Why your energy drops in fall: A spiritual look at autumn fatigue, emotional waves, and energetic transformation.

As the air sharpens and dusk arrives earlier each day, something subtle begins to stir inside us.

We feel it in our bones—the slowing, the soft ache, the quiet pull inward.

Maybe you’ve noticed it too: Fatigue that lingers even after sleep, a strange nostalgia in your chest, a sense that your dreams are more vivid—or that your emotions sit closer to the surface.

We’re entering what the ancients often called the Season of the Descent—the sacred arc between the autumn equinox and Samhain, when the veil between worlds thins and energy turns inward.

The outward blaze of summer’s fire fades into embers, and life begins to compost itself into wisdom.

This time has always been understood not as a death, but as a return. To you roots, your ancestors, the unseen.

Energetically, this descent is both cosmic and cellular.

The Earth herself exhales. Trees draw sap back into their core. Animals store, burrow, and prepare.

And so do we.

The body becomes quieter, the mind more porous, the spirit more sensitive to whispers from the unseen.

The more we resist this pull, the more exhaustion, confusion, and emotional fog we tend to feel.

The Descent Through History and Myth

Across time and culture, the descent has been mythologized as a sacred initiation—a necessary journey through shadow to recover lost wisdom.

• Inanna, Queen of Heaven, descended into the underworld to meet her shadow sister Ereshkigal, stripped of her ornaments at each gate until she stood bare before death and rebirth.
• Persephone, daughter of Demeter, was taken into Hades’ realm each autumn, symbolizing the seed returning to darkness before it could rise again in spring.
• Isis journeyed across Egypt to gather the dismembered pieces of Osiris, restoring him to life through love and ritual.
• The Norse goddess Hel, presiding over the realm of the dead, reminds us that winter is not punishment—it is restoration and truth.

Every myth of descent tells us the same thing: this darkness is not an ending, but a sort of womb.

It’s a process of renewal disguised as loss.

When the outer world dims, the inner one begins to glow.

Festivals of the Thinning Veil

Many traditions mark this liminal period with fire, remembrance, and offerings to the dead:

• Samhain (Celtic): The final harvest, when livestock were culled and ancestors honored. This was the old New Year—the end and beginning in one.
• Día de los Muertos (Mexico): A joyous reunion between the living and departed, celebrated with altars, marigolds, and sweet bread.
• All Souls’ and All Saints’ Days (Christian Europe): Adaptations of pagan remembrance rites, keeping candles lit for loved ones who have crossed over.
• The Japanese Obon Festival and Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival: Both hold space for ancestral return through offerings and lanterns.

In each, light meets dark.

We feed the ancestors so they may bless us in return.

We recognize that the veil between life and death is gossamer-thin—and that the living, too, are always transforming.

The Energetics of the Descent

From an energetic perspective, the descent season corresponds with Earth’s yin phase—the feminine, lunar, inward current of life force.

Yang (light, action, heat) begins to wane, and Yin (dark, rest, intuition) rises to prominence.

When you live in harmony with this shift, you may experience greater peace and clarity.

When you resist it—by maintaining summer’s frenetic pace—you can experience fatigue, anxiety, and emotional static.

1. Physical Symptoms of Seasonal Descent

• Lower physical energy or desire to rest longer
• Changes in digestion (craving warmth, heaviness, grounding foods)
• Desire to withdraw socially or emotionally
• Irregular sleep or vivid dreams
• Feelings of melancholy or nostalgia

2. Emotional and Spiritual Signals

• A pull toward reflection, endings, and closure
• Old memories resurfacing
• A longing for ritual, stillness, or creative solitude
• Increased intuition or sensitivity to subtle energies
• Feeling “between worlds,” dreamy or dissociated

These aren’t malfunctions—they’re a sort of seasonal intelligence.

Your entire being is responding to Earth’s own energetic descent.

An Alchemical View: Nigredo and the Darkening of Light

In alchemy, this phase corresponds with Nigredo, the “blackening” or dissolution stage in the Great Work.

It’s when matter is broken down so that new life can emerge, when gold begins in shadow.

Nigredo isn’t despair. It’s transformation.

It’s the compost heap, the fertile void, the black soil of potential.

Spiritually, this is when you confront what’s no longer sustainable.

That can mean identities, beliefs, relationships, habits.

And you allow them to decay into wisdom.

You may notice:

• A discomfort with superficial things
• A desire to declutter or purge what’s stale
• Creative stagnation before a breakthrough
• Intense emotional release, followed by clarity

This is your psyche performing spiritual composting.

Let the process happen.

The blackness isn’t failure. It’s the alchemist’s beginning.

The Shamanic Descent: Between Worlds

In shamanic traditions, autumn marks the time of lower-world journeys.

These are descents into the roots of consciousness.

Shamans travel through trance, drumbeat, or dream to commune with ancestors, animal spirits, and underworld guides.

The lower world isn’t evil.

It’s the realm of memory, instinct, and soul retrieval.

The Western equivalent might be shadow work, dreamwork, or somatic healing.

When you descend with intention, you start to reclaim power that you lost through fear or trauma.

You integrate, rather than avoid. Make sense?

To support this:

• Journal your dreams every morning; they carry seasonal wisdom.
• Work with grounding allies like mugwort, cedar, myrrh, and obsidian.
• Walk among the trees and ask what they are teaching you about letting go.
• Use rhythm—drumming, heartbeat, slow breath—to deepen into presence.
• Practice earthing—Also called grounding, try walking barefoot on natural ground, lying on grass, swimming in oceans, or using conductive systems that connect your body to Earth.

Each act grounds the descent in the body, helping you move with Earth’s spiral…rather than against it.

Traditional Chinese Medicine: The Metal Element

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), autumn corresponds with the Metal element and the organs of the Lungs and Large Intestine.

Metal governs grief, inspiration, and boundaries.

It’s the taking in of what nourishes, and the release of what does not.

If you’re feeling sorrowful, dry, or constricted, your Metal element may be calling for attention.

Energetic imbalances can manifest as:

• Sadness, nostalgia, or emotional heaviness
• Skin dryness, coughing, or sinus issues
• Constipation or difficulty “letting go”

Supportive practices:

• Breathe deeply, especially outdoors in crisp air.
• Hydrate and humidify your space.
• Eat moistening foods: pears, miso soup, sesame, honey, rice porridge, congee.
• Allow tears to flow—they are the element’s natural purification.

When balanced, Metal grants clarity, structure, and sacred discernment.

It’s the ability to see what truly matters and release what is complete.

The Collective Field: Why Everyone Feels It

Energetically, collective consciousness mirrors seasonal shifts.

You may notice more people withdrawing, slowing projects, or expressing existential fatigue.

This isn’t coincidence. It’s resonance.

As the Sun moves through Libra and into Scorpio, the collective psyche turns toward shadow integration.

Libra asks you to find equilibrium after the summer’s outward blaze.

Scorpio draws you into mystery, death, and regeneration.

Even if you aren’t consciously attuned to astrology, your nervous system likely still feels these archetypal movements.

Collectively, this time amplifies:

• Dreams of old relationships or “unfinished business”
• Sudden emotional releases
• Heightened psychic sensitivity (for example, you might pick up others’ moods easily)
• Reevaluation of priorities and purpose

In the language of the subtle body, the heart and solar plexus chakras recalibrate, while the third eye chakra awakens.

You’re asked to move from performance to presence…from doing to being.

Energetic Diagnosis: What’s Really Happening in Your Field

1. The Aura Contracts

Your aura, like a tree’s sap, begins to draw inward to conserve energy.

You may feel smaller, quieter, or less radiant.

This is natural protection.

Don’t fight it with overstimulation. Instead, nourish it with warmth, rest, and creative privacy.

2. The Root Chakra Grounds Deep

You may crave heavy, earthy foods or time in solitude.

Grounding is key—bare feet on soil, baths with Epsom salt, black tourmaline at your bedside.

The descent season reactivates the root and sacral chakras, helping you metabolize accumulated energy.

3. The Emotional Body Thaws

Unresolved feelings rise to the surface.

Rather than labeling this “sadness,” try thinking about it as energetic exhale.

As a necessary clearing before renewal.

Sound healing, journaling, and gentle movement can help emotional energy flow.

4. Your Astral Field Activates

Dreams intensify as the veil thins.

Your astral body becomes more active, processing both personal and ancestral stories.

Try keeping a dream talisman—like amethyst or moonstone—under your pillow to anchor the experience.

8 Ways to Support Yourself Through the Descent

1. Rest Without Guilt

Nature is resting…so you should to.

Let your productivity mirror the waning light.

Try sleeping more. Saying “no” more.

Trust that stillness can be part of your creative rhythm right now.

2. Tend to the Hearth

As outer fires dim, your inner hearth becomes the temple.

Cook slow meals, light candles, make tea.

The hearth represents digestion—both literal and emotional.

Everything you ingest (food, information, emotion) needs warmth and time to transform.

Learn more about eating this autumn and winter:
Your Guide to the Energetics of Warm Foods in the Cold Season

3. Nourish with Rooted Foods

Favor slow-cooked stews, roasted roots, pumpkins, and squash.

Use warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, clove, and star anise.

These foods anchor your energy and align with Earth’s descent.

Go deeper into Eating with the Elements: How to Balance Earth and Fire as Fall Deepens

4. Create Ritual Around Release

Write what you’re ready to let go of on scraps of paper.

Burn them safely under a waning moon.

Thank each lesson, then release it.

This simple act helps your subconscious unclench from the past.

5. Invite your Ancestors in

Try setting up a small ancestral altar with photos, candles, or offerings of food and water.

Speak the names of your ancestors aloud.

Ask for guidance, protection, and dreams of healing.

The veil is thin. Connection is more effortless.

Your Guide to Creating An Ancestral Altar

6. Protect Your Energy

As sensitivity heightens, practice good energetic hygiene.

• Smoke cleanse with cedar or rosemary.
• Take salt baths.
• Visualize golden light around your heart.
• Unplug from news or social media when it feels invasive.

Learn more about Energetic Weeding: How to Cut Cords and Clear Your Field Before Samhain

7. Listen to Your Dreams

Dreams are the language of the descent.

Record them daily. Notice symbols that repeat.

Ask yourself before sleep: “What truth am I ready to see?”

8. Balance Solitude with Connection

Too much isolation can deepen melancholy.

Try balancing inward work with cozy, heart-centered connection.

That means shared meals, creative circles, gentle laughter.

Working with Crystal, Plant, and Elemental Allies

Try building your own Descent Ritual Kit using different allies from the crystal, plant, and elemental kindgoms.

It’s a tangible reminder that you’re walking through sacred territory.

Crystals

• Obsidian: Deep grounding, shadow work, protection.
• Smoky Quartz: Gentle detoxification of old emotions.
• Labradorite: Navigating between worlds, psychic shielding.
• Carnelian: Rekindling creative fire after release.

Herbs

• Mugwort: Enhances dreamwork and intuition.
• Rosemary: Clears energy, strengthens boundaries.
• Hawthorn: Protects the heart during emotional descent.
• Reishi Mushroom: Supports immunity and spiritual resilience.

Elements

• Earth: Stability—ritualize with clay masks, gardening, grounding stones.
• Water: Emotional flow—ritual baths, tears, or river offerings.
• Fire: Transformation—candles, hearth rituals, candle meditations.
• Air: Clarity—breathwork, wind chimes, incense.

Alchemy of Renewal: Turning Darkness Into Gold

The descent season invites a rare alchemy.

It’s turning inertia into insight, heaviness into presence.

Here’s how that transformation can unfolds:

Stage	Feeling	Energetic Lesson	Support Practice
Dissolution	Tired, unmotivated	Let go of force; surrender to stillness	Rest, nap, simplify tasks
Putrefaction	Emotional release, grief	Compost what no longer serves	Journaling, therapy, ritual burning
Illumination	Dream clarity, intuition rises	Trust the unseen process	Meditation, divination
Coagulation	Grounded renewal	Integrate wisdom, rebuild	Cooking, cleaning, creative acts

By the spring equinox, these inner processes will transform into outer momentum.

For now, your work is invisible—and that’s the point.

The dark is gestating your next light.

Energetic Bath Ritual for the Season of Descent

You’ll Need:

• A handful of Epsom or sea salt
• Dried mugwort or rosemary
• A few drops of clove or frankincense oil
• A black stone (obsidian, jet, or onyx)
• Candlelight only

Steps:

1. Draw a warm bath and stir in the salt clockwise, saying something akin to:
   “I return to center; I release what is not mine.”
2. Add your herbs and oils, watching them swirl like dreams.
3. Step in slowly, breathing deep. Visualize gray energy leaving your body, dissolving into the water.
4. Hold your stone over your heart and whisper something akin to:
   “From shadow, wisdom. From silence, song.”
5. Drain the water, letting it carry away all residue.

This ritual helps clear energetic debris and restore balance between seen and unseen worlds.

Dream Incubation Practice

Before sleep, write down a single question, such as:

“What truth wants to emerge from the dark?”

Place it under your pillow. Upon waking, write whatever you remember—no matter how strange.

Repeat this for seven nights.

By the end of the 7th time, patterns may begin to emerge…colors, symbols, voices.

These are part of your personal descent map.

Honor them with art, poetry, or quiet gratitude.

Integration: Living with the Dark Gracefully

To live seasonally is to live rhythmically.

I mean, think about it: You’re probably not meant to glow at full intensity year-round.

The descent reminds us that the sacred feminine principle of cyclic rest is as vital as creation itself.

Support integration by:

• Lighting one candle each evening to mark the growing dark.
• Reconnecting with body rhythms—sleep, appetite, creativity.
• Allowing emotion without explanation.
• Reframing “low energy” as “deep energy.”

When you frame it like this, what looks like withdrawal is actually recalibration.

You’re syncing to the ancient pulse of Earth.

The Beauty of the Descent

As we move toward Samhain, remember: The ancients didn’t fear this time—they revered it.

They knew the descent is when the invisible work of renewal takes place.

The seed beneath the soil. The cauldron bubbling in the dark. The stillness where spirit speaks.

So if you’re tired, dreamy, or feeling slightly unmoored, know this: You are right on time.

The world is descending into mystery, and you’re being invited to follow.

Not to lose yourself, but to find what only the dark can show.

So, light your candle. Trust your dreams. Breathe deep of the cooling air.

The descent isn’t an ending—it’s an initiation.