The Seasonal Moment of Equinox @ EarthGaia as She spins around Mother Sun occurs at 10:29 UT on March 20th – the first Equinox for this Gregorian calendar year of 2017, and it is Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. You can see a model of Earth’s orbit, and also a telling of some of the astronomical science here. At my place East Coast Australia the Autumnal Equinox Moment is 20:29 on March 20th … and all global times may be found at archaeoastronomy.com.
Equinox Sunrise at MoonCourt, Australia
Equinox is one of two holy Moments of balance in Earth’s annual orbit around Sun, when the light and the dark are of equal length in the South and in the North of the Planet – for a moment. We may contemplate Her harmonious spin – balance is never static – the balance is actually created by an imbalance, similar to an AC flow of electric charge. Harmony may be understood as a flow of qualities (I usually imagine a sacred three actually), that allows a spin, manifesting a sense of well-being; even through grief. It is possible to sense well-being if one keeps looking deeper, and with eyes and heart open: and it is a sens-ible place from which one may act, though not necessarily felt as warm and fuzzy – more like a strength, a power which may come from either joy or grief. Both may be understood as sacred empowering experience – the former a power known in the manifestation of being, the latter a power and wisdom known in loss.
Even in the celebration of Spring Equinox (“Eostar” as it may be named) where the theme and experience of your place at this time may be the joy and return of growth and flowers to the land, it actually requires the recognition of the compost that this beauty emerges from: that is, the source of the joy in the sacred Return is the grief for what had/has been lost, as one emerges with power to act.
Autumn Equinox (“Mabon” as it may be known) is a time for the grieving for all that has been lost … and yet we may do so graciously, remembering the abundance received in every moment just by the fact of existence: Autumn Equinox is an appropriate Moment for thanksgiving, and expressing joy for what has been received, for the “harvest” of the moment – which has always had a cost, and may be the cause of awesome grief.
This creative tension of resistance and expansion, the creative edge of grief and joy are never separate. It is a thread of Creativity flowing through space-time that may be celebrated in the Spring or the Autumn: it may be imagined as the delicate balance of the “curvature of space-time” that enables all to come forth. That is a part of what I see in the ancient image of Demeter handing the wheat to Persephone. The Mother hands the Young One – “Daughter” is Her title – everything, awesome knowledge: it is passed on, and it requires descent and return.
The Mother Demeter hands the wheat to Her Daughter-Self Persephone. Ref: The Heart of the Goddess, Hallie Iglehart Austen.
At the Autumn Equinox ceremony at our PaGaian MoonCourt we tie red threads on each other, to signify our receiving of this gift and the vision of it, and in remembrance of the ancient initiates who wore red threads when they participated in the Eleusinian Mysteries celebrated at Autumn Equinox in ancient Greece. The red thread may signify this sacred and delicate balance of life, that continues beneath the visible – in the dark of space-time, in the dark of Earth, in the eclipse of known ways. It may also be understood to be held within the Seed – any Seed; and it is not just a promise of life, it IS the life that is present … simply below the visible. And the Spring Equinox celebrates its amazing emergence, as GREEN life empowered by the stronger light from our Sun. One cannot Be without the other … the Dark Journey and the Emergence into Light: this is the full story.
For Autumn Equinox/Mabon Poetic video: PaGaian Mabon 2009
For Spring Equinox/Eostar Poetic video: PaGaian Eostar 2009
Note that the Demeter-Persephone story told in PaGaian Cosmology is one wherein Persephone descends of Her own volition (not the abduction version) – it is an interpretation of the story that enables Persephone’s integrity as a redemptive quality innate to the Cosmos and present in the Seed. This version is researched and told by Charlene Spretnak in her book Lost Goddesses of Early Greece, and also by Carolyn McVickar Edwards in The Storyteller’s Goddess. I develop this story in: Female Metaphor, Science and Paganism: a Cosmic Eco-Trinity.
At our Place the Autumn Equinox ceremony will be held at 7pm on the 18th March in MoonCourt. The invitation reads:
When Earth is poised in balance of dark and light, about to tip our hemisphere into the dark
You are invited to celebrate
AUTUMN EQUINOX
… the season of thanksgiving for our harvest:
the abundance we have reaped,
that we enjoy daily.
And also, the season of grieving,
for all that has been lost – the Beloved One
descends: it may be a Journey to Wisdom.
We join Demeter the Mother in Her sorrow,
and await the unfolding
of the Mysterious, Wyrdly Creative Cosmos.
…oOo…
If you wish to attend, you may email me (Glenys) for an invitation and details: glenys@pagaian.org
PaGaian Cosmology blogs for Autumn Equinox/Mabon
PaGaian Cosmology blogs for Spring Equinox/Eostar
Autumn or Spring Equinox meditations are available on PaGaian Cosmology Meditations CDs – and are also available for purchase individually in digital format – to nurture your meditations and participation in this Seasonal transition wherever you are. They may be useful for a group also.
Autumn and Spring Equinox preparation e-notes, images and meditations are offered: Celebrating PaGaian Cosmology On-Line .
Some Autumn and Spring Equinox story may be found in Appendix F of PaGaian Cosmology, or if you have a paper version of the book there is an Index for references throughout. These Seasonal Moments in relationship to the whole Wheel of the Year may be found in Chapter 5, and ceremonial scripts are offered in Chapter 7, though they of course always evolve and adapt to personal and regional poetics. The on-line versions are different from those in the paper copy of the book, and frequently will be updated to reflect changes.
There is a PaGaian Cosmology Facebook group where all members may initiate discussion and/or respond, and also a Pagaian Cosmology Facebook Page … which you are welcome to “Like”.
To be on the invitation list, or for notice of events, please contact me.
PaGaian Cosmology 