Spring Equinox: The Time of Balance

The word equinox comes from the Latin meaning “equal night”, and are the two times of the year when the hours of light and dark are said to be equal as the run rises due east and sets due west. As it is also one of the few days when the earth’s axis is straight as a door post and suggests to us a time of balance has arrived (or almost).

At the spring equinox, the sun crosses the celestial equator from the northern to the southern sky. This will take place on 23 September at 5:21am here in Adelaide and is considered to be the first day of the “astronomical spring” as from this point onwards, the hours of daylight will increase as the hours of darkness decrease as the sun rises and sets further north each day. The warmth of the sun will also increase as we head towards the summer, occurs.

Nature echoes the increasing warmth as blossoms burst forth and new growth makes its presence felt. As the sun’s strength increases, so do the visible signs of activity upon the earth’s surface. It is as if, were you to close your eyes for a moment, you would miss the experience of another aspect of creation being reborn all over again.

As the sun moves into the sign of Libra, and in the skies above us, a lot is happening. Firstly, Virgo,the Maiden is very low in the western sky. This is the second largest constellation and one of the two in which the ecliptic and celestial equator cross. Scorpius is high in the western sky, and in Greek mythology, the scorpion plays a role in many stories, however it is best known for its pursuit of Orion through the night sky. 

To the east of Scorpius is Sagittarius the Archer. In Greek mythology, the archer is a centaur, pointing his arrow toward the heart of Scorpius. And finally, Crux, better known as the ironic Southern Cross, with the pointers of Alpha and Beta Centauri appears very low in the south west.

As I mention in my book, Dancing the Sacred Wheel, an alternate name for the Spring Equinox is Ostara, or Eostre, after an Anglo-Saxon Goddess.  Around 730 CE English Benedictine monk Bede (bead) recoded that the Anglo-Saxons worshipped a goddess by the name “Eostre”.  While there is actually little evidence to support his statement, modern historian, Ronald Hutton, means that Bede declared that the name of the Christian festival of Easter was derived from the Goddess Eostre as the month in which Easter fell was originally known as Eostur-month, after the Goddess Eostre, meaning “month of opening” or the “month of beginnings”.  

The spring equinox is also a great time for getting rid of rubbish that has accumulated over the past year.  It is also the time to shake off the winter blues, as well as the stagnation and lethargic attitudes that may have crept in along with the cold winter nights.  Spring cleaning is not limited to the physical cleaning of the house and cupboards and wardrobes. It is also for getting rid of outdated view points; even emotional attachments to items and people that have not been positive to our personal spiritual growth.  When we do this, we are also making room for the new and fresh to come into our lives.