Here is the video we’ve just released about the autumn equinox, which is in a few days (in the Northern Hemisphere). This is the fourth video in the series we’ve been making about the ancient spiritual meaning of the solstices and equinoxes – this one focuses on the ancient spiritual meaning of the autumn equinox.
It takes a visually rich deep dive into the traditions, ancient sites, and myths of the fall / autumn equinox to uncover 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 travel through the many sites and festivals connected to it across the world.
I explore the autumn equinox tradition of Durga Puja in India, which is celebrated by over a billion people, and the ancient 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 explain 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. I also explore the role and symbolism of the mother goddess, and of darkness, death and descent, as represented by the autumn equinox.
This video is part of a series about the spiritual meaning of the solstices and equinoxes, which is based on our book Ancient Solstice. 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
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Once again, the team and I just finished this video in time for the autumn equinox by putting in some big hours in the last couple of weeks. Everyone involved did such a fantastic job. There is a lot of work that goes into making these longer style doco videos with their hundreds of images, illustrations, and 3D graphics – not to mention all the research, music, filming, editing etc. But it’s worth it, as it’s really something special to see these ancient sites and mysteries brought back to life.
Jon did a superb job of editing everything together. David did a wonderful job of organizing all the images and clips and creating some of the AI images. Dara also made some of the AI images. Together Dara and David brought Minoan priestesses back to life! Dara also recreated the beautiful alignment of the Great Pyramid’s descending passage to the North Star. Julian did another brilliant job of doing the 3D graphics, which allowed us to travel across the world to different ancient sites, and to witness the alignments of the Sphinx Temple and Ahu Akivi. Together, Julian and David did the diagram of the Great Pyramid’s alignment to Alcyone and Thuban. Lucia composed the poignant quote images. Jenny created the true-to-life still of the Sphinx Temple equinox alignment, and cleared the images/clips we needed. And last but not least, Jenny and Jordan put the mighty list of credits together.
It’s been a big project to make these videos about the ancient spiritual meaning of the four solstices and equinoxes, but we finally made it, and I think it’s such an important contribution to the world’s understanding of the ancient celebration of these times of year. I hope they serve as educational resources for many years to come.
Thank you to those of you who’ve supported Mark and I, and the team at the publisher to be able to complete this project – though we’ll be continuing to make videos about these times of year. There is still much to say, as they were the most important days in the ancient world.
Wishing you a very meaningful equinox.
Thank you Lara, I wish to everyone an inspired equinox!!
I think that experience really felt like myself falling into a period of darkness or cold winter, and coming out of it having a better understanding on certain things. I believe that was part of my personal journey, and I thought I should share them because it may have some relevance to the topic of this video. The way I like to describe my experience is literally “I fell, and I came back up. ” The nightmares I had on Yomi and the Yokais likely didn’t represent anything related to death,since I wasn’t facing anything life-threatening situation. But more likely represented the state of being I was in at the day. When I got through it I was like “I came out of it”.
Another piece of great work that Lara and her team have done! As always, I really appreciate the efforts being put into making such ancient knowledge available to us and easy to understand! This video resonates with me personally in particular because there used to be a period of time in my life where I was facing great difficulties, it was definitely not a pleasant experience to deal with them, and I had to face a lot of negative emotions such as anxiety and depression,I also suffered from insomnia which could be a really mentally painful experience, there were times where I had nightmares of going to somewhere I believed to be Yomi(the underworld in Japanese mythology), and I saw some horrible things like Yokais. I thought I had these nightmares simply because I was in such a negative state of mind at the time that’s why I dreamt about these things,but after watching this video I think there might had been a deeper meaning to that. During that time it was definitely very hard for me and I remembered I had very little positive spiritual experience, it seemed as if all spiritual lights had withdrawn from me. I cannot describe how difficult for me it was to try to go through this period of great disturbance and difficulty, there were moments that I just felt helpless, and thought to myself that the end of the world was coming. When I finally got through this I felt stronger as a person and I came to understand things which I didn’t know before. Now thinking back to it I feel that it might not had been coincidental or was just some random events that I went through, but more like some kind of test that I had been put through for me to learn and grow. There were times where I questioned the seemingly negative aspects of life as well as existence, but now I think they all have a purpose. At this time of the year,where the days are getting shorter and weather getting colder, I think it’s a good opportunity to reflect on the meaning and purposes of darkness,the seemingly negative aspects of existence. It is only by defeating your inner darkness can you learn and grow. A great takeaway from contemplating on the spiritual meaning of the fall equinox!
There is still a lot that could be discussed about this particular experience of mine. However many of the details regarding it are personal therefore I prefer keeping them to myself. But in this experience I know the negative emotions such as the anxiety and depression I faced was stemmed from a crack or flaw within my own personality that I had,and this period of time the circumstances around just brought me face to face with my own weakness and vulnerability. I was aware that this flaw inside of me had been with me for a long time, but it was during that time where I had to face it like an inner enemy to be defeated. If my imperfection was buried deep down within me before,then it was being brought out fully and I had to fight it. After getting overr this time of difficulty in my life I felt that I had a better understanding of myself and how to better deal with these flaws in my own mind.
I also kinda realized that these dark part of my Self are not actually part of who I really am(I don’t know if this description makes sense), but rather something that could be conquered. It was indeed more of an inner battle with myself more than anything else, and I’m just glad that I was able to come out of it having a better understanding of things.
I watched this video a few more times and felt that it truly resonates with me and the message definitely speaks to me on a deeper level. I think the battle with the darkness within oneself describes it really well. Although I still don’t quite understand what is the Spiritual Mother goddess and what does she represent in this.
Thank you so much, grateful and inspired to learn more.
Wonderful. I am so looking forward to watching this video. Thank you to everyone involved, especially Mark and Lara. I will be in the southern hemisphere and celebrating the spring equinox though I wonder if the Autumn equinox in someway still applies to us living this side of the equator? Due to the alignment of the north pole star with the north pole, I wonder if the energies of the planet are dictated by the northern hemisphere as I’ve heard the unique energies of Christmas emanate through the whole planet and not just the northern hemisphere at the December Solstice. Could it be the same for all equinoxes and solstices in someway are dictated by what is happening more so in the north?