Breathe in deeply and sigh out. Yes, thank you for arriving here in this moment with me. There is so much swirling around us in our current state of global transformation. Sometimes it's easy to forget to breathe in and arrive here.
Today (March 19th) is the transition into the next season; if you are in the northern hemisphere, we are moving from winter into spring. As I have committed to working more with the seasons this year, I look to some teachers for deeper understanding of the meaning held in the Spring Equinox. I have been working in a program called Sisters of Root and Rock, with Sharon Blackie. She reminds us that Spring Equinox is one of two days in the year where the day and night are equal in length. It's a wonderful time to reflect on the balance of light and dark in you own self, in our psyche. What stories have been written for you about your own darkness? Or about the light in you? Our culture certainly has one that it favors. It's likely that some part of you, perhaps a younger, long-ago part, believed the cultural agreement that darkness was unhelpful, not useful and unwelcome. Some of the medicine from the Spring Equinox is that neither light nor dark can exist without the other.
Today, we step fully into the time of year when the sun is closer, the light is stronger and warmer, and when our yang/masculine energy swells up. It is a time of doing, creating, connecting, expanding, finding new shores to plant your flag, looking for new partnerships, both work and personal. It is a time to be aware that polarity doesn't lead to balance.
This spring equinox, as we emerge from the dark time of year, I am particularly curious about the question of restoring balance to our world. For me, so much of the "shelter in place" that we are currently experiencing in many countries around the world is doing just that. I have prayed for a slower paced life, less noise pollution from cars and airplanes, the bandwidth to home/unschool my daughters and the space to learn how to deeply nourish my body, mind and soul. I hear of the canals in Venice becoming clean in just a week, with swans and dolphins returning! I read about the clouds of pollution over China dissipating. People are spending more time with loved ones (if they live with them) and hopefully eating more home-cooked meals. I know there is deep and dark shadow present too: single mothers who must continue to work and risk exposure; abusive households that are now unavoidable; children who depend on free school lunches are now going hungry; insensitive mocking of real fear for family member's lives.
It is important to take some time to celebrate in the darkness and as we emerge into the light. This time of year often represents fertility and maidenhood. In the plant and animal kingdoms, buds and babies begin to be abundant. What in your life is blooming? What has been incubating and is ready to be born?
Sharon Blackie also talks about the symbology of the honeybee, a representation of the female strength, as they are "ruled" by a queen and it is the female bees who do most of the work to keep the hive, the community, going. Each bee does her part of support the nourishment of the hive. How we exist today is hardly hive-like. All the bees would be extinct if they tried to live like we have been today. Imagine the task of building a hive all by yourself. That is basically the way we have come to live in the "western" world.
I believe that some of what we are shedding through the current transformation is bringing us back to the hive-life. While are are more isolated than usual, in some locations nearly completely, there is also a strong tide coming in, and ushering in a willingness to connect more virtually, any way we can. We are starkly aware that we cannot be happy without connection and interdependence.
We also approaching a new moon, occurring on Tuesday March 25th. New moon is a time to plant seeds, make a mental or physical list of all the abundance you want in your life. Get specific. Your words create your reality and hold so much power. Name things exactly how you want them. This new moon I am planting seeds for creative and enriching collaborations, financial stability, clear and strong guidance from my ancestors and deepening nourishment of my soul and body.
Leave a comment with your new moon seeds list!