The Autumn Equinox 🍂

Here’s how the equinox—specifically the Autumn (or Spring, depending on your hemisphere) Equinox—relates to tarot, both symbolically and practically. Use or adapt this however it fits your needs.

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What is the Equinox

• The equinox is one of the cardinal points of the year—twice annually—when day and night are nearly equal in length. (Tarot.com)

• In the Northern Hemisphere, the September equinox marks the turning toward autumn: light begins to fade, nights lengthen, and there's a sense of harvest and preparation. (Girl and Her Moon)

• Spiritually & psychologically, it’s a time of balance, of reviewing what has been, what remains, what needs letting go, and what to bring forward. (Girl and Her Moon)

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How the Equinox Resonates with Tarot

Here are ways the equinox energy aligns beautifully with tarot’s structure and symbolism:

Equinox Theme	Tarot Parallels
Balance of light & dark	Cards like Temperance, which literally depict combining or harmonizing two vessels. Or Justice, when depicted as seeking balance. Also Major Arcana cards with strong dualities (Moon vs Sun; Judgment; Death & Rebirth).
Threshold / Transition	The movement between seasons echoes many Major Arcana themes: The World (completion), The Wheel of Fortune (turning points), Death (ending & transformation), The Fool (new beginnings).
Harvest & Reaping	Suit of Pentacles / Coins, Empress, or Ace-Pentacles might speak to what has been sown, nurtured, the fruits of effort. Cards that show growth, prosperity, gratitude.
Release & Letting Go	Themes found in Death, the Tower, or cards that invert growth to show decay or farewell. Also minor arcana cards that suggest endings or pruning (e.g. Five of Cups, Ten of Swords) can appear.
Preparation for inner work / rest	Hanged Man (sacrifice, stillness), Hermit (introspection), High Priestess (inner knowing) — cards that encourage looking inward.

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How to WORK WITH TAROT Tonight / On This Equinox

You might use the equinox for a special tarot ritual or reading. Here are suggestions:

1. Equinox Spread
   Pull a small spread (3-5 cards) with positions such as:

   • What has been harvested (what’s complete or abundant)

   • What needs to be released

   • What needs tending or is ready to grow next

   • Guidance for the coming season

2. Reflective Journaling + Tarot
   After pulling cards, journal how the images relate to your own life: what you’ve done, what you’re letting go of, what you’re stepping toward.

3. Balance Ritual
   Use cards as part of a ritual of alignment: perhaps set up a balance altar (light/dark, seeds/harvest etc.), and lay out oracle or tarot cards to consecrate the shift.

4. Intention Setting
   Use this moment of natural equilibrium to set intentions for the darker months ahead: spiritual, creative, emotional goals.

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Poetic/Evocative Notes (for Phantasmagoria Deck Integration)

Here are some thematic images & ideas:

• The equinox is like the pivot in a phantom show, when the light and shadow curtains part equally. In my deck, perhaps certain cards feel more luminous or more shadow-hung, depending on whose turn in the wheel they occupy.

• The threshold between summer’s glow and autumn’s dusk: in artwork, I might use colors that blend warmth and cooling—gold fading into violet, bright sunflowers giving way to falling leaves.

• A spectral procession of what has grown and what must be left behind; the minor arcana can show small ghosts of habits, relationships, projects, and the Major Arcana the larger phantoms of identity, death, rebirth.

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Custom equinox spread in the style of my Phantasmagoria Deck:

Here’s a Phantasmagoria-themed Equinox Spread you could use tonight, or later adapt for your personal use. I’ve given it a theatrical, lantern-show atmosphere to echo my deck’s theme:

 **The Lantern’s Balance: An Equinox Spread (5 cards)**

1. The First Flame (Harvest)

   – What have I gathered?

   – The bright gift or fruition of the past season that lights my way now.

2. The Waning Glow (Release)

   – What has burned its course?

   – That which I must allow to fade, like an image dissolving back into shadow.

3. The Shadow Curtain (Hidden Work)

   – What lies in the half-light?

   – The unseen task or inner truth awaiting my acknowledgment.

4. The Returning Flame (Balance)

   – How do I reconcile light and dark within myself?

   – The card that shows me how to carry equilibrium into the next turning.

5. The Final Illumination (Guidance Forward)

   – What lantern do I carry into the coming season?

   – The wisdom or vision to guide me through the months ahead.

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 Ritual Frame (optional) 🖼️ 

* Light two candles, one white/gold (day) and one dark/indigo (night).

* Place the spread between them, like a stage.

* As you turn each card, imagine it projected as a phantasm upon the veil between light and dark.

Alright—here’s a **sample Equinox reading** using the *Lantern’s Balance Spread*. I’ll “draw” cards as if from your *Phantasmagoria Deck*, and interpret them in a poetic, atmospheric tone so you can feel how it might read in practice.

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*The Lantern’s Balance: Sample Equinox Reading*

1. The First Flame (Harvest) — Nine of Pentacles

A figure stands in a walled garden, surrounded by ripened fruit and the song of a caged bird. This card whispers: you have created stability, cultivated a patch of beauty that is yours. The harvest here is self-reliance and artistry—proof that your devotion has grown into something tangible.

2. The Waning Glow (Release) — Five of Cups

The vision shifts to a cloaked figure, gazing at spilled chalices. The equinox asks you to let go of regret, of the phantoms of what could have been. Mourning has its place, but the light fades on this sorrow. The curtain falls; what remains must be released so the unspilled cups can shine.

3. The Shadow Curtain (Hidden Work) — The Moon

A procession of strange beasts moves beneath a pale, shimmering moon. Here lies the unseen work: to walk the uncertain path of intuition, even when the mind craves clarity. Illusion and truth mingle like lantern-smoke—your task is to embrace mystery, to navigate by feeling, not proof.

4. The Returning Flame (Balance) — Temperance

An angel pours liquid from one chalice to another, endlessly blending. Balance is not stillness, but the act of harmonizing, again and again. Light into dark, fire into water, shadow into flame. You find equilibrium not by choosing one side, but by holding both and letting them flow into each other.

5. The Final Illumination (Guidance Forward) — The Hermit

A solitary figure holds a lantern against the deepening night. This is the flame you carry forward: wisdom born of solitude, the ability to walk ahead with your own light. The Hermit reminds you that guidance does not always come from others—it flickers within, quiet but unwavering.

 

The spread, read as a whole, feels like a journey through the hall of phantoms: from the lush garden of what you’ve grown, through the dissolving images of sorrow, into the dream-lit path of the Moon, tempered by the angel’s steady hands, and finally toward the solitary lantern of the Hermit. The equinox here is a threshold—where harvest and release meet, and where your next season is illuminated by your own flame.

🔥