“Most experiences are unsayable;
they come to fullness
in a realm that words do not inhabit.”
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Greetings to all my precious people,
There are some things I’ve been sitting with lately that don’t really fit into words, which is, I think, exactly what Rilke meant. But I’m going to try anyway, because it’s been coming up again and again in conversations with my patients, and I don’t want to keep it to myself.
Before you were you, there was an errant sperm and egg, colliding. And then — with no coach yelling instructions, no manual, no one standing over the process telling it what to do — that collision replicated itself, over and over, in the most intricate and masterful sequence imaginable, until nearly ten months later, an entirely unique being took form and opened its eyes. That is happening right now, in bodies all over the world, and it has been happening since the beginning of everything. We almost never talk about it. We need to talk about it more.
We are made of star-stuff, as Carl Sagan liked to remind us — carrying the same particles as the earth beneath us and the heavens above us, the same elements forged in the same ancient furnaces. There is certainty, real certainty, already built into the very structure of us: the mitochondria quietly powering every cell without being asked, the whole astonishing architecture running itself, on schedule, without our supervision, every single day. I think we’ve forgotten how divine that is and how divine we are. I think it’s time we remembered — instead of spending so much energy trying to shrink ourselves into little boxes and stay in our assigned lanes.
Which brings me back to certainty.
The theme I’m working with for this season, “Surrender into Certainty,” came from a phrase I heard on a podcast. At first, the interviewee’s proclamation made me shake my head – he must have said ‘uncertainty’ and I misheard. And then he continued with his point of view and it was like a lightbulb sparking in my brain. The fact is the natural world isn’t uncertain at all. It’s relentlessly, faithfully certain: the bloom, the migration, the tide, the molt, the return of spring after die-back. What’s actually uncertain is only ever the story the human mind tells about itself — and it is always about the unknown, not the pattern. And this is precisely where Celtic and Taoist wisdom agree with each other: both organize life around a cyclical, non-negotiable rhythm — the Wheel of the Year, the Tao’s ceaseless turning — a pattern, eternally repeatable, rather than systems built around willpower or belief. Surrender, in both traditions, was never resignation. It was alignment with a pattern that was never actually in question.
We are on the brink of that pattern’s next great hinge. The Autumn Equinox arrives Tuesday, September 22, at 8:05 PM EDT — the precise moment the sun crosses the celestial equator, and day and night stand in perfect balance before the Northern Hemisphere begins its descent into the dark half of the year.
In Taoist cosmology, this moment is called Qiūfēn -秋分 – (Chyoo-fuhn) — the literal hinge of the year, where warm outward Yang gives way to cool, inward Yin. Autumn belongs to the Metal element: consolidation, refinement, distillation to essence. Metal governs the Lungs and Large Intestine — breathing in, and letting go — and its emotional landscape is grief and release. Just as trees shed their leaves without agonizing over the decision, we’re invited to release what’s outdated the same way.
In Celtic tradition, this same threshold is the Second Harvest — Mabon (MAY-bon) — the moment for taking inventory of the season’s bounty before bowing toward the coming dark. Not a fearful surrender, but a trust that the dark half of the year is where the earth, and the human spirit, are meant to rest, dream, and incubate. The apple is this equinox’s central symbol: cut horizontally rather than through the stem, it reveals a perfect five-pointed star hidden inside — protection, and the elements, held in something as ordinary as fruit.
A simple ritual for the hinge:
Gather a few apples, some autumn leaves, and a white candle — to reflect the color associated with Metal, and with the Lungs. Sit before them with a straight spine. Inhale deeply through the nose, imagining clean white light filling your chest. Exhale through the mouth on a soft “ssshhh” — the traditional Taoist healing sound for the Lungs, releasing stagnant grief and stale energy. Repeat for a few minutes, until your body settles.
Then take a piece of paper and split it in two. On one side, your Harvest — what you’re keeping, the wins and lessons that sustained you. On the other side, your Metal Discard — the habits, grudges, and outdated self-images you’re ready to release; holding onto them, in Taoist terms, is like a tree refusing to drop its dead leaves.
Cut an apple horizontally to reveal its hidden star. Read your Harvest list aloud, then eat that half, visualizing yourself absorbing what you’ve built this year. Fold your Release list away from you, and burn or bury it — watching the weight of it turn to ash or soil. Take the remaining apple half outside and leave it at the base of a tree, an old Celtic gesture of giving back to the ground that fed you. Blow out the candle. Whisper a small welcome to the quiet months ahead.
If you’d rather journal than ritual, sit with just one of these:
- What did you grow this year that you almost didn’t notice growing?
- What leaf are you still holding onto, past its season?
- What space opens in you, once you finally let it fall?
We are, each of us, star-stuff that somehow learned to ask questions about itself. That is not uncertainty. That is the most certain thing there is. Continue to bring awareness to the concept of “surrender into certainty” and begin to notice how your body reacts. Pay attention to the physical phenomena – the tight throat, the dull headache, the soreness in your low back. And refrain from attaching a story to those phenomena – instead just begin to be with your precious body and listen to the messages.
If any of this sparks your curiosity, schedule a discovery call, and begin to uncover the certainty of your amazing, miraculous, divine Self. My coaching program dwells in possibility. Together we co-create practical steps to uncover your gifts, recover your lived wisdom, and integrate them to establish your road map. It is about consistent practice, one day at a time.
Remember this: you are the healer, you are the wise one. I will remind you everyday.
“You must live in the present,
launch yourself on every wave,
find your eternity in each moment. “
~~ Henry David Thoreau
