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Welcome to our Harmony In Nature September Equinox Edition. To ensure you receive our emails without issue, please add katieandjo@harmonyinnature.uk to your ‘safe sender’ list.

🌿 September brings us to the threshold between summer and autumn, with the Autumn Equinox marking a fleeting moment of balance between daylight and darkness. Hedgerows are laden with berries, conkers and acorns begin to fall, fungi emerge from the woodland floor and leaves gradually take on their autumn hues. It is a season of transition and abundance, inviting us to notice what nature has brought to fruition whilst gently preparing for the quieter months ahead.

🌳 In this Equinox edition, we celebrate the changing season and share some of what has been happening at Harmony In Nature, alongside inspiration for connecting more deeply with the natural world. We’ll also bring you details of our forthcoming gatherings and opportunities to experience the restorative benefits of spending time consciously immersed in nature.

🍃 Perhaps you’re new to Forest Bathing, or already know how different it feels to slow down and experience nature through all the senses. Either way, you can discover more about this gentle practice, the research-supported wellbeing benefits it can offer, and what to expect when you join one of our guided Forest Bathing sessions by exploring Forest Bathing with us.

If you are not already a subscriber and would like to be, you can sign up here.

September is a month poised between seasons. The warmth of summer may still linger, yet the natural world is visibly shifting: fruits and berries ripen in the hedgerows, seeds are scattering, leaves begin their colourful and textural transformation and the woodland floor takes on the first unmistakable signs of autumn.

As we approach the Autumn Equinox, when daylight and darkness come briefly into balance, nature offers us an opportunity to consider balance within our own lives. Where might we benefit from doing a little less, making space for reflection, or simply allowing ourselves to appreciate what has already been achieved?

There is something particularly evocative about being outdoors at this time of year. The light softens, mornings feel moist, earthy smells return, and the changing colours encourage us to look again at familiar landscapes. Whether walking beneath the trees, noticing the textures and treasures beneath our feet, or simply pausing outdoors for a few conscious breaths of moist, earthy air, September reminds us that change need not be hurried. Nature makes the transition gradually – and perhaps we can too.

🌿 September also brings some extra opportunities to experience Forest Bathing with us. As part of the Dorking Walking Festival, we are offering special introductory taster sessions available during September only – ideal if you've been curious about Forest Bathing and would like a shorter introduction. Our regular, longer Forest Bathing experiences at the Harry Edwards Foundation continue through the autumn. You'll find details of both further down this newsletter.

On Wednesday 23rd September at approximately 01:05 BST, we reach the precise moment of the September Equinox. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, this marks the Autumn Equinox, often known as Mabon within pre-Roman Celtic traditions, whilst in the Southern Hemisphere the same moment heralds the Spring Equinox.

At the Equinoxes, the Sun crosses the celestial equator and day and night come close to balance before, here in the Northern Hemisphere, the hours of darkness gradually begin to outweigh the light. The season has long been associated with harvest, gratitude and balance.

The balance of light and darkness also offers an invitation to reflect upon balance within ourselves – between activity and rest, giving and receiving, outward growth and inner reflection. As nature begins to withdraw its energy and prepare for the quieter seasons ahead, we too might consider what we wish to carry forward and what we are ready to release. 

Wherever we are in the world, the Equinox reminds us that nature moves through cycles rather than standing still, and that each turning of the Wheel of the Year brings its own gifts.

Whether you celebrate this seasonal threshold as Mabon, the Autumn Equinox, or simply as another moment to notice the changing natural world, it offers a lovely opportunity to pause, reconnect and honour the balance between light and dark, growth and rest, endings and beginnings.

We're delighted to be taking part in Dorking Walking Week, part of Dorking's first Festival of Good Living, celebrating wellbeing, the outdoors, food, creativity and community throughout September.
 

Book any of our public sessions, below, at the Harmony Shop 

As summer begins to give way to autumn, September offers a wonderful opportunity to experience the woodland in transition – and to notice the subtle changes that can so easily pass us by.

A short 36-second film, kindly created by Hunter Delves, Community Engagement & Fundraising Manager at Harry Edwards, beautifully captures the atmosphere of Forest Bathing at this special venue. You can watch it on YouTube here.

Our September gathering takes place just a few days before the Autumn Equinox, when the natural world reaches that seasonal threshold between the expansive days of summer and the quieter months to come.

By mid-September, the woodland is beginning to reveal its autumn character, when leaves are beginning to turn and the quality of the light is changing. Yet much of summer's greenery remains, making this a particularly beautiful time to witness one season gently merging into another.

The approaching Equinox also brings themes of balance and transition – something we can explore experientially through Forest Bathing. Away from the demands and distractions of everyday life, spending a few unhurried hours amongst the trees gives us space to engage our senses, settle into nature's slower rhythm and simply notice what is present.

During the session, we offer a series of gentle sensory invitations designed to encourage mindful awareness and a deeper connection with the natural world. There is nothing to achieve and nowhere to rush to – simply time and space to experience the woodland in your own way.

✨ You may discover:

• A deeper sense of relaxation and restoration
• Space for reflection and a clearer, calmer mind
• Greater awareness of the sights, sounds, scents and textures around you
• A renewed connection with nature, yourself and others

Whether this will be your first experience of Forest Bathing or you have joined us before, September offers something distinctive: the opportunity to be immersed in the woodland at the turning of the season, observing its transition whilst perhaps becoming more aware of your own.

If you would like to make more of your visit, Sue Llewellyn's popular Qigong class takes place at the Harry Edwards Foundation from 10:00–11:00am, before our Forest Bathing session begins at 11:30am.

We thoroughly recommend this gentle practice for getting the energy flowing, and our later Saturday start gives you plenty of time to enjoy both experiences. Sue runs weekly classes at Harry Edwards and has developed a thriving community of friendly regulars.

Qigong is booked separately through the Harry Edwards Foundation website.

Saturday 19th September | 11:30–14:30
Saturday 10th October | 11:30–14:30
Sunday 8th November | 11:00–14:00
Saturday 28th November | 11:30–14:30

📢 IMPORTANT: Booking Within 48 Hours?

Please text 07930 414525 before booking to confirm availability.

Book any of the above public sessions through the Harmony Shop

🌠 September – Minor Meteor Showers

September has no major annual meteor shower, but there are a couple of smaller displays to watch for. The Aurigids are active from late August into early September, peaking around 1st September, when around 6 meteors per hour may be visible under ideal conditions.

The September ε-Perseids are active from approximately 5th–21st September, peaking around 9th September, with around 5–8 meteors per hour possible from a dark location. Despite their name, they are a separate meteor shower from the much more prolific Perseids of July and August.

September therefore offers quieter opportunities for spotting shooting stars rather than a major meteor spectacle.

 

🌑🌕 September Moon Highlights

After the dramatic eclipses of August, September's lunar cycle has a gentler quality, carrying us towards the Autumn Equinox and the changing energies of the season.

🌑 Friday 11th September | 4:27am

Vine New Moon

Falling in the quiet hours of Thursday night into Friday morning, September's Vine New Moon offers a natural moment for reflection and intention-setting as we approach the Equinox.

Within the Celtic Tree Calendar, Vine is associated with growth, connection and the fruits of what has been cultivated. As the natural world moves towards harvest and autumn, this New Moon invites us to consider what has ripened within our own lives – and what we might still wish to nurture as the season turns.

 

🌕 Saturday 26th September | 5:49pm

Vine Harvest & Equinox Full Moon

Falling just a few days after the Autumn Equinox, September's Vine Full Moon beautifully brings together the themes of harvest, gratitude, balance and seasonal transition.

Traditionally, the Harvest Moon is the Full Moon occurring closest to the September Equinox. Its name reflects the time when its bright evening light helped farmers continue gathering crops after sunset.

Within the Celtic Tree Calendar, Vine brings associations of abundance, connection and the fruits of what has been cultivated. At this point in the year, we are invited to recognise our own harvests – the experiences, relationships, learning and personal growth that have come to fruition – whilst considering what we wish to carry with us into the quieter months ahead.

🌿 Join Joanna for the live Vine Harvest & Equinox Full Moon Meditation

Joanna's monthly Guided Meditation will be held live online, working with the combined energies of the Vine Full Moon, Harvest Moon and Autumn Equinox. This gentle guided meditation explores balance, gratitude and abundance, offering time to reflect on what has come to fruition and welcome the changing season.

Saturday 26th September | 7:30–9:30pm UK time | Live online via Zoom

🌕 Book your place at the Harmony Shop.

To mark Lúnasa and the turning of the season, we made a special Harmony In Nature visit to the Ankerwycke Yew, an extraordinary ancient tree standing near the ruins of St Mary's Priory at Ankerwycke, across the Thames from Runnymede.

Believed to be well over 1,000 years old – with some estimates suggesting up to 2,500 years old – this remarkable yew has lived through an extraordinary span of British history. Its great, hollowing trunk and spreading branches offer a tangible reminder of just how different a tree's experience of time is from our own.

The yew stands within the landscape associated with one of the defining moments in British history: the sealing of Magna Carta by King John in 1215. The precise location of that historic meeting at Runnymede remains uncertain, but one theory is that it may have taken place beneath, or in the immediate vicinity of, the Ankerwycke Yew itself. If so, this extraordinary tree would have stood as a living witness to an event that helped shape the development of constitutional government. Centuries later, tradition also tells that Henry VIII courted Anne Boleyn beneath its branches.

Whatever the precise details of the stories surrounding it, there is something profoundly moving about standing beside a living being that has remained rooted in the same landscape whilst generations of people, rulers and entire eras have come and gone.

Our visit was partly one of gratitude – acknowledging this ancient tree and the landscape it inhabits for silently witnessing so much of our shared history. We also took some time for quiet reflection, holding an intention for wisdom, integrity and good stewardship in those entrusted with shaping the country's future.
With the exceptionally dry conditions we have experienced this summer, we also carried water to the yew as a simple gesture of care and gratitude. It seemed particularly fitting at Lúnasa – traditionally a time of acknowledging the Earth's abundance – to give something back to this remarkable ancient tree.

For us, connecting with nature often extends beyond our Forest Bathing sessions. We usually choose an auspicious date, often a Celtic festival, and sometimes visit ancient trees, historic landscapes and other significant local and London sites, taking time to experience them slowly and consciously rather than simply passing through.

If joining us for an occasional future visit of this kind appeals to you, do let us know. We would love to hear whether exploring some of our remarkable ancient trees and landscapes together is something you might enjoy.

Adder on left by Harmony In Nature, grass snake on right by James Wainscoat on Unsplash

🐍Animal Encounter - Snake & Rebirth

During our hot, dry summer in the South East of England, while out walking on a Common, Katie saw a dark greenish movement with the most amazing undulations as a long snake flashed across the sandy path ahead. After deliberating about adder (dark zig-zag stripes, sandy heathland) versus grass snake (likes water, longest, can be green), despite the lack of proximity to water, we conclude that it was a grass snake. You can compare the two snakes in photos above.

We have three native snakes in the UK, with the smaller smooth snake being the third. Snakes are known for uniquely shedding their old restricting skin all in one piece (along with any parasites), after they have created a whole new one underneath. 

 

It will come as no surprise to any of you that snakes have the symbolism of rebirth for us. In order to grow, we need to let go of restrictions, whether material possessions, a lifestyle, beliefs or behaviours of long standing, which are holding us back from our true potential and purpose, in order to step forward into the new person we are, hopefully, constantly evolving into. 

The ancient Greeks used snakes in healing rituals for their remedial venom and viewed them as symbols of rebirth. One of the most ancient mythical symbols in the world is the ‘ouroboros’, a circular shape made from a snake's head and mouth eating its own tail, reminding us of the inevitable circle of birth and death, that both are a necessary part of life and renewal. Without shedding the old and what no longer serves us, and going through smaller deaths of parts of ourselves, we cannot transform into the most aligned, courageous version of who we are becoming. 

In these tumultuous times on the world stage, it is tempting to get distracted by the performances from the world outside, and add our outrage and anger to the general mix, however, true transformation starts inside, by choosing to evolve into the sort of people we want to see more of in a kinder, more loving world, which is all the richer for the differences we each bring. By transforming our inner world we influence the outer.

We also arrange private bookings and/or corporate sessions at a selection of locations in the Surrey Hills (Shere, Bramley, Guildford, Woking & Tadworth) and London (SW20, SW14, NW3).  Contact us for details on katieandjo@harmonyinnature.uk

Through Harmony Healing, Joanna offers a variety of online esoteric and energy healing courses, including online and in-person self-empowerment courses, intuitive readings and 1-2-1 energy healing sessions. 

 

Joanna also hosts monthly Full Moon Meditations online from 7.30-9.30pm (UK time) and produces a monthly Celestial Forecast, which includes insights on Moon Phases, Asteroid Showers, and Ancient & Modern Festivals, subscribe here.

 

Katie offers intuitive health mentoring and 1:1 places for Nurtured by Nature One-day Reset Retreats (Facebook Link, or message Katie without obligation for details). These retreats are designed for those needing a complete mind and body reset, away from their usual work and routines. Tailored to your needs, they include a selection from nutrition, breathing awareness, mindful movement, sounding or chanting, essential oils, ‘de-chemicalising’ your lifestyle, natural first aid, Reiki, and sensory nature connection through Forest Bathing. You will take away tips to transmute stress into calm.

 

This full day retreat can be arranged for 2-3 people, available on request. To discuss, message Katie directly on 07596 830910.

 

 

mob. 07930 414525 Jo
mob. 07596 830910 Katie