Spring came early this year. I’m not talking about Punxsutawney Phil, but rather the fact that a leap year shifts the vernal equinox a day forward. According to experts, spring begins today. In The Wicker Man (it’s about oh so much more than the movie!) I discuss the seasonal holidays of the Celts. The vernal equinox was surely known, but the beginning of spring was understood to be Imbolc, around February 2. Since their summer began on May Day (thus the eponymous Wicker Man), the equinox was halfway through spring. Modern paganism traces the equinox celebrations back to Ostara. The day takes its name from the germanic goddess Ēostre, who also gave her name to Easter. The holidays were intertwined, just as Christmas was entangled with Yule.
I find the equinoxes and solstices times for a spiritual pause. Sure, there’s the simple astronomical fact of equality of light and dark, but there’s also something more. Something that feels cosmic and that helps direct our destiny. From now on there will be more light than dark. But only for six months. Even with Daylight Saving Time, our capture of light is of limited duration. It makes sense to make use of the light while we have it. Of course, those of us who rise early end up falling asleep before dark, but even so it’s starting to get lighter in the mornings again. The equinox is a time for reflection. And like most times for reflection, business doesn’t recognize it as a holiday. Who ever heard of a holiday on a Tuesday?
The thing about spiritual messages is that they often come to you rather than the other way around. At certain times, however, conditions are just right for something to break through. It does require some listening, however. So today, as nature holds everything in balance, try to take an unrushed moment to ponder. For some of us it may come before the fury of work tears through our peaceful meditations, while for others it may come with the calm that five o’clock brings. However we find it, this is a special time because this day is unusual. It is a time of balance. We all know how rare such things are in life in a topsy-turvy world. The earliest flowers are already blooming around here, suggesting that as light increases so will hope greet us, if we watch for it. The world is full of wonder, and an equinox is a time to look for it.