Fwd: ROOTED IN NATURE: Approaching Spring Equinox

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Debra Lynn Dadd <debra

cyndikrall

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:42 am

ROOTED IN NATURE: Approaching Spring Equinox

 

 

 

Debra Lynn Dadd

 

ROOTED IN NATURE restoring awareness of nature and our place in it

 

18 March 2009 ~ Last Quarter Moon

 

Greetings!

 

This year's Spring (or Vernal) Equinox is this Saturday, March 21.

 

Though a civil calendar will always tell you that the Spring Equinox is

on March 21, in fact, it is on the day when the sun reaches 0 degrees

Aries. Since the civil calendar does not line up with the actual

position of the sun in the sky, sun at 0 degrees Aries may fall

somewhere between March 20 and 22. Even if the calendar doesn't tell

you that it's the Spring Equinox, it will generally (though not always,

any more) say it is the First Day of Spring. Now that is not correct

either. The Spring Equinox is the beginning of the climax of spring.

All I need to do is look around to see that spring has been springing

for quite some weeks now--this is the peak, not the beginning.

 

Spring, like all other seasons and everything else in life, is a cycle

of beginning, being, and ending. Spring actually begins in early

February as winter is waning, reaches it's peak between the Spring

Equinox and early May, then fades away as summer begins during May and

early June.

 

The Spring (or Vernal) Equi

nox traditionally was the celebration of the

rebirth of the Earth and the resurrection of living things from the

dark hibernation of winter. Last year I had a great calendar hanging on

the wall that had a watercolor painting of a tree with outstretched

limbs in the middle. On the left side is a night sky and snowcapped

mountains and bare limbs; on the right side are leafy branches,

butterflies, and children dancing in a flower-filled field. This is the

Spring Equinox--day and night in balance, and the midpoint between the

coldest cold and the hottest hot.

 

What has been underground now comes forth. What has been in gestation

now comes into being. As the new is stirring within the Earth, I feel

it stirring within me, too.

 

Indeed, the very word for the season--Spring--describes the action of

Nature at this time. The origin of " spring " goes back to the Old High

German springan, which means to jump and perhaps to the Greek

sperchesthai, which means to hasten. Spring certainly is the time when

plant seedlings and baby animals hasten to jump out into existence. A

spring is a source of water issuing from the ground, a coiled wire that

jumps back into it's original size after being depressed, an act or an

instance of leaping up or forward, a quality of resilience. To spring

is to come into being, to leap or jump up suddenly. And so Spring is

about newness, and in particular, about new life leaping forth

once

again.

 

On this day, the Earth hangs in balance, for the day is equal to the

night, the light is equal to the dark. While this balance occurs again

in the autumn, the Spring Equinox is a time of emergence, opening,

blossoming, moving forward.

 

When my husband and I remarried, we chose the Spring Equinox for our

wedding day. Because the two complementary forces of light and dark

were equal, just as we are equal as husband and wife. And we celebrate

our anniversary on the Spring Equinox, which means every year we have

to figure out what day it is on, because it's when the sun is at 0

degrees Aries, not a calendar date.

 

Though one could research traditional celebrations for the Spring

Equinox and recreate them, I like to create my own celebrations based

on the spirit of what is going on in the natural world. After all,

someone, somewhere originally created the traditional celebrations for

each culture, which were then passed on through the generations. I like

to celebrate the seasons based on what is happening here and now.

 

This year for my spring celebration, I'm observing the opposites of

body and spirit, and experiencing a leap in my own spirit awareness

surging forward. I'm celebrating the renewal of life by remembering

that spirit is what brings life to matter, and acknowledging and

appreciating the presence of spirit in all life forms.

 

Debra

 

To comment on this essay,

and read past essays, visit

http://www.dld123.com/abitofnature/...

 

Debra :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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