The Seasonal Moment of Equinox @ EarthGaia as our Planet may be named,[i] will occur March 20th at 3:06 UTC (that’s “Universal Time” as it is named – measured at Greenwich England). Equinox is a moment of balance of dark and light for the Planet, when the dark and the light in the South and in the North of our Planet are of equal length – for a moment. From this moment on, the Southern Hemisphere will tip into increasing dominance of dark after the dominance of light for six months – thus it is Autumn Equinox, a certain descent; and the Northern Hemisphere will tip into increasing dominance of light after the dominance of dark for six months – thus it is Spring Equinox, a certain emergence.
At my place East Coast Australia, where it is the Season of the Autumn Equinox, the actual Moment occurs at 13:06 on March 20th (plus 1hr for NSW and Victoria). All global times for the actual Moment are here: archaeoastronomy.com
At Equinox – Autumn or Spring – we may celebrate the Sacred Balance that enables all to come forth. I often think of this Seasonal Moment[ii] of balance, as kin to the delicate balance of the “curvature of space-time” that enables all to come forth, and that is part of what I see in the ancient image of Demeter handing the wheat to Persephone. The creative continuous thread that is passed on, is the harvest of all that has gone before making this moment and every moment, possible; yet it is also the seeds of the future. It is the red thread of life that has been passed through the ages – physically evident in every body’s navel where the umbilical cord has been cut. The sacred harvest passed to every being by the Mother has been poetically recognized since ancient times in Greek tradition as the Mother-Daughter Mysteries, which were celebrated in Eleusis at Autumn Equinox and also Spring Equinox (the Lesser Mysteries). The red thread of life holds within it a balance of grief and joy, a creative tension of resistance and expansion, of coming into being and passing away, the continuing thread of Creativity through space-time, in which all participate, whether consciously or not.
The poetry of Autumn Equinox (sometimes known as “Mabon”), may express thanksgiving for this harvest in all its dimensions, and also grief for the losses involved: expressed as the loss of the Beloved One, who may have many faces, many valencies. In the story of Demeter and Persephone, as it may be told, Persephone descends voluntarily to the underworld to attend to the dead and for the gaining of knowledge … poetic expression for the power of the seed to restore life and beauty.[iii] Persephone’s descent is metaphor for the experience of loss in our personal and collective stories. Such sacred moments may be ceremonially recognised at this time and connected to Larger Story – that of Earth Herself and Cosmos: that is the healing, the wholing of personal and collective grief.
The Spring Equinox (often known as “Eostar”, and from which “Easter” takes its name[iv]), may be celebrated as the return of the Beloved One from the depths, as in the story of Demeter-Persephone, or in the story of Inanna, or that of Dumuzi: this may be understood as poetic expression for the return of the GREEN evident in the life-force surging through plants again, and the many flowers that only appear at this time. It is a Return that we may hope for, that we work for, however that may manifest and be understood: it may be small victories and accomplishments that give beauty midst grievous situations, as well as larger emergences from challenging long journeys. Such sacred moments may be celebrated in this Season in particular, the remembering and recognizing of them as moments of stepping into power and joy; and connecting them to Earth’s Creativity, to Cosmic Creativity – to the Great Universe Story, in which we, each and all, are.
Note that the version of the Persephone story that I tell in PaGaian Cosmology is one wherein Persephone descends of Her own volition, and not the later abduction version. This version is researched and told by Charlene Spretnak in her book Lost Goddesses of Early Greece, and also told by Carolyn McVickar Edwards in The Storyteller’s Goddess. Persephone’s voluntary descent expresses and enables Persephone’s integrity, Her shamanic redemptive quality, a quality that is innate to the Cosmos and present in the Seed. I develop this story in this article: Female Metaphor, Science and Paganism: a Cosmic Eco-Trinity.
For Autumn Equinox/Mabon Poetic video: PaGaian Mabon 2009
For Spring Equinox/Eostar Poetic video: PaGaian Eostar 2009
At my place the Autumn Eqinox ceremony will be celebrated close to the actual Moment, and I invite others in my hemisphere in this way:
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…
PaGaian Cosmology blogs for Autumn Equinox/Mabon
PaGaian Cosmology blogs for Spring Equinox/Eostar
Some Autumn and Spring Equinox story (and offered ceremonial scripts) may be found in my new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos, Chapters 11 and 7 respectively, and/or Appendix F of PaGaian Cosmology may be referred to.
Autumn and Spring Equinox meditations are on the PaGaian Cosmology Meditations CDs and are also available individually in digital form at that link (scroll down).
To be on the PaGaian Cosmology Seasonal list (for both hemispheres) please contact me (Glenys).
NOTES:
[i] Evolutionary biologist Elisabet Sahtouris advises: “The English word Earth came from an ancient Greek root meaning working the ground, or earth – ergaze -which evolved into the name of the Nordic Earth goddess, Erda and then into the German Erde and the English Earth.” Earthdance, p.5-6.
[ii] I have coined this term to speak of the “Sabbats”, the eight Earth holy days of the Old European calendar, based on Thomas Berry’s naming of Earth-Sun transitions as “moments of grace”.
[iii] For more on this see Glenys Livingstone Ph.D., A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos, p.304-306, and/or this essay https://pagaian.org/2015/03/17/the-equinoxes-as-story-of-redemption-sacred-balance-of-maternal-creativity/
[iv] Eostre is a Goddess name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ēostre. Christians named their resurrection festival “Easter” in the Middle Ages.
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