At the Fall Equinox, we celebrate the cooler days and the bright colors of the season, as the trees prepare for winter shedding their summer dresses. The ceremony in the fall is called the "Bush Feast" and is a time when the people go through their personal belongings and empty out - getting rid of items that have lain around. Anything that has not been used over the past year is given or thrown away. There is a huge fire prepared where people can come and burn old belongings - recycling the energy. When we clear out the closets of the past, we are creating space for something new to come into our lives.

It is good at this time of year to journal extensively, after meditation and deep introspection. Get in touch with your feelings and identify your fears as well as your desires. Yona gives us the gifts of introspection, and assimilation. Here we can assess our growth over the past seasons, and we can acknowledge where we haven't done as well as we'd like, and we can take the time to reach out to those people who have been important in our lives over the past year. Give thanksgiving and appreciation to all who have been a force in our lives: even those who we experienced as "opposition" brought us insights and teachings, if we were open to see it. Now, is the time to assimilate that information and use it to push ourselves to new growth. The Bear has no enemy except Man. Yet it represents the both the extremes of great strength and gentleness. The bear can swipe a life out with its paw, or it can cut through the nettles with its claw, and allow the fragile butterfly to dance on its paw. Yona is the place of the Feminine Warrior. Some days the Bear gets you, and some days you get the Bear. But every day, at sunset, we have the opportunity to express our appreciation for the gifts of the day - and in keeping that perspective, we exhibit the virtues of the Bear: Strength in the Beauty Way.

The Sun Wheel