How to Celebrate the Autumn Equinox With Seasonal Rituals

The autumn equinox marks a pivotal moment in the year, when the hours of daylight and darkness fall into perfect symmetry, offering a moment of cosmic balance. In 2025, it falls on September 22 in the northern hemisphere, ushering in a time of harvest, reflection, and preparation for the cozier months ahead.

While many cultures around the world have long celebrated this threshold with unique rituals that honor both abundance and release in the days leading up to winter, today’s rituals capture a more contemporary perspective on the seasonal shift. From preserving parties to capture the flavors of autumn, to creating a sacred home altar as a grounding practice, these rituals will help you bring the sacred into this seasonal shift.

Here, find Vogue’s guide to unique ways to celebrate the autumn equinox.

Host a Pickling and Preserving Party

The equinox is a moment to savor abundance while preparing for leaner days ahead. Celebrate by inviting friends to join a pickling and preserving party, where you can bottle jams, pickle produce, or ferment seasonal greens around a table lined with autumnal fruits and vegetables like figs, squash, apples, and wild mushrooms. Beyond sustainability, this ritual is reminiscent of ancient customs of preserving food to carry communities through winter.

Originally from Mexico and now based in Denmark, Noma’s head chef Pablo Soto suggests setting the table with glass jars, brine or sugar, and a spread of peak-season produce to turn preserving into a communal feast. “You can pickle chilies, mushrooms, berries, or herbs, and the best part is opening one of those jars later in the season,” he says. “It’s like rediscovering the moment you picked them, a way of sharing a little bite of the past in the present.”

Build Your Equinox Altar

Balance is at the heart of all equinox traditions. At home, style a surface with candles framed by foraged leaves, nuts, or berries. This altar honors the equilibrium of light and dark, offering both a symbolic centerpiece and a grounding daily ritual. Place intentions, notes, or personal tokens on the altar to remind yourself of what you’re releasing and what you’re inviting in.

For Sofía Rivera García Granados, founder of Mexico City-based floral brand Artistería, the autumn equinox is a moment to turn walks into rituals. “I love gathering small treasures like fallen petals, seeds, wild grasses, or pebbles and weaving them into an altar,” she says. “I often include flowers with meaning: cempasúchil for light and remembrance, chrysanthemums for resilience, and lots of roses for love and renewal. Placing these seasonal findings around candles feels like creating a personal garden of balance: a space where nature, intention, and the shifting light of the season converge.”

Visit Your Ancestors’ Graves with Seasonal Offerings

For many cultures, the equinox is a traditional time to visit the graves of loved ones. For those who observe this tradition, many will bring along offerings of flowers, fruits, or candles, symbols of continuity between past and present, but Paige Curtin, spell specialist at HausWitch Home + Healing in Salem, Massachusetts, suggests a way to make this ritual even more personal.

“Offerings like flowers are a beautiful way to honor an ancestor’s grave, but I especially recommend bringing an object to your ancestors’ graves that means something special to you and them, too,” says Curtin. “If your grandma took her coffee black with three sugars, bringing that to her grave is an even more magical way to honor her and the autumn equinox.”

Consult Oracle or Tarot Cards

Threshold moments invite divination, making the equinox the perfect night to host a tarot or oracle gathering. Invite friends over for an autumn-inspired party to interpret spreads focused on release, balance, and renewal. In many traditions, this is considered a traditional time to glimpse the season ahead.

“Start by creating a safe, inclusive space for each person to share about their life: what’s working, what isn’t, what’s out of balance,” says Jenn Kosh, an archetypal astrologist and tarot reader. “After setting an intention for what you d like to experience in the upcoming cycle, keep it simple by pulling three tarot or oracle cards: one to represent the energy of the season that’s passing, one that marks the threshold of change and possibility present at the autumn equinox, and one to help support your new direction. Talk with each other about the images, symbols and stories of the cards and see what secret desires, specific guidance and much needed truth are revealed.” Kosh shares that your card reading can serve as an intuitive road map for months to come and recommends checking in with the group (and the cards) at the December solstice to see how each person’s life story has moved forward since the equinox.

Take a Moonlight Bath Under the Equinox Sky

There are traditional baths, and then there are moon baths: taking in the glow of the moon while outdoors. In the cover of night, wrap yourself in a blanket, step outdoors, and bask in the moon s glow. Some traditions say moon bathing cleanses stagnant energy, helping you align with the cosmic balance of light and dark. For added intention, place offerings nearby, such as seasonal flowers, apples, or candles, to echo both harvest customs and the moon festival.

If you do have a bathtub, you can even take your ritual up a notch by taking an actual bath following your ritual. “The autumn equinox is a time of honoring balance, and balance is healing,” says Deborah Hanekamp of Mama Medicine, author of Ritual Baths. “Make your bath an autumnal ritual with salt, a rose quartz crystal, a pot of calendula tea, and a blessing, which can immerse you in the energy of feeling at ease with what is."

Host a Starlight Harvest Picnic

From China’s Mid-Autumn Festival to Greece’s Thesmophoria honoring the harvest season and goddesses Demeter and Persephone, the equinox marks the perfect time to host a moonlit gathering. Spread blankets outdoors, light the evening with lanterns or candles, and invite friends to share reflections for the season ahead over a glass of natural wine, cider, or tea. The result is a celestial feast that honors the harvest, connects you to global equinox rituals, and turns a simple night under the stars into a communal rite of renewal.

“Think of it like a chic potluck,” says Carolyn Brown, nutritionist and co-founder of Indigo Wellness Group, who suggests serving seasonal fruits like pomegranates, grapes, figs, and apples alongside sourdough breads, cheeses, and preserves. “Ask each friend to bring a food from a different category or cuisine, and make sure they’re easy to eat and picnic friendly. As a nutritionist, nourishment is about food, of course, but it’s just as much about the people and the experiences that fill you up and nourish your soul. Aim for both during your harvest picnic.”

Honor the Seasonal Shift with Your Wardrobe

As the equinox ushers in fall, consider shifting your wardrobe by swapping your bathing suits, linens, and sandals for cozy cashmere and wool sweaters and staples like leather boots and silk scarves. If you make this an intentional transition, it can mirror the changing landscape: the shedding of leaves and shifting of seasons to create space for the new.

“As you switch out your summer clothes with your winter clothes, shake them out and burn sage or palo santo to energetically cleanse and clear your wardrobe before storing it,” says Valerie Oula, the director of vibrational energy healing at The Well in New York City. “Make it a ritual by taking a moment to give thanks for everything you’ve received and enjoyed this summer. When you bring out your fall clothes, repeat the ritual as the sacred smoke rises, setting an intention for all you’re ready to welcome with autumn.”