The Forgotten Importance of the Equinox
Our ancestors have spent much time tracking the cycles of the sun, moon and stars across the sky. The geometry behind temples, pyramids and stonecircles is based on the alignment to the summer and winter solstice, moon cycles and star constellations. And yesterday was a day they always paid attention to, the Equinox - the day when daytime and nighttime are equal.
Why was it so important for them?
I've spent the day with the ocean yesterday. Feeling its energy to come into my own rhythm with the movement of the sun and water throughout the year.
The equinox marks a point of balance, equilibrium but also a turning point. The Daoist describe those days with the movement of yin and yang. During the equiniox, yin and yang, darkness and light, feminine and maximum are in balance, in unity.
After the autumn equinox a shift happens and yin rises to become more dominant and culminate into the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the day with the maximum yin and minimum yang.
The same happens at the spring equinox, after this day yang surpasses yin and culminates in the longest day of the year, the summer solstice.
These shifts are what creates life.
The equinox is a like a still point, point 0 and from here the wheel of life spins again, birth and death in an endless cycle.
We used to adapt our lifestyle to these cycles. Autumn and winter brought us into an inward journey and was preserved for rest. Spring and summer came with the birth of new projects, children, with planting and harvesting season and generally a time for fun and activity.
Somehow yesterday the day reminded me that balance is short lived. We always thrive to achieve it and the equinox is a reminder that we need it but most of the time we are leaning towards one side, one sided thinking, being overly active, or very still. And it is ok that way, as long as we correct the extremes and also lean towards the other side. This is what makes the wave of life, the ocean coming and going from shore. There's always movement, expansion and contraction and beneath it all is the balance, the 0 point of creation.
There is something else fascinating happening on days like the solstice and equinox, as the earth moves into specific alignments with the sun. During the equinox, the sun crosses the Earth's equator. During the solstice, the Earth's axial tilt reaches its maximum inclination toward or away from the sun. These alignments open vortexes for energy to come in.
This has been used by ancient civilisations to create a connection to the unseen world and to make it easier to connect with your internal wisdom and higher consciousness. This is also an amazing time to conceive as well as to give birth, as souls travel much easier on these days.
Many ancient cultures centered their spiritual and religious calendar around these days. And not only the calendar but they also captured the power and special energy of the sun on those days in their temples.
On Chichen Itza in Mexico the sunlight creates a shadow on the equinox on the El Castillo pyramid that looks like a serpent descending the stairs.
In Malta, on the day of the Equinox, the central corridor of the South Temple at Mnajdra slowly becomes flooded with golden light, shining through to the innermost apse.
Nowadays we can still regard these days as special, connecting us deeper to nature's rhythm and the unseen world. Our intuition and dreams around these days are heightened and we can receive valuable guidance from our soul during these times.
If you want to connect back to the rhythms of Mother Earth and ancestral ways of living, I invite you into my seasonal well-being courses that explore lifestyles, diet, and bodywork to live more in harmony with yourself and Earth.
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