Whether you consciously know or not, on some level you surely have noticed, because your bones know, your cells know, the rods and cones in your eyes tell your brain. Today is equinox for all of us, every living being on earth. Night and day are equal today. Tomorrow, for us in the northern hemisphere, the turn toward darkness begins in earnest. Night will be longer than the day, each night progressively longer until winter solstice arrives in December.
We humans in the industrial world no longer plan our lives by the light and the dark, but our ancestors did. Here in the north, we feel the inward pull, the urge to store food, to hurry to get the harvest in, to make sure we have heat for the coming winter. Perhaps you’re thinking about what books you want to read, or an indoor project you want to work on as we move indoors, or cozy gatherings with loved ones. Hestia, ancient goddess of the hearth tugs at our hearts, calling us to warm ourselves together by the fire as the darkness and cold come.
You in the southern hemisphere are moving into the light, feeling the excitement, the promise of spring, of flowers, of nesting birds and emerging butterflies and flowers. Life will soon burst forth. The time has come to plant seeds, dance, celebrate the potential of new life and possibilities.
I live in the northern hemisphere as have all my ancestors before me so, for me this is autumnal equinox. I feel the light change, the pull inward. And whether or not we humans acknowledge this change, all of nature knows. The birds know. The trees, grasses and insects know. Bears prepare to hibernate; squirrels’ stock up for winter. Our relationship with the sun has shifted. The sun feels like it’s slipping away, its energy fading, becoming quiet, leaving us to consider what has been. We may day-dream sleepily, like the hibernating ones, of what may come. Some changes are so subtle most may register them only unconsciously – like how the changing light affects the color of the sky. Some changes are dramatic, like the coloring autumn leaves. How you experience this time depends upon your habitat, your ecosystem, and your awareness of your connection with it. What is happening now in your habitat? How are your body, and your subtle, inward self responding to the season’s change? Whether you live in the rush of the city or the life flow of rural spaces, something has changed. What? I invite you to look around, to notice.
Here in northwest Montana where I live, I check the weather forecast every evening waiting for news that the hard frost is coming. The frost’s arrival usually anticipated in early September has yet to arrive, giving a bit of grace to tender plants like tomatoes, squash, peppers, and melons and may lull area newcomers into false confidence about our fickle growing season here in the mountains.
The growing season is at its end. What is not yet harvested will require a scramble on that eve, soon to come, when we receive the frost warning. Then all gardeners rush out to cover plants and pick buckets of green tomatoes with hopes they’ll ripen on windowsills to remind us of summer in the darkening days of December.
Pansies scoff and laugh at the frost warning. Unfazed by snow on their flower tops, they will wither a bit, but given a bit of sun and warmth, they will rally and bloom, all winter if conditions are right. Hardy to a point, they too, just like us, have their limits. So, remember, if someone calls you a pansy, that is a compliment. They are remarking on your resilience.
Yes, here where I live, I get to see the drama of the change from the intense light of summer that lasts as long as eighteen hours, to this time of year when day and night are equal. No one needs to tell the birds this. Most who will migrate have already left. If you live south of me in their winter homes, the black-chinned hummingbirds will arrive soon. The sandhill cranes are taking their last test flights and the blackbirds were busy with flight practice (called murmuration) yesterday. They will leave one day very soon. The pastures are spare, brown, and waiting for frost. The birch has turned brilliant yellow, soon to be followed by the aspen and larch.
We have celebrated these turns of the great wheel of time with fires, dancing, feasting, and storytelling since we were small travelling bands or forest clans, long before we knew how to right stuff down. Aware of it or not, today we celebrate the abundance of the harvest and the opportunity to turn inward. Our modern civilizations may not slow down, but we are still beings of Nature, beings of the light and dark.
Life is richer as we align ourselves with the ever-changing dance of the sun, earth, and moon as is our birthright as earth-beings. Can you feel the change?
Wishing you many blessings on this equinox and a lovely celebration of all that has been, the wonder that is now, and all that is to come .
Life IS so much more rich by celebrating the natural Turns of Gaia's Wheel of Time.. Solstices and Equinoxes.. as you said Cynthia, as we have done as a human species for a very long time! It has been innate to me to celebrate these Turns.. starting in my teens., through now at eighty! (Instead of artificially constructed celebrations that are not calibrated to align with Natures rhythms.) Why does this matter? As Cynthia pointed out, these "Turns" are times ON THE PLANET AS A WHOLE, where we can stop and reflect on our relationship to the Earth, offer our deep gratitude for our existence on this beautiful little gem of Gaia, and celebrate our connections to each other and the Earth! It is in a great part, falling out of this natural rhythm of honoring the Earth in this way, that has led to the dishonoring of Nature and the extreme imbalances we are experiencing at this time in history. My prayer/dream/vision for all the inhabitants of Earth is for us to get back into the natural rhythm of celebrating Equinoxes and Solstices to deeply HONOR Nature and humbly call Her back into balance with our love and caring action. Thank you Cynthia for bringing this important subject more fully to our awareness, that we may make the necessary changes for re-harmonizing with Nature and thus for our survival as a human species! ariel spilsbury
Lovely piece of seasonal introspection. Thank you.
Your writing does inspire to ponder, wonder and explore.
A majority of our species lives with you and the seasons whose names are so familiar. For many years I lived in a tropical region, albeit just barely, at 22+ degrees north. I found the words and name existed there even though the actual experience was very different. We had basically two seasons, warm and cold-ish.
In some places they think in terms of dry and rainy seasons.
Forty percent of our species live in the tropics and equatorial regions where they do not really experience distinct seasons. They definitely did not have the same harbingers. Many trees bud and bloom year round. No gold or red emblazoned hillsides to mark a time of fall. Our latitude language has taken over, colonising through words, rather than ancestral other ways, but leaving something of a bafflement as to what those names actually mean.