Yellowing Month.
Moving indoors, garden furniture goes away and chimneys are cleaned ready for the fires to be lit.
Time of snowberries, mushrooms nuts & apples
Housemartins migrate, owls duet
Winter geese, swans and other visiting winter birds return
wind swirls through fallen leaves
Sun in Libra until 22nd time to find balance & harmony
1st Slipping into Autumn – overnight the air temperature has dropped and the earth is scattered with yellowing leaves. I dig out my fleece and boots, not quite ready to let go of my sandals but starting to feel the draw towards warmer items of clothing.
8th Hán lù Chinese Season of Cold Dew
- 鴻雁來賓, ‘The guest geese arrive’ – Geese which completed their migration in summer were considered ‘hosts’, and the later-flying ones as ‘guests’. This pentad can also be interpreted as ‘The geese arrive at the water’s edge’.
- 雀入大水為蛤, ‘The sparrows enter the ocean and become clams’ where they were thought to hibernate over winter due to their similar stripes and colours
- 菊有黃華, ‘Chrysanthemums bloom yellow’ – the chrysanthemum is known as one of the few flowers to bloom in autumn.
10th New Moon in Libra
22nd Sun in Scorpio
23rd Chinese season of Shuang Jiang – Descent of Frost
Shuang” (霜) means “frost,” and “Jiang” (降) means “to descend” or “to arrive.” “Shuangjiang” means: the weather grows colder, and the first frost appears.
Frost’s Descent is the last solar term of autumn and serves as a “transitional station” between autumn and winter. Once Frost’s Descent passes, the Start of Winter follows. There is a folk saying: “Frost’s Descent kills all grasses” — meaning that after this solar term, plants wither and the earth begins to take on a desolate appearance.
| First Pentad (Approx. Oct 23–27) |
豺乃祭獸 | Jackals (wild dogs) make offerings of beasts” | Carnivores like jackals hunt aggressively to stockpile food for the winter, a behavior ancient people likened to arranging sacrificial offerings. |
| Second Pentad (Approx. Oct 28–Nov 1) |
草木黃落 | “Plants yellow and shed leaves” | Driven by freezing overnight temperatures and sudden cold snaps, the last remaining green leaves wither, turn yellow, and drop. |
| Third Pentad (Approx. Nov 2–7) |
蟄蟲咸俯 | “All hibernating insects go dormant” | Insects completely retreat into their burrows and enter a deep winter dormancy to survive the impending freeze. |
& Sun moves into Scorpio allowing us to transform & connect
Last week of the month leaf blaze and final apple picking
25th BST ends clocks go back by one hour at 2am
26th Full Moon in Taurus Medieval- Blood moon, Native American- Hunter moon.
Winterfylleth, or the “winter full moon,” because, according to Bede,
winter was said to begin on the first full moon in October.
31st Samhain Halloween – equivalent of 9pm on the 24hour wheel, we
enter the dark quarter of the year, the time of candles and firelight from now
until February Imbolc, Candlemas, Chinese New Year.
