🧵 Thursday Thread | Autumn’s Quiet Magic: Rituals That Carry Us Through the Dark

What rituals do you return to each fall, and why do they matter to you? Or, which memories of all rituals sustain you now, even if those memories are long past? Or, which rituals do you want to start?

First, in case you missed last week’s Friendship Thread, it’s full of opportunities to connect in person and virtually with others interested in writing, hiking, cooking, knitting, protesting, etc. You can find the thread here. Community building feels increasingly urgent now, and finding new ways to connect with each other is part of that.

Also, we’ve got lots of good things coming up at WITD that I want you to know about.

Upcoming at Events with WITD

WITD | The COMMONS Write-In - Oct. 6th, 10am CT

WITD | The COMMONS Write In - Oct. 15th 2pm CT

WITD| The COMMONS Write In - Oct. 20th, 10am CT

Recapture Your Creative Spark With “Slow Writing” - Oct. 20th 3pm CT - Part of the Escape the Plot Forest 2025 conference hosted by Daniel David Wallace

Radical Revision Workshop - October 23 – 26, Thursday – Sunday

Telling Hard Truths - A 3-Hour Craft Intensive on Zoom October 30, 1-4 PM Central

If you’re asking, “What’s WITD: The COMMONS,” well, The COMMONS is what we want to call our communal virtual space for writing together. We want it to feel like, and, in fact, to be, a place where we gather, a place for shared creative energy and inspiration, as well as connection and friendship. And we’re going to be doing more of it going forward. Again, community. These co-writing sessions are free for paid members, and always include an opening quote or poem, an optional writing exercise, and a short closing at the end of the hour that usually includes a chance for attendees to share a line or two from their writing if they wish.

The Radical Revision workshop is sold out, but Telling Hard Truths is still open for registration, and the next session of Writing in the Dark | The WORKSHOP will open for registration this weekend, so watch for that.

And, because we’re hosting more live events starting now and going forward, you can always check this calendar page for what’s coming up, because we’re updating it more regularly now (ahem, it still said Jan 2025 until a few weeks ago; it’s been a rough, destabilizing year, but, hey, on the bright side, Jon has two job interviews coming up—please cross fingers!).

As for today’s thread, well, fall is my favorite season, a season full of beauty and ritual, so I thought, why not share our fall rituals—both remembered and currently practiced?

Every fall, I remember how it felt to choose an outfit for the first day of school—made more poignant, I suppose, by the fact that I was most often starting new schools, so dressing as the new girl, making that first impression, felt both exciting and scary. Every fall, I notice how the air thins and sharpens, trees shed what they can’t carry into winter, and so must I. Every fall, I feel the act of each ritual as a small fire against the dark: lighting a candle, pulling on a wool sweater, stirring soup in a heavy pot. These things are ordinary, yes, but the ordinary has teeth. It holds us steady when everything else wavers.

Often, rituals are more than they seem. The mug of tea is a vessel for grief. The walk through rusted leaves is a prayer for resilience. The gathering at the table is a reminder that we still belong somewhere, even when we feel lost.

Fall rituals teach us to turn toward what is fleeting and say: I see you. Rituals give shape to endings, soften the edges of absence, make the invisible visible for a moment. In good times, rituals are like offerings of thanks. In hard times, they keep us tethered to the pulse of the world, to remind us that even as everything falls away, we are still here, making meaning in the dark.

What are the fall rituals that mean something to you?

Do you bake or cook—and, if so, do you have any recipes to share?!

Do you take a fall trip every year?

Do you host Halloween parties or full moon bonfires?

Do you have back-to-school rituals that bring joy?

Do you have fall gardening rituals that sustain you?

Do you have fall outings—to the apple orchard, the arboretum, the pumpkin patch—that you repeat year after year?

Tell us how you celebrate autumn, if you do, and/or share vivid memories of autumns past.

Love,

Jeannine

PS In order to keep this community safe and vibrant, threads/comments are for paid members, and you can upgrade/manage your membership here any time to join these beautiful conversations. Thank you so much for being here at Writing in the Dark!