Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Religious Events
Celebrating Balance at a Time That’s Out of Balance

Celebrating Balance at a Time That’s Out of Balance

Last updated on: September 17, 2025 at 3:00 am by John Beckett

0 Comments

Celebrating Balance at a Time That’s Out of Balance 2025-09-16T18:22:14-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

We learn it in the early days of Paganism 101: the equinoxes are a time of balance. Day and night are equal, the sun rises due east and sets due west, and the moderate temperatures remind us that we are at a pivot point between the receding summer and the coming winter (even though Texas is still plenty hot).

And so our Fall Equinox rituals often have balance as a central theme. Neither too much nor too little, neither too fast nor too slow, everything in moderation.

Did our ancestors celebrate the Fall Equinox as a time of balance? While virtually every agrarian society had some form of harvest festival or festivals, there’s no clear evidence they celebrated the Fall Equinox at all. “Mabon” is a late 20th century name for the festival and it’s fallen out of favor. I’m disappointed it hasn’t been replaced with a better name, but I’m fine with just calling it the Fall Equinox.

In any case, it’s unlikely our ancestors marked this as a time of balance. And that’s OK. The Wheel of the Year is a 20th century invention, and it’s stuck with us because it’s meaningful to us here and now.

Our contemporary world is moving and changing – socially, politically, environmentally, technologically, spiritually – at a rate unknown in any previous era of human existence. We cannot have the balance of our ancient ancestors who lived on the same land in the same ways for hundreds and thousands of years.

But we can have the balance of a skilled bicyclist who remains upright while navigating traffic and dodging obstacles at high speed.

Living in an unbalanced time

Except these days we aren’t just trying to ride our metaphorical bicycles through the middle of a busy city. We’re trying to ride them through an angry city with decaying infrastructure where a third of the people are actively trying to get rid of the people they don’t like, a third are just trying to make sure everyone has a place to sleep, and a third are oblivious to everything blowing up around them.

You don’t need me to list all the non-metaphorical ways our country and our world are out of balance and getting even less balanced all the time. We are still in Tower Time and we are not going to be done with it any time soon.

While I continue encouraging everyone to remain engaged citizens – and I do my best to remain engaged myself – I have little hope that we will restore any semblance of balance in 2026 (though we can certainly make it less worse). We can make a big step in the right direction in 2028, but our current situation cannot be repaired in one or two elections. Of course, it’s also possible that we’ll take another big step in the wrong direction.

And that makes it all the more important that we remain balanced ourselves.

In this out-of-balance time, we need to celebrate the time of balance.

Celebrating the Equinox connects us to Nature

Our ancestors may not have celebrated the Fall Equinox, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. Unlike the fire festivals of Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain, the solstices and the equinoxes are not human inventions. There was a Fall Equinox long before the first humans appeared on the plains of East Africa, and there will be a Fall Equinox long after the sun begins its death cycle and can no longer support life on Earth.

There are many ways to celebrate the Fall Equinox. Some are more Nature-oriented than others, but simply celebrating the Equinox reminds us that we are a part of Nature and its rhythms and cycles. It reminds us that whatever our differences, we are all the Children of the Earth. The Earth was here before us, and the Earth will be here long after this current imbalance has burned itself out.

Celebrating the Equinox connects us to our ancestors

I’m pretty sure my ancestors (those of the Christian era and those before) didn’t make offerings to their ancestors every Monday evening. But I do, because it keeps me connected to them.

Re-creating and reimagining our ancestors’ practices is a good way to honor them. But so is coming up with our own ways to honor them. Even if the Fall Equinox wasn’t a big deal in Iron Age Britain or Viking Age Iceland, we can still use it as an occasion to call their names, tell their stories, and pour libations in their honor. In doing so, we stay connected to them and we affirm our relationships with them as spiritual allies.

Celebrating the Equinox connects us to each other

The Wheel of the Year may not be an ancient concept, but modern Pagans have found it’s a great excuse to get together for a party every six or seven weeks. That’s a good thing, and at times like these it’s a necessary thing.

Like most groups across the religious and political spectrum, Denton CUUPS struggled with attendance at our rituals and other events in the post-pandemic era. Or at least, we did until this year. Starting with Imbolc – 12 days after the Inauguration – we’ve had progressively more people at our rituals. Many of them said things like “I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but I need to be with like-minded people.” And so witches and Druids and Heathens and people who just love Nature and mythology are coming together and building a community that can support each other a lot more than eight times a year.

For all that the explosion of Paganism from the 1990s forward was largely due to solitary practitioners, and for all that each of us must do our own spiritual work on a daily and monthly basis, there is still no substitute for the community that comes out of doing the same things in the same places at the same time.

Maintaining our balance, maintaining our identity

I don’t know what the social and political future will look like. What I see – and not just in the United States – concerns me deeply. Talk of “soft secession” sounds a lot like the “national divorce” we discussed – and that I strongly condemned – two years ago. Any hope for a quick turnaround depends on changing hearts and minds, and on persuading a lot of people that their votes matter. I’m not optimistic for either.

When the rest of the world becomes more and more unbalanced, it becomes all the more important that we maintain our own balance. We can’t control what’s going on around us, but we can control how we respond to it.

Maintain your spiritual practice. Maintain your relationships with your Gods, your ancestors, and the spirits of the land where you are. Strengthen your communities: online is good, in-person is better. If you don’t have some or all of those things, now’s the time to start working on them.

Celebrating the Fall Equinox will help you remember who you are, even as the world continues to spiral out of balance.

Religious Events

Foundations and Context

Previous Post

September 14, 2025

Serenity, Courage, Wisdom, and Will

Next Post

September 21, 2025 Spiritual Sources of our Current Troubles

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Concern about the attitude of Islam toward Pagans is not limited to the Trump Administration. ..."

Maureen Richmond

The Fear of Witchcraft

"Thank you for your much needed review of the Lucas Miles polemic. A key point ..."

Maureen Richmond

I Read Pagan Threat So You ..."

"A number of these are also available streaming through the Kanopy digital service, carried by ..."

C. Lee Vermeers

The Vampire Films of Jean Rollin

"Happy October!"

renniejoy

The Vampire Films of Jean Rollin

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Jewish festival celebrates deliverance from Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Passover Purim Tabernacles Pentecost