Here in Southern Australia, it is late winter. It has been one of the coldest winters in 15 years or so, but in the past week the season has changed. There is a touch of spring in the air. The chill has gone, the days are getting longer, beautiful sunny days with a feeling of warmth in the sunlight. The buds are starting to bloom, the birds becoming more active. Time to watch out for those magpies who are probably sharpening their beaks in preparation for an attack on some unsuspecting human, as they guard their nests.
But what really stirs my heart is the night sky, so clear, so full of stars. The Southern Cross is the smallest constellation in the night sky. Mainly visible in the southern hemisphere, looks like a diamond on its side. The Crux as it is called holds special meaning in Australia and New Zealand where it is visible above the horizon throughout the year. There is an Aboriginal myth that uses the Southern Cross to tell the time. Paying attention to which way its tail is facing, they ask someone to, “wake me up when the Cross turns over.”
And then there is the moon, our beautiful moon. I love to watch the moon waxing to full. I always get excited when I first see that tiny crescent moon again. I miss the moon when I don’t see her at night. That glow – that mystical light that calms me, that makes my garden look magical, invites me to stand outside under its gentle light and dance. I imagine, or do I actually feel, the nature kingdom and faeries dancing with me? I love that whatever phase the moon is in - wherever you stand anywhere in the world, we will all see exactly the same moon reminding us of our connection to each other and Gaia, reminding us as humans of our planetary connections.
When I think about the approaching Equinox - that time of balance between the hemispheres, I consider the different ways I try to bring balance into my world.
The first thing that comes to mind is connecting to nature. When I wake in the morning, I try to avoid looking at my devices and go straight outside and stand on my little patch of Gaia. I breathe in with the garden, and breathe out, sensing, feeling, touching, and smelling the violets that are now in bloom, expanding my field to connect with my subtle environment. I feel a welcoming, an invitation to expand my field into a shared felt sense of sacred connection, a Grail Space, feeling a communion with the trees, grasses, the soil, my worm farm, insects, and animals. Everything. Presence to Presence. Wandering around the garden, pulling a weed out here or there. Just feeling at one with the landscape. Then I go inside and look at my devices.
In this busy, technical, information-obsessed world we now live in, it is so easy to fall out of balance. Just listening to the news will do it to me. But if I reconnect and bring nature into whatever I am doing, I am helped to slow down, to feel more at peace. Whether it is looking at the sky ….how blue is the blue today?..., or looking at cloud formations…I see a horse!.., watching a dragonfly skimming across the surface of a pond, or smiling at a stranger as I walk around a park, all these moments can bring me back to my centre.
We had a storm last night - I was so absorbed in a series I was watching that when I heard this very loud clap of thunder I nearly jumped off my seat. I immediately turned off the TV and went outside to be with the storm - feeling that build-up of energy, the lightning, the wild winds. The elements brought me back to my surroundings, reminding me of where I stand on my little patch of Gaia.
In what ways do you bring the natural world into your day? What brings you back into balance?
For the last three years, each season at the equinox or solstice point we have been gathering in our online Commons to celebrate Gaian Festivals of Wholeness and honor the rhythms that guide Earth's life. We call them Gaian Festivals of Wholeness because with a community spread around the world, we feel it important to not only honor the seasonal energies in our own locations, but to celebrate the balance of influences between summer and winter, spring and autumn that flow through our planet. You are invited to join on September 22 at 1 pm PT when we will come together to celebrate the Spring and Fall Equinox. All members of the Commons receive the link to join in, but If you are not a member of the Commons please email freyas@lorian.org to receive the Zoom link and join us, you are welcome! Come join the celebrations.