September
By all these lovely tokens September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather and autumn’s best of cheer.
The name for September is derived from the Latin Septem meaning seven. Originally the seventh month, it kept its name when we moved to the 12-month calendar and it became the ninth month. The number seven represents perfection, safely and rest. September hints at the cooling respite from the summer’s heat. How enthusiastically we don our sweater for the first time even though our skin has been so recently sun-kissed. We are still extra sensitive to that gentle breeze dances along our bodies. In September we entertain the idea of who we are and who we wish to be. We explore belonging to various groups or institutions. The newness of the autumnal season is a cheery change, and so much is possible.
Birth Customs of September
September Flower
Some will say she’s late to bloom
while dancing to some timely tune
yet if you only stop to ask her
she will say she’s like the aster
September Zodiac
September cools with Virgo’s reign
As she sings her soft refrain
And closes with the harmony
Of Libra’s balanced symphony
September Stone
A maiden born when autumn leaves
Are rustling in September’s breeze,
A Sapphire on her brow should bind;
To bring her joy and peace of mind.
Magic of September
Correspondences
Herbs: Fennel, Wheat, Valarian
Totems: Snake, Sparrow
Stones: Olivine, Citrine
Birthstone: Sapphire
Birth Flower: Aster
Celtic Trees: Ivy & Reed (or Blackthorn)
Nature Spirits: Trapping Fae
Spellwork
Rest
Protect
Know
Complete
Grow
Aromatherapy
Cozy Up
3 drops Sandalwood
3 drops Vanilla
1 drop Clove
Meditation
If I asked you to name all the things that you love,
how long would it take for you to name yourself?
Unknown
Science of September
Astronomy
Name: September
Length: 30 Days
Full Moon: September 14th
New Moon: September 28th
Zodiac: Virgo & Libra
Full Moon
Colonial American: Harvest Moon
Celtic: Singing Moon
Chinese: Chrysanthemum Moon
Choctaw: Mulberry Moon
Old English: Barley Moon
Poetry for September
September
The golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.
The gentian’s bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.
The sedges flaunt their harvest,
In every meadow nook;
And asters by the brook-side
Make asters in the brook,
From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes’ sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.
By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.
But none of all this beauty
Which floods the earth and air
Is unto me the secret
Which makes September fair.
‘T is a thing which I remember;
To name it thrills me yet:
One day of one September
I never can forget.
September Grass
Well, the sun’s not so hot in the sky today
And you know I can see summertime slipping on away
A few more geese are gone, a few more leaves turning red
But the grass is as soft as a feather in a featherbed
So I’ll be king and you’ll be queen
Our kingdom’s gonna be this little patch of green
Won’t you lie down here right now
In this September grass
Won’t you lie down with me now
September grass.
James Taylor
September
The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.
By John Updike
Blackberry Eating
I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
the stalks are very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
fall almost unbidden to my tongue,
as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words
like strengths or squinched,
many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps
which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well
in the silent, startled, icy, black language
of blackberry-eating in late September.
By Galway Kinnell
Calendar of September
