When the Wheels Collide

Since I'll be bringing the Wheel of the Year into some of these monthly blogs, we should probably talk about what it actually is first.

The Wheel of the Year is a modern Pagan framework built around eight seasonal festivals, commonly called Sabbats: Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, Mabon, and Samhain.

Together, they follow the Earth's seasonal rhythm through periods of rest, awakening, growth, abundance, harvest, decline, death, and eventually renewal.

And that's what I love about the Wheel. It doesn't treat endings as failures. An ending is simply part of a larger cycle.

September brings us to the Autumn Equinox, commonly called Mabon in modern Pagan traditions. Around the equinox, day and night reach approximately equal length. Afterward, darkness begins taking up more of the day as we move toward winter.

So there is both balance and transition happening at the same time. Nature is basically saying: We've grown. We've produced. Now let's see what we actually have.

That brings me directly to the Tarot card I chose for September: The Wheel of Fortune.

The Wheel of Fortune is Card X of the Major Arcana and represents cycles, timing, turning points, opportunity, fate, and circumstances that can change beyond our control.

But I think we sometimes oversimplify this card into “good luck is coming.” Sure. Sometimes it absolutely can mean that. But fortune isn't only random luck.

The X, or Ten, is the number of completion, transition, and endings. It marks the point where a cycle has reached its fullest expression and is ready to turn into something new. In the Wheel of Fortune, this doesn't necessarily mean a final or permanent ending. Instead, it often suggests that circumstances are shifting, one chapter is closing, and another is beginning.

The creatures surrounding the Wheel of Fortune add another layer to this message. At the top sits the sphinx, holding a sword and watching from above. The sphinx represents wisdom, discernment, and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift. September asks us to take that same position: to pause at the point of transition and honestly assess what we’ve learned, what we’ve harvested, and what we’re carrying into the next season.

On the right side of the Wheel, the serpent descends. It is often associated with Typhon, a force of destruction, chaos, and necessary change. The serpent reminds us that not every turn of the Wheel feels like an opportunity. Sometimes the Wheel carries us downward, stripping away comfort, certainty, or control. But descent is not always punishment. In September, it can represent the natural decline of the growing season, the release of what has completed its purpose, and the beginning of a necessary period of rest.

At the bottom is Hermanubis, the figure with the jackal’s head, rising with the Wheel. He combines Hermes, associated with movement, messages, and transitions, with Anubis, the Egyptian guide of the dead. His presence speaks to thresholds: the space between what has ended and what is beginning. He reminds us that change can be disorienting, but we are not necessarily lost simply because we are between destinations.

Together, these creatures show us that the Wheel is not only about luck. It is about how we meet change. The sphinx asks us to use wisdom. The serpent asks us to release what cannot continue. Hermanubis asks us to trust the transition enough to keep moving.

That is deeply September energy. We are standing between abundance and decline, between the brightness of summer and the increasing darkness of autumn. The season is not asking us to cling to what was or rush toward what comes next. It is asking us to recognize where we are on the Wheel and respond accordingly. The wisdom is knowing that every position is temporary.

For our ancestors, autumn preparation wasn't an aesthetic. It was survival.

Much like Aesop’s classic fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” imagine two people approaching winter. One spends the harvest season gathering food, preserving what they can, and repairing their shelter, while the other sings, dances, enjoys the sunshine, and insists there will be plenty of time to prepare later. When winter arrives, the first is warm and well-fed, while the other quickly discovers that sunny memories and good intentions cannot replace preparation. The lesson isn’t that we should never rest, celebrate, or enjoy the season we’re in. It’s that pleasure and preparation both have their season, and ignoring one can completely change how we experience the next turn of the Wheel.

Winter still arrives for both of them. The Wheel turns exactly the same way, but their experience of that turn is completely different.

You cannot control every change coming into your life, but you can influence how prepared you are when change arrives. Sometimes “good fortune” is being prepared when an opportunity finally appears. Sometimes what we call bad luck is a change revealing something we ignored for too long.

Agricultural communities depended on successful harvests, food preservation, storage, and preparation for periods when crops wouldn't grow as easily. Harvest traditions naturally became intertwined with religion and spirituality because people's survival depended heavily on forces they couldn't completely control: weather, fertility, rainfall, disease, and the changing seasons.

People prayed. They made offerings. They thanked their gods. They celebrated successful harvests.

Spirituality and preparation are not opposites.

You can pray for abundance and still create a budget. You can manifest an opportunity and still prepare yourself to receive it. You can ask your ancestors for protection and still lock the door.

This connection between spirituality, preparation, and harvest is nothing new. The ancient Greeks saw these forces reflected in Demeter, goddess of agriculture, grain, fertility, and the harvest.

Demeter was not simply a goddess of abundance. Her mythology reminds us that abundance itself moves in cycles. Her story is intertwined with her daughter Persephone, whose descent into the Underworld brings Demeter into grief and the earth into barrenness. Persephone’s eventual return restores fertility and growth, creating a powerful story of abundance, loss, rest, and renewal.

That makes Demeter especially fitting for September. She represents the moment when we understand that having a harvest also means knowing when to gather it. The field cannot stay ripe forever. Eventually, what has grown must be collected, what has finished must be released, and the earth must be allowed to rest.

Her mysteries were honored in the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries, where themes of agriculture, death, renewal, and the cycles of life held deep spiritual significance.

This brings us right back to both of our Wheels.

The Wheel of the Year shows this cycle happening in nature. The Wheel of Fortune shows it happening in our own lives. Demeter stands between them as a reminder that abundance is not something we possess forever. It is something we recognize, gather, appreciate, and eventually allow to transform.

Which brings us to the question September has been quietly asking this entire time:

This is the exact moment where the Autumn Equinox and Tarot’s Wheel of Fortune collide, and suddenly, things get very personal.

Mabon marks the seasonal halfway point of balance, gratitude, and gathering what we’ve grown before the frost sets in. It forces a pause to ask a simple, slightly uncomfortable question: What has this year actually produced?

Not what you hoped would grow. Not what you’ve been aggressively manifesting while staring at bare dirt. What is actually standing in your field right now?

Take an honest inventory of your personal Wheel:

The Genuine Yield: What choices, habits, or risks from earlier this year finally paid off? Whether it's a financial win, a thriving relationship, or newfound confidence, claim your harvest before the window passes.

The Failed Crops: Sometimes the harvest isn’t abundance. It’s information. Admitting that a project, habit, or dynamic failed is just as valuable as celebrating a win.

The Dead Plants: What are you still desperately watering even though it dried up three months ago? Letting go of a dead venture is just good composting for next spring.

The Wheel of the Year proves that every season has an expiration date, while the Wheel of Fortune reminds us that life’s cycles will spin whether we feel ready or not.

As the season turns, look across your field with clear eyes: What are you ready to celebrate, what are you finally ready to compost, and what are you packing to carry into the cold months ahead?

This section is here to support the energy of your spiritual practice as the season turns. Use these colors, herbs, and crystals as intentional allies for grounding, protection, abundance, release, and preparation. You do not need to use every item listed; choose what resonates with you and let your intention guide how you work with it.

Gold — abundance, harvest, success

Brown — grounding, stability, connection to the earth

Rosemary — protection, remembrance, purification

Cinnamon — prosperity, warmth, movement

Citrine — abundance, confidence, personal power

Smoky Quartz — grounding, protection, release

Think of these allies as small anchors for September’s energy. Whether you place one on your altar, carry it with you, add it to a ritual, or simply keep its meaning in mind, let it remind you of what this season is asking for: ground yourself, protect what matters, gather what has grown, and prepare for the next turn of the Wheel.

We’ve followed the Wheel through nature, Tarot, ancient wisdom, and finally our own personal harvest. Now it’s time to bring all of that energy out of the page and into something you can actually do. This simple Equinox brew turns September’s themes of gratitude, preparation, release, and abundance into a small ritual you can hold in your hands.

Real magic doesn’t need a midnight graveyard run or a trunk full of rare herbs. Sometimes the most potent magic happens right at your kitchen counter.

Brew a dark cup of coffee or robust black tea, and invite the spirits of the harvest into your mug with clear intention. Use the dark roast or tea base to anchor the raw vitality and endurance you’ll need for the darker half of the year. Stir in a dash of cinnamon to stoke the fires of prosperity and swift momentum, then finish with a drizzle of honey or maple syrup to honor the golden sweetness of every blessing already harvested.

Stir your brew clockwise three times to draw in abundance and forward motion. As the spoon turns, anchor your focus on three specific truths: one strength or lesson you grew this year, one victory ready to be reaped, and one transition you need to prepare for next.

Breathe in the steam, set your intention, and seal the working:

“Blessed am I for what I have sown,

Gently I release what no longer is my own,

I am prepared for what comes next with open arms,

As the Wheel turns I claim what’s mine.”

Now drink your brew down to the last drop. Magic is alive in the mundane. Claim your harvest and let the Wheel spin in your favor, here's to September's blessings!