Autumn is a time of transitions. The energies of autumn are inward, introspective, and decelerating. If the Wheel of the Year were moon phases, autumn would be the waning phase before winter’s restful new moon and spring would be the waxing phase before summer’s full expression.

Aligning with Nature and seasonal and cosmic flow is the most profound resource for healing we have – it’s ours, it’s authentic, it’s Truth.

On InnerSpark’s Wheel of The Mother, autumn brings us The High Priestess Archetype and The Death Doula Archetype. Explore InnerSpark’s Wheel, which are the eight unique archetypal energies that make up your inner wisdom council!

The Two Archetypes of Autumn: The High Priestess + The Death Doula

The High Priestess Archetype

The High Priestesses is called upon when we have come to truly embody a skill, an art and can now teach this and pass it on. This frequency may also be thought of as teacher or master. We come to realize that our work and efforts are for the greater good of all. The fruits of our labor have made themselves known, and we graciously offer it to others.

This High Priestess Frequency is greatly connected to ourselves as The Initiate Archetype, when we were the beginner, the student.

At the core, The High Priestess Frequency reminds us to honor our creativity, to see it as a path towards the betterment of all, the way to create paths towards wholeness, devotion, love, service.

It’s us using our vital life force to guide, teach, and serve because we are so full and connected ourselves.

Shadow Sides of The High Priestess Archetype

When we’re unaware of the whole, unaware of the bounty, unaware of the fact that we will still shine just as brightly by also empowering others to shine, The High Priestess frequency can have its shadow aspects.

The shadow side can be feeling greedy or a sense of entitlement and not seeing yourself as part of the whole and that you’ve never acted alone. There can be a sense of resentment, entitlement, or wanting to have strings attached when sharing the fruits of our labor – because they’re “ours.”

“I sacrifice my life force energy for the betterment of all to create legacy and lasting service and impact. My creativity serves as an avenue towards remembering the Way of Love, to seed future spirals of devotion, love, service, ease, grace, peace, and the like. The seeds for the future are in the living and so long as there’s still life force energy available to this iteration, so there shall be the intention of guiding and teaching.” ~ The High Priestess

Journal with The High Priestess:

• What’s my relationship with The Mother, my mother, and myself as mother (with or without human offspring)?

• Am I able to openly, without resentment or strings attached, share the fruits of my labor with others?

• Does an attachment to results, a sense of entitlement, or a feeling of fear prevent me from knowing myself as sovereign?

The Death Doula Archetype

The Death Doula is all about completions and transmutation.

The Death Doula Is all about completions and transmutation. This corresponds with the energies of late autumn or Samhain, known as Halloween. It’s that point where we’ve reached the end of something. Something (a situation, a relationship, a version of ourselves, a project, etc.) has come to a point of completion and we must allow this energetic thing/entity to continue onto its next iteration and we must allow the energy transfer to take place.

It’s about us giving death to something with gratitude and reverence and recognizing the power in being unattached.

Looking to the medicine across the circle, we’re met with The Lover at Beltane. Both of these archetypes, The Lover and the Death Doula, involve a great deal of surrender and recognizing and feeling that orgasmic undercurrent of all life.The sweet release of both ecstatic lovemaking and the sweet release of death on some level.

Honoring Death + Transmutation + Unattachment

Death is a very loaded topic for many. In our modern world, we like to keep things as vibrant and youthful and productive for as long as possible, often going to great and unnatural lengths to do so.

Death can be thought of as simply an energy transference; allowing something to continue onto its next formation. Death isn’t just about physical beings’ bodies coming to an end, it’s about deaths of relationships, old identities, beliefs, habits, and more.

In a single lifetime, we’ll all die many times. Think of all the identities you’ve worn that no longer fit. Think of the people and places and situations in your life that are no longer with you.

To befriend death, is to truly embrace this art of spirally living. It’s to live an unattached life that allows you and all in your space to have their sovereignty.It’s about recognizing the impermanence of all and celebrating that fact, not fearing it!

“I release fully into the sweet orgasmic current of death, giving what’s no longer needed and emptying so I may fill once more in the seasons to come. For now, I release this iteration and all attachments thereto and prepare to deeply rest in the void and to receive. My work, for now, is complete.” ~ The Death Doula

Journal with The Death Doula:

• Do I fear death?

• What have my experiences been with with death and dying?

• What’s my experience with allowing things to come to their natural completions and surrendering to the ending process?

Go Deeper & Explore Podcasts + Blogs Related to These Archetypes:

Shadow Work Explained

Lifestyle, Movement, & Nourishment Tips For Fall

Ep. 35: Autumnal Wisdom + Spirally Living

Ep. 37: Divination Practices For Your Intuition

Ep. 44: The Power of the Equinoxes

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