harvests, pumpkin season, crunchy autumn walks and cosy knitwear. Does it get any better?!
I have a theory that Autumn is the favourite season of all introverts, bookworms and daydreamers, of which there are many on Substack (hurrah!) So if this strikes a chord with you too, then welcome!
The Autumn Equinox is a beautiful festival that has a rich folklore history and it sits exactly halfway between the Summer and Winter Solstices, offering a calm moment of tranquility between these two extremes.
There are two equinoxes each year, one in Spring and one in Autumn and on this day there will be approximately 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night right across the world. It’s a rare moment of perfect balance in the year and in fact, the word equinox means ‘equal night’ from the Latin ‘equi’ (equal) and ‘nox’ (night)’.
Directly after each Equinox we then start to turn either towards the light or the dark. The Autumn Equinox marks the start of diminishing light (in the Northern Hemisphere) as we gently tip towards the dark half of the year and enter into cosy season.
But, that said, there is so much that is bright and busy about the Autumn Equinox; the colours, the flavours, the food. Harvest festivals are closely linked to the Autumn Equinox and are one of my all-time favourite things.
So, in a nutshell, the Equinox is a time to step into everything that is wonderful about Autumn, to look back on the past Summer with gratitude and to start the slow process of drawing inwards, taking a deep breath, and letting our shoulders drop as we welcome the start of cosy season.
Speaking of which, let’s all just stop reading for just a moment, take a deep breath and then physically let our shoulders drop. There you go. Feels better doesn’t it.
Ok, with all that in mind, let’s see what the week has in store.
The Itinerary
From today up until the Equinox on the 22nd I’ll be sending you a newsletter each morning with an Autumnal theme and activity to peruse at your own pace. Want to have a peek at the line-up? Here we go:
Day 1: Welcome
Day 2: Cosy Book Club (10 Books that feel like Autumn)
Day 3: Autumnal Baking (Pumpkin spice, apple and cinnamon, I’m looking at you)
Day 4: Autumn Folktales (Get comfy, it’s story time)
Day 5: Equinox Rebalancing Ritual (Light a candle and grab a notebook)
Day 6: Gather and Celebrate (It’s the Autumn Equinox, hurrah!)
Join the Autumn Retreat group chat
From today I’ve opened up a new chat in the chat section of the app just for members of the paid retreat community. This is a safe, private space for us all to connect and chat about all the best things about this time of year if we fancy it.
For those of you who actually quite like name badges and introductions, this is the place for that! You can post Autumnal photos, share playlists, ask for book recommendations or make friends; it’s your space to use however you like (as long as you’re polite and respectful with each other of course, which I know you all will be.)
Your Retreat Soundtrack
And finally, I’ve found us the perfect soundtrack to accompany this week’s reading. There’s a crackling fire, rain pattering on the roof and the sound of book pages being gently turned. There’s also a random crow call every now and again too, which makes me laugh.
You can just run this quietly in the background as you read or work this week and it’ll get you into the perfect cosy Autumn mindset. Enjoy! (I love the idea of all of us listening to the same sounds as we read our emails in companionable silence, all across the world.)
I’ll see you tomorrow for day two of our retreat where we’ll cosy up with some of the best books to read at this time of year.
Until then!
Vicky xx
If you want some extra reading, why not take a look at my archive post on Lunar Living and discover exactly what tomorrow’s Full Moon means in terms of how you might be feeling and acting.
Missed a day? You can catch up with all our Retreat activities on the Seasonal Retreat Members tab on my homepage. Enjoy.
Loved this first installment Vicky. This week of treats sounds wonderful.