Equinox Blessings!

Spring Equinox—Eostar, the festival of the ancient Goddess who gave her name to Easter.  The days grow longer—now day and night are in perfect balance.  I understand why eggs are such a part of this holiday—not just that they symbolize new life, but now with the longer days the chickens are laying abundantly.  I have eggs for breakfast with the deep golden yolks that only come from chickens who scratch in real dirt and eat realbugs. Fertility is all around us.  Baby lambs and baby goats frolic in the grass, and it all looks like an animated Easter card!

With everything blossoming and burgeoning with life, it’s hard to worry about elections or climate change or any of the incipient catastrophes potentially bearing down on us.  And I’m not trying too hard to make myself worry—in spite of a deeply ingrained cultural belief that if you don’t worry enough about bad things happening, you’ll somehow make them happen.  As if worry and stress could create a bulwark to hold back the badness.

I’m letting that go, with this holiday.  The really bad things that happen—they tend to sneak up on you anyway, hitting when you least expect them. Worrying can’t ward them off, it can only undercut our ability to replenish our own springs of energy and hope. We need these times of renewal and joy to keep us going and help us weather the storms when they come.

I truly believe the daffodils want us to notice how the light shines through them so they glow, translucent in the late afternoon. The lilacs and madrones want to make us drunk with their scent.  Responding to nature with joy and gratitude and wonder is part of our job as humans, part of the way we maintain the balance.

So go do your job—take a moment today to gaze in wonder at an unfolding bud, or to plant a seed, or to really pay attention to the chorus of bird song.  Find your inner balance, and let it bring you the renewed energy we need to redress the imbalances in the world around us.

A blessed Spring Equinox to you all!