EarthLove

Sharing Songs of Earth and Sky

The Equinox has Arrived

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Today marks the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere and spring equinox in the south. The equinox marks a time of transition as we move from one season to the next.

This morning our Sun rose directly in the east and tonight it will set due west.  Day and night approach equal length at the equinox as well. This is a time of natural balance.

Take a moment to pause and honor Mother Earth and Father Sky for their sacred dance of light and dark, autumn and spring, yin and yang.  Light a candle in the dark and express your gratitude for the abundance of our sacred planet. Bless the energy of life that pulses both without and within you.

∞

“…Wherever we find ourselves on the spectrum, it is the time of balancing the dark and the light. In the Northern hemisphere, as the days get shorter and the outer light recedes, we move inward to kindle our inner light. In the Southern Hemisphere, as the days grow longer, we we move our way back into the world and bring out our inner light to share with the world.

Everything in nature is constantly giving and receiving. This balance is essential, and it is part of the expressive energies of yin and yang that we are re-balancing as a collective…”

Excerpt from Mysticmamma

Autumn Begins with Balance

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Today is the autumnal equinox.  Autumn has officially arrived.

An equinox is the moment in which Earth’s equator lines up perfectly with the center of our Sun’s disk. This occurs only twice each year, in March and September.

At the time of an equinox, our Sun rises directly in the east and sets directly in the west. Day and night are precisely equal at the equator — and very close to equal everywhere else on the globe.

Metaphysical thoughts on the equinox from MysticMamma:

Symbolically, it can be viewed as the point when day meets night, where opposites meet on equal ground, where we can integrate the duality within the oneness of existence.
The ancients, who knew themselves to be at one with the Earth, honored these planetary shifts as important reflections of life. As above so below, As within, so without.
This eternal medicine reminds us of the equanimity necessary to reconcile opposites…

 

∞

Thoughts on equanimity and balance from BuddhaNet:

Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind, rooted in insight. Looking at the world around us, and looking into our own heart, we see clearly how difficult it is to attain and maintain balance of mind.

Looking into life we notice how it continually moves between contrasts: rise and fall, success and failure, loss and gain, honour and blame. We feel how our heart responds to all this happiness and sorrow, delight and despair, disappointment and satisfaction, hope and fear. These waves of emotion carry us up and fling us down; and no sooner do we find rest, than we are in the power of a new wave again. How can we expect to get a footing on the crest of the waves? How shall we erect the building of our lives in the midst of this ever restless ocean of existence, if not on the Island of Equanimity.

A world where that little share of happiness allotted to beings is mostly secured after many disappointments, failures and defeats; a world where only the courage to start anew, again and again, promises success; a world where scanty joy grows amidst sickness, separation and death; a world where beings who were a short while ago connected with us by sympathetic joy, are at the next moment in want of our compassion – such a world needs equanimity…

∞

Spend a few moments meditating with Mama Earth today. May she help you find your sense of balance and equanimity in the midst of all the waves of change and chaos.

Spring is Coming! Spring is Coming!

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Vernal Equinox
Vernal Equinox

Every year, in the 3rd week of March, spring officially begins in the northern hemisphere. This date is known as the vernal equinox. This year it occurs March 19th at 10:30 PM Mountain time. Vernal equinox marks the moment that our Sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above Mother Earth’s equator. Vernal (or vernus) is actually the Latin word for spring. The term equinox is used to acknowledge that the length of day and night are equal or in balance at this time of year.

Traditionally, vernal or spring equinox is a time to celebrate new life, rebirth and new beginnings. Quite appropriate, given that spring is the time of year when Mama Earth “wakes up” and offers shoots and buds of new growth everywhere. Spring is also the ideal time to sow seeds that will sprout and grow as our days lengthen and the soil of Mama Earth warms up.

Our ancestors built many monuments honoring the return of spring. The Great Sphinx, an ancient Egyptian symbol of resurrection and rebirth, is precisely aligned with the sky so that the Sphinx stares directly at the rising sun on spring equinox. Angkor Wat in Cambodia is positioned so that the sun rises up the side of the central tower of the temple and crowns its pinnacle on spring equinox. And at the Mayan temple of Chichen Itza, a magical sun serpent appears and slithers up the pyramid stairs each year on spring equinox.

Here at Sacred Earth Institute we like to be a bit more informal and simply shout with joy that spring is coming!