Welcome to the Autumn or Fall Equinox in the Northern hemisphere and the coming of the Vernal or Spring Equinox in southern realms, equal day and night; the time of balance is at 12,43 UTC on September 22, the moment just for an eye blink when past and future fuse in the present, war and peace, poverty and plenty, sickness and health, love and loneliness sharing for that second, harmony and promise that there is light at the end of the tunnel as the world turns (check www.timeanddate.com for the precise time in your location).
At this point of equilibrium anything is possible as we momentarily step outside past and future. For wherever we live in the world and whatever our digital timepieces assure us, at that moment there are no divisions as we all share the same heartbeat. Henceforward in the northern hemisphere the nights will become longer as in the southern hemisphere light slowly returns.
- If possible, in your time zone, light a white candle at the Equinox, Autumn, Fall or Spring balancing moment; maybe emerge from sleep momentarily or put the daily dash on pause for 60 seconds, sharing that incredible seemingly impossible unity, undivided by the need to reserve your place and space in the cosmos before someone else takes it, just in case we might need it later.
- Leave your candle to burn through or relight it when you can sit and absorb that sense of equilibrium and everything becoming as it should.
Almost 150 Equinoxes, Spring and autumn, have passed, leaf rise and leaf fall, for the sturdy little girl in her grey socks jumping up and down in the pile of fallen leaves in the sooty urban park, my mirror of the seasons and laughing dusty elves.
I scattered the leaves carelessly through the years that seemed forever, shared Autumn and Spring with my children and grandchildren as they danced with and later for me.
Too soon the leaves are swirling from the trees once more. Yet on the other side of the world new life blossoms and in the moment of unity, as we light our Equinox candle, we can take strength from the new while treasuring the old.
May your Equinox, Spring or Autumn be a reminder of harmony, tranquillity and peace for which we can strive and spread in small but significant ways throughout the seasons and the world.