The Vernal Equinox

Don’t you just feel it? Everything feels fresh and new. And the biggest gift is the light, because when day and night are of equal length, the cycle shifts toward daylight’s time to rule – and we’re all irresistibly drawn to its sparkling magic.

Being in the Northern Hemisphere, our neighbors down south of the equator start the slide toward the quiet introspective months of fall and winter, while we’re seeing crocuses breaking through the snow, tulips and red rhododendron blooming in spring rains and smog-free vistas of mountains that are part of the light’s clarity.

By now you’re seeing signs of Spring, even if your local groundhog glimpsed its shadow in February and scampered back underground for another six weeks of winter weather! This year, Spring officially entered our lives early, on March 20, when the Sun entered the astrological sign of Aries, marking the beginning of the Vernal Equinox.

Spring’s stimulus package
Our reaction to the Sun’s cycle really is irresistible, even if we choose not to be conscious of what’s affecting us. Just like the Moon whose changes affect the tides of the oceans, and our bodies that are made up of more than 50% water (which enhance our emotions), the Sun’s cycles of light and energy have a profound emotional and psychological effect on us.

Spring is about rebirth and renewal. It starts as a time of awakening, full of an almost childlike exuberance, a time when the sky’s the limit. There’s an innocence about it in spite of its zingy energy, and like the green shoots on the trees, it’s a fresh but still fragile new beginning. Animals emerge slowly from their dens and people go out with fewer layers of clothes, still keeping an eye on the weather.

Mating season
And, look out! It may start innocently, but very shortly spring bursts forth into nature’s time for love making. It’s mating season for nearly everyone. Birds are singing to stake out territory and you might catch some interesting mating displays interspersed with frantic twig-collecting for nests. Animals everywhere are stepping out two by two (after the dust has settled from male territorial disputes). And people, since time immemorial, have celebrated the return of spring’s warmer sunnier days with rather obvious fertility celebrations like the Maypole dance. No wonder June became a traditional wedding month!

People host block parties, annual music festivals emerge (like Coachella and Stage Coach in the California desert) and you see spring festivals and carnivals, costumed parades and events everywhere. The Mardi Gras Festival in New Orleans (held in late February and early March), is a classic example of Spring mating revelries.

How does this relate to your personal process? Say that you’ve made good use of your body and psyche’s natural inclination toward quiet and introspection during the winter months. You’ve looked at your life, you’ve made lists, you’ve developed and considered goals, you’ve tinkered with creative ideas and possibilities in relationships, in career and finances, but it hasn’t seemed like time to take action … until now.

Catapult forward
Once the sign of Aries enters at the Spring Equinox everything changes in a hurry. You don’t even have to see the evidence outside your window. You will naturally feel the urge to charge forward like the Aries ram, to begin those projects and follow up on those possibilities. After one more check to be sure that what you plan to plant (or begin) is something you’ll want to harvest in the fall, and live on in winter, with Spring’s encouragement you will begin to take some steps forward.

By May Day (May 1) your inner fires are fully lit, your sap has risen, you’ve laid the groundwork for the rest of the year, scouted out alternatives and, with the Sun in earthy and sensual Taurus, you’re ready to make your plans real. You surge forward with the implacable strength and determination of Taurus and with a terrific energetic boost from the Sun’s cycles you break through to a new level of achievement.

Cooperating with the flow of energy created by the cycles of Sun and Moon is rather like surfing – once you get the hang of it, you can hop a wave and let the surge carry you much further and faster than you could go on your own. All you have to do is hold on and go with the flow all at once.