From Spiritual Seasonings: A Life Recipe Book by Lola Wilcox
What happens when we balance? Physically we are aligned, straight back, equal strength in our left and right sides, an easy ability to move into energetic activity. We celebrate Equinox when the earth balances between night and dark with nearly equal hours in both. The Equinox occurs around the 20th of March and September.
Our first awareness of time is probably in the daily change of light to dark and back again. Toddlers learn to sleep at night, wake and play during the day. This is a natural circle based on the circular sun. The moon gives us months, and we learn months also repeat, one after the other in a steady sequence that becomes a year. The interactions of the sun, moon and earth generate these circles of time.
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- 24 hours to a day, the time it takes for the earth to rotate on its axis
- 7 days to a week for most of the planet though not in all cultures
- 30 days (+/- one) to a month, more or less the time it takes for the moon to wax and wane
- 365 days to a year, more or less – the time it takes the earth to circle the sun
Our ancestors knew the sky, the seasons, the plants and animals of the earth, and what needed planting or harvesting as the year turned. Different festivals celebrating the changing seasons are at least as old as the practice of agriculture. In the richness of bounty, food was prepared against the winter: canning, preserving, hunting. Holy places and homes were decorated. There were opportunities for both celebration and for giving to the poor.
Equinox is a day when we can assess our own balance, an opportunity to check in with ourselves, and maybe family and friends, to see if we are balanced in our:
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- body: exercise, diet, sleep
- mind: emotions: steady keel, mild swings if depressed or ecstatic
- spirit: attention to the source of life
- social: the support networks are healthy, not giving or taking too much
- self: there is time to dream, reflect, take leisure.
We can choose one thing to focus on bringing into balance between now and the Vernal Equinox.
Our Earth, and the natural systems that support life as we have known it, are badly out of balance. We could celebrate Equinox by choosing one thing to change about our lives that would help to bring balance back to this, our home.
Next the seasons advance to All Hallows/Samhain, the end of the Celtic and Christian church year.
How about you, Journey Maker?
Leading a balanced life this Equinox?
What needs doing as you enter into the next quadrant of the year?
May the season bless you and yours.
