Spring Equinox

March 20th is the Spring Equinox, and we are at the height of the season, at Mid-Spring. The first half of Spring, from the beginning of February until today, has been a time of clearing out the dry leaves and twigs from last year and preparing the ground for this year’s sprouts. And now comes the surge of the robust and relentless energy of growth.

The growth energy of Spring breaks over me in waves. Each day a new set of daffodils unfold their brilliant yellow leaves, a bright reminder that the time is nigh. I find myself in these last few days rushing about gathering up bits of detritus, pieces I do not want to bring into this year’s growth. But that moment is quickly eclipsing, replaced with the keen surge of growth.

Today at the equinox we experience the brief moment of balance on the earth, when day and night are virtually equal. At this brief moment of balance, consider your direction, in a personal and global sense, both the individual you and the you that is one of the beautiful threads in the tapestry of our cosmos. Breathe in the revitalizing growth energy of Spring, nourishing your individual self. Then reach out and join in this moment of global balance, and breathe out your love and compassion.

And get ready to be swept into the heady and glorious flood of new life.

Brightest Blessings at the Equinox -- Anne



A bit about the Spring Equinox: The Spring Equinox is the height of Spring. Equinox means “balance”, and this is the point when the dark and light of the day are most at balance. On a global scale, the equinoxes are at the points of the year when the entire world is in balance, with both Southern and Northern hemispheres receive almost the same amount of light. The equinox has another important feature as well: it is the only point during the year that the Sun rises in exact east and sets in exact west. For while the Sun “stands still” at the solstices, the Sun moves very rapidly across the horizon at the equinoxes leaving only one day to calibrate to the directions (see http://www.archaeoastronomy.com/seasons.html for an animated demonstration of the Sun moving across the horizon). The Mid-Spring festival is also called Ostara (Germanic in origin). Astrologically, the Spring Equinox may be calculated as the date the Sun is at 0° Aries, which currently Falls around March 19-20. This is the beginning of the astrological year in the Tropical system.

My brain

I am not my brain. Sometimes I get confused or even tricked by my brain into thinking that I am my brain and only my brain, but I know now that that's not right. I am that which observes my brain. Last night I dreamed that I was floating in a dark cavern; it seemed like I was underwater in a strange way. Above and to the left a bit I saw my personality. It was like a ball made up of all kinds of things and I woud put it on like a set of clothes. I began to slowly take it apart and see what was there. As I worked on it I eventually realized there was nothing there. It was empty, unreal. I suspect yours is the same way.

thoughts on the approach of the equinox

It feels to me like the first half of spring -- feb 3 until march 21 -- is a time to finish the "ground prep". For me, that means getting rid of all the stuff that keeps things from growing, so weeding, pruning, clearing away. And then from Spring Equinox on, it just feels like an unrelenting surge of growth. So just a few more days to prep the space before the wild ride starts. I feel like I'm standing in line for a roller coaster ride.

Hi everyone! Well, it’s finally looking like Spring is here. Crocuses are blooming and the daffodils are ready to pop any day. Let’s get together and celebrate the Spring Equinox, this time of year when we are surrounded by yellow, red, purple, green, growth, sun and rain.

When: Sunday March 21 at 6:30 pm
Where: Anne and Ben’s house, 2003 Sherman, in Hood River
What to bring: a little food or drink to share, and a music instrument if you are so inclined.
Contact info: Anne Key 541.399.3731

If you’d like to help out with the ritual, please let me know. The more involved, the deeper we go.

Best to you all in this season of Spring -- Anne

Programming

I’ve been noticing the programs running in my brain. An example of what I mean is the act of learning a piece of music. You have to learn it intellectually, but to be able to play it you have to figure out a way to communicate with the part of your brain that controls your muscles and nerves, the fine motor program. It’s not the same program as the intellectual one. This program doesn’t understand that intellectual part of your brain. It doesn’t understand words. Otherwise you could just think “I want to be a concert pianist” and it would happen. But it doesn’t work that way. It only understands and responds to repetition of muscle groups. Perform an action enough times and that program will learn the action and allow you to perform it much more efficiently. Keep at it enough and you’re a concert pianist.

This isn’t the only subprogram. Maybe what we think of as our “personality” is nothing more than a program and who we really are is deeper, higher, broader, wider than any program. If you just let it go, the personality program will make decisions based on history. That could be good or bad depending on your history. It’s not that the program is bad, it’s your own personal program and should love it and take care of it. It’s just that if you let it run the show it will likely make decisions you’re not thrilled about. It’s doing the best it can. Ideally, we would run the program rather than have it run us.

When we chant and meditate it seems like we’re using repetition to communicate with the subprograms that make up our brain. We’re taking control and putting the programs on hold for just a little while so that they all understand who really is in charge here. I think that only when we get all the programs settled down do we begin to understand the subtle, earthshaking truth of who we really are.

I’m spending time exploring my brain. I’m trying to stand back and see what’s really going on here. You can do it; you can find an impartial perch on which to place your consciousness, a vantage point to observe the workings. You start to see patterns. You start to get a feel for how to control these things.