22 September 2026

September 22, 2026 — At the Turning of the Year

September 22 falls immediately after Yom Kippur, on 11 Tishrei in the Jewish calendar. In the traditional Jewish account, this is also the day after Moses returns from Sinai and Jethro observes him trying to handle every dispute himself. Jethro's historical-literary advice is practical: responsibility has to be distributed rather than concentrated in one person.

In Christian calendars, September 22 commemorates St. Maurice and the Theban Legion, whose story became an early Christian account of soldiers refusing an imperial religious command. The tradition places the story in the late Roman Empire and remembers resistance to an authority that demanded participation in a religious sacrifice.

And around this date, cultures have marked the autumnal equinox in different ways. Japanese tradition has Higan, while contemporary Pagan traditions associate the equinox with Mabon. The astronomical event itself is the Sun's crossing of the celestial equator, marking autumn in the Northern Hemisphere.

Taken together, these traditions suggest a rather concrete theme for today:

Authority has limits. Work has limits. Seasons have limits.

The question for today might simply be:

What is mine to carry, what belongs to someone else, and what has reached its natural turning point?