The Harvest Full Moon in Aries: Abundance, Gratitude & Finding My Way Back
I haven't written a blog in a couple of weeks.
And honestly, I've felt a little off.
Not necessarily in some huge, life-altering way. Just off.
You know those seasons where nothing is completely wrong, but everything feels a little heavier than it should?
That's been September.
There have been unexpected bills. Old feelings and past trauma deciding to knock on the door again. Struggles with my weight and how I see myself. Self-doubt. Life changes. Work. The shop. Trying to balance relationships, family, friendships, responsibilities and approximately 47 things happening inside my own brain at any given moment.
I've found myself looking at everything I'm doing and wondering...
Is it enough?
Am I doing enough?
Why am I putting so much work into things when the outcome doesn't always look the way I imagined it would?
And then, almost perfectly timed, here comes the Harvest Moon.
Maybe I needed her.
The September 2026 Harvest Full Moon in Aries
The Harvest Full Moon arrives September 26, right as summer officially gives way to fall.
Traditionally, the Harvest Moon gets its name because it is the full moon closest to the autumn equinox. Its bright evening light historically gave farmers more time to gather their crops before winter.
And I can't help but love the symbolism of that.
Harvest what you've grown.
Look at what you've created.
Recognize what is already here.
This year's Harvest Moon is also a Full Moon in Aries, which, in astrology, carries themes of independence, courage, action and the self. Sitting opposite the Libra Sun, there's also this beautiful tension between "me" and "us."
Who am I?
What do I need?
And how do I honor myself while still loving and showing up for the people around me?
Full moons are often associated spiritually with illumination, culmination and release. And whether you believe wholeheartedly in astrology or simply use the moon as a reason to slow down and reflect, I think there's something powerful about asking yourself what has changed since the last full moon.
Because a lot can happen in a month.
I would know.
Maybe Abundance Doesn't Mean Having More
I've been thinking a lot about abundance lately.
We hear the word and immediately think about money, success, sales, a bigger house, more followers, more customers or finally reaching whatever goal we've decided will make us feel successful.
I've certainly been guilty of that.
I've spent hours in my crystal room this week photographing products, editing listings, adding new pieces to the website and working on CAE's Crystals.
I made a brand-new Halloween Crystal CAEfetti mix filled with tiny treasures, crystals, bracelets, carvings, moons, bats and all kinds of spooky little surprises.
And I had FUN.
Like genuinely, this is why I started doing this kind of fun.
I've also been reaching for my crystal bracelets more lately. Stacking them on my wrist in the morning and choosing what feels right that day. Some days I want grounding. Some days protection. Some days I want abundance and confidence.
And some days I just think they're freaking pretty.
But even while I've been finding that excitement again, that little voice still sneaks in.
You're doing all this work. Why aren't the results bigger?
That's when I have to remind myself:
Maybe abundance isn't always receiving more.
Maybe sometimes abundance is realizing how much you already have.
My Life Is Already So Full
A couple of weeks ago, I spent the night with one of my best friends.
Nothing crazy happened.
Actually, that's what made it so perfect.
We ended up falling asleep on the couch watching a movie, just like we used to when we were younger and single and life looked completely different.
Except we aren't 25 anymore.
She's married. She has a stepdaughter.
I'm in a happy, healthy relationship. I have two girls I get to love and call my own.
We have jobs and families and schedules and responsibilities now.
But for one night, we got to just be us again.
And there was something incredibly comforting about realizing that life can change without everything good having to disappear with it.
Things can evolve.
Relationships can evolve.
We can evolve.
And sometimes the people who are meant to stay simply grow alongside us.
A Girls' Night I Didn't Know I Needed
Then there was girls' night.
Again, nothing wild.
No crazy story to tell afterward.
We sat together and made candles.
We added herbs and flowers and put our intentions into them.
We made fall simmer pots with cinnamon, cloves, lemons and oranges.
We sipped our drinks.
We talked about life.
And it was exactly what I needed.
There is something about sitting in a room with women you trust and realizing you don't have to perform.
You don't have to have everything figured out.
You can just exist.
I am so incredibly grateful for my girlfriends.
And apparently the universe wasn't finished reminding me of that.
The following week, another one of my longtime best friends texted me. She had an opening in her photography schedule and told me she wanted Cody and me to come see her.
She wanted to meet him.
She wanted to see me.
And she offered to photograph us free of charge simply because of that.
I could have cried.
Actually, I think I almost did.
Because sometimes abundance looks like someone saying,
"I miss you. Come see me."
Grief Has a Way of Making Everything Feel Louder
This month also brought something I wasn't prepared for.
I lost a good friend suddenly in a motorcycle accident.
And there really aren't pretty words for that.
He was one of those men in my life I knew I could call if I needed him. I will miss his sermons. I'll miss his advice. I'll miss knowing he was simply there.
He was an amazing man.
Loss has this cruel way of reminding you that time does not slow down simply because you aren't ready.
Life keeps moving.
And suddenly all those little things you've been stressing about feel different.
Not meaningless. Our problems are still real.
But different.
It makes me want to hold onto the people I love a little tighter.
Say the thing.
Take the picture.
Stay up talking.
Sit in the field.
Make the memory.
Because this little life moves unbelievably fast.
The House That Helped Me Find Myself
I'm also almost finished renovating my old house.
And that one is hard to explain.
It's just a house.
Except it isn't.
It's the house where I figured out who I was.
It's where I cried.
Where I laughed.
Where I rebuilt myself.
Where I dreamed ridiculous dreams.
Where I made a home out of a chapter of my life that wasn't always easy.
Watching that chapter come to an end feels surreal.
But maybe that's another lesson this Harvest Moon is bringing me.
You can be grateful for a chapter and still close it.
You can love who you were there without needing to stay there.
Things change.
We move with them.
We adapt.
We adjust.
And hopefully, we keep growing.
My Harvest Moon Ritual This Year
My ritual isn't going to be elaborate this time.
Saturday night, I want to go sit in the middle of our field with Cody.
Just us.
Music playing.
Probably Christina Perri.
Maybe Bon Iver.
Definitely some Mazzy Star.
We'll bring a blanket. I'll bring some of my favorite crystals and probably wear a stack of my crystal bracelets because apparently that's becoming part of my personality again.
And we're going to talk.
About this month.
About what was hard.
About what was beautiful.
About what we're worried about.
About what we're excited for.
About the next month and everything coming with it.
Most importantly, I want us to talk about what we already have.
Because I remind Cody of this all the time, but sometimes I need the reminder too:
Little things are going to happen.
Bills will show up.
Plans will change.
Something will break.
Schedules will get crazy.
Life will throw things at us that we absolutely did not order.
We'll figure it out.
We don't have to make every little problem bigger than it actually is.
Sometimes we just need to look around.
A Simple Harvest Moon Ritual for Abundance, Protection & Balance
If you want to join me under this Harvest Moon, you don't need anything elaborate.
Grab a blanket and find somewhere quiet.
Bring a crystal that represents what you need right now. Citrine or pyrite are often used in crystal traditions for abundance and prosperity. Black obsidian or black tourmaline can symbolize protection and grounding. Clear quartz can represent clarity and intention, while amethyst is one of my favorites when I need to quiet some of the noise in my head.
Or forget the "rules" completely and grab the crystal you're drawn to.
Bring your journal and write down three things:
What am I grateful for right now?
What am I ready to stop carrying?
What do I want to welcome into this next season?
If you have a candle, light it.
Put on music that makes you feel something.
Sit outside.
Look at the moon.
Talk to your person.
Talk to yourself.
Cry if you need to.
Laugh if you need to.
And instead of asking the universe for more, spend a few minutes acknowledging everything you already have.
That's the part I'm focusing on this month.
Protection. Abundance. Wealth. Balance.
Those are my words for this Harvest Moon.
But wealth, especially, means something different to me right now.
I want financial abundance. Of course I do.
I want CAE's Crystals to grow.
I want more people to find this little shop I've poured so much of myself into.
I want the late nights photographing crystals, writing descriptions, packing orders, creating Crystal CAEfetti and dreaming up new ideas to turn into something.
And I'm actually really excited about the shop again.
There are new crystals coming.
There are new ideas bouncing around in my head.
There are new products and things I want to try.
There is so much I want CAE's Crystals to become.
And after nearly five years of this little business evolving alongside me, I'm realizing that maybe the shop doesn't have to stay exactly what it was when I started it either.
Neither of us are the same anymore.
That feels exciting instead of scary.
But I also don't want to become so focused on building abundance that I stop noticing the abundance already sitting at my kitchen table.
Because I am wealthy in ways that can't be measured by my bank account.
I have an amazing family.
I have girlfriends who show up for me.
I have a boyfriend who loves me for exactly who I am and pushes me to succeed in everything I do.
I have two sweet, beautiful girls I get to call my own.
I have a home.
I have dreams.
I have this weird little crystal business that somehow keeps growing and changing right alongside me.
I have people I love.
And I am loved.
That's abundance.
Maybe This Is What I'm Harvesting
Fall can sometimes feel a little dark for me.
The days get shorter.
Summer disappears.
Life starts moving faster.
And I can get inside my own head.
But maybe that's exactly why I love these full moon rituals so much.
They bring me back.
Every month, the moon gives me an excuse to stop and ask:
Where was I the last time I sat here?
What's changed?
What did I survive?
What did I gain?
What am I still carrying that I don't need anymore?
This month, the answer is complicated.
There has been grief.
There has been stress.
There has been self-doubt.
There has been change.
But there has also been candle making and simmer pots.
Sleepovers with best friends.
Photography plans.
Crystals scattered across my desk.
New products being added to my website.
Halloween Crystal CAEfetti all over my crystal room.
Bracelets stacked on my wrists again.
A house chapter slowly closing.
A new season beginning.
And a man who will sit in the middle of a field with me while Mazzy Star plays because that's apparently what loving me looks like.
So maybe I didn't have a bad month.
Maybe I had a very human one.
Under This Harvest Moon
This Saturday, I'm not asking the moon to give me everything I want.
I'm going to sit underneath it and say thank you for everything I already have.
For the people who stayed.
For the people who arrived unexpectedly.
For the chapters that built me.
For the ones I'm finally ready to close.
For my family.
For my girls.
For my friendships.
For Cody.
For CAE's Crystals.
For the ideas that are starting to excite me again.
And even for the uncertainty of whatever comes next.
Because things are changing.
I can feel that.
And maybe this will be one of the last full moons for a while where it's simply Cody and me sitting together in that field.
Just us.
Quiet.
Side by side.
And instead of being afraid of what that change might mean, I'm going to try to do what this season keeps teaching me to do.
Move with it.
Adapt.
Adjust.
Be grateful.
And trust that there is still so much good ahead.
Happy Harvest Moon.
I'll see you under her.