AUTUMN EQUINOX Ancient Spiritual Meaning | FALL traditions, rituals, celebrations & sites

A stunning deep dive into the traditions, ancient sites, and myths of the fall / autumn equinox from around the world that uncovers their deeper spiritual meaning and relevance today.

The autumn equinox is a time when day and night are equal, but after which the nights become longer than the days, and darkness becomes greater than light. It was celebrated by ancient peoples for millennia and is still one of the most celebrated religious times of year today.

Why is the autumn equinox such an important religious event and what is its spiritual meaning? To answer these questions, I delve into its celebration throughout history.

I explore the autumn equinox tradition of Durga Puja in India, which is celebrated by over a billion people, and the Persian festival of Mehregan. I also look at the meaning of the legend of the Minotaur, the Eleusinian Mysteries, the descent of the feathered serpent Kukulkan/Quetzalcoatl, the hanging of the Norse god Odin on the world tree, the journey of the Egyptian sun god Ra, and the crucifixion of Jesus, which are all connected to the fall equinox.

I explore the alignments of some of the world's most enigmatic sacred sites to the autumn equinox to interpret their symbolic, spiritual meaning, including the Great Pyramid and Sphinx Temple in Egypt, Ahu Akivi in Easter Island, the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent in Mexico (El Castillo at Chichen Itza), and the Palace of Knossos in Crete.

I also explore one of the main themes of the autumn equinox, which is the worship of a great spiritual Mother Goddess.

I uncover how the beliefs and traditions of the autumn equinox are connected across cultures, and how celebrating the equinox was an important component of an ancient religion of the sun that spread to different parts of the world in prehistory.

As part of this video, I discuss some original theories put forward by myself and my husband Mark including:
- How the autumn equinox reveals the important role that darkness plays in life and creation.
- How the annual journey of the sun was used in ancient religions to symbolize the path to enlightenment (our Sacred Sun Path Theory).
- The symbolism of autumn equinox alignments at the Great Pyramids and Sphinx Temple in Egypt, Ahu Akivi in Easter Island, Chichen Itza in Mexico and Knossos in Greece, which encode a spiritual meaning connected to the theme of descent on the path of enlightenment, to confront one’s own inner darkness, before being spiritually reborn.
- That these ancient sites and traditions were connected as part of a now lost religion we call the Religion of the Sun.
- The origin of dragon and serpent slaying myths and how their symbolism was seen by the ancients in the stars.
- The deeper meaning in the pattern of descending into the earth, underworld, matter, body, tomb, subconscious and womb which can be found in the life of sun gods such as Ra, Rama, Odin, Jesus, and Osiris.
- An interpretation of the story of Theseus, Ariadne, the Minotaur and the labyrinth and how it likely derives from Minoan initiatory rites conducted on the autumn equinox.

We first published these ideas between 2011 and 2016 and they can be found in more detail in our book Ancient Solstice which discusses the spiritual meaning of the fall/autumn equinox and ancient sites aligned to it, as well as how to celebrate it: https://sakrosawel.com/ancient-solstice/

NOTE ABOUT ATTRIBUTING OUR WORK The information in this video is the culmination of years of work and research. It contains our unique interpretations of ancient sites and traditions. If you like it and want to share it, do not plagiarize it! Please share the video, and give us due credit as the source.

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This video is part of a series about the spiritual meaning of the solstices and equinoxes. You can watch the other videos in this series here:

Winter solstice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRhU-bw0gPI
Spring equinox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLdf5jW9IhQ
Summer solstice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_2Tn7esH10
Autumn equinox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq563eFbFZo

My website: https://sakrosawel.com/

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Contents of this video:
Introduction 00:00
What is the fall/autumn equinox? 01:55
Symbols of the equinox 02:59
Journey of the sun god 03:47
Autumn equinox traditions 06:19
Sites with fall equinox alignments 10:49
Great Pyramid Symbolism 12:18
Sphinx Temple Meaning 18:18
Ahu Akivi Alignments 21:53
El Castillo Solar Serpent 23:45
Palace of Knossos Significance 27:50
Death, Descent, Jesus & Odin 34:59
Meaning & Purpose of Darkness 39:26
Conclusion 42:52