Tag Archives: seasons

The Spring Equinox and Seasonal Savvy

 

An April Heleborus

I am a little slow in addressing the vernal or spring equinox that occurred March 19 2012 at 10:14 pm PDT. Slower still, because this year was one of the earliest equinox by date since 1896.

Looking to live life deeper can be very shamanistic. People who live in a shamanistic way take into account the spiritual or ethereal side of everything and they explore the connections, the relationships, of one thing to another. A natural outcome of this is balance, a balance of work with play, self with others, male with female, technology with nature. What we are looking for is integration: a personal life that is also part of ALL LIFE. This is an expanding experience, one that makes life very, well… alive.

The foundation of shamanistic living consists of consciousness and awareness, to know what is happening and to somehow become a part of it, to be engaged. One way to do this is to observe the cycle of the seasons and understand how it affects us.

 Most of us go through our day without much thought to what the earth is doing today. We probably notice whether it is sunny or raining but we’ve been pretty programmed to ignore any other earthly activities as beyond our immediate concern, care or involvement.  As a result things sneak up on us. We are susceptible to the shock of seasonal shifts. We don’t get a chance to become acclimatized and that can leave us with an adjustment hangover: sometimes known as Spring Fever. Being mentally and emotionally aware of outside occurrences puts us in sync with the vibrational level of our reality and gets us poised to take advantage of forthcoming opportunities.

 Let’s get a seasonal edge today.

Spring is official when the sun moves into the sign of Aries right at 0 degrees. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac in astrology, ruled by the planet Mars and Mars is in charge of action. The sun is in a sign for one month or for 30 degrees. For 30 days we are all under the influence so to speak, of the sign the sun is in for that month. We can see this in the actions we take every year at this same time.  This is all very intellectual, but what does it mean for us commuters?

We have just come from winter, a time of cold and (perhaps) snow. This is the season we stay home because the weather is usually forbidding much activity. We tend to pull indoors out of the biting wind. Naturally we are a little more internal and contemplative. We may read, play cards, or perish the thought: watch more TV.

When the vernal equinox arrives, especially here in the country, we are catapulted out of our hibernation and into a lifestyle very much more active. Spring chores line up like rows of new daffodils each demanding immediate attention.  Sometimes the temperatures turn from cold to hot on a dime.

Another reason for the (apparently sudden) seasonal whiplash is the way we catalog the seasons. You’ll hear me complain about this a lot. In ancient times (especially in the Celtic regions) they used calendars that were more intimately connected to the natural world and far better suited to explain the natural rhythms around us than our current one is. Feb 2nd was considered the beginning of spring. This is the time we really notice the days are getting a little longer and the seeds, although still deep in the earth, are nevertheless starting to stir and wake up. It was the first stirring of the season. The name given to that date was Imbolc, meaning: “in the belly” (of the earth).  When the sun enters Aries at the vernal equinox they would say that we are in the MIDDLE of spring.

Red Maple Buds

Now, as the ever lengthening day meets up with the ever shortening night we get a sense of a doorway. We’re in a celestial doorway. We are poised, or paused, one might say, in the calm before storm of summer.  Yet, we only have our hands on the latch. We’re opening it and standing in that place where we must now switch our mental and physical gears from the quiet of winter to the riot of summer, from inactivity to ACTIVITY.  It’s not too late, but we do have to take a breath and consider our position.

So what do we do to tell ourselves that we need to make a shift, to put ourselves in tune with this seasonal vibration that is rattling our cages and shaking out the complacency of our own winter hibernation?

We can conduct a spring ritual. Rituals can be physical acts that tell our consciousness something is occurring by mimicking on a smaller scale, the larger happening. They act as a mirror of the happening, reflecting back to us in better detail some concept that might be too abstract for us to grasp with our mentality alone.

Many of us already do spring rituals without realizing it. We switch the blankets on our beds from heavy to light weight. We plan our gardens and order seeds. We pack winter coats back in the mothballs. We give the house “Ye old spring cleaning”. As we do those things we can be more conscious of the significance of the chores. We can go a step further and put on plays that tell the stories of spring. We can even do more intense and focused rituals like lighting a fire in a pit, beating a drum and singing a song to honor this time and our place in it. Then there is always a hike or picnic to look for wildflowers or birds, camera in hand.

The main thing is to prepare for new activity in whatever way seems right to you. You may decide to begin a new project, or turn the heat up on one that is floundering. This is an excellent way to embrace the energy of Aries and Mars, synonymous with springtime.

Whatever you do, if you do it with the intention of beginning the cycle again, in step with the season around you, you may find yourself just a little more aware, a little more focused, a little more productive, and even a little more relaxed, ready to take advantage of any spring potential and turn it over to a summer more than just scenic.

Copyright 2012 CLCW

A Short Guide to Winter in the North or Considering Opposites in Astrology

Here in the Northwest winter has finally come to call. She must’ve mislaid her invitation somewhere (if she ever had one) as she is very late. I don’t mind really, as far as I am concerned she needn’t have bothered. For most of us the winter season is far from our favorite. In the pastoral calendar of old, December 23rd otherwise known as the winter solstice, was considered midwinter. Coincidentally (or maybe not) that is the date that our Sun changes signs from adventurous Sagittarius to serious Capricorn.
This happening has an effect on the human population. If your birthday is anywhere from (approx) Dec 23rd to Jan 21st   your Sun sign is Capricorn and all the honors and tribulations that go along with that sign are yours. Yet, it isn’t just native Capricorns getting all the fun, for one solid month we are all complimentary Capricorns because we have to deal with the Saturnian energy the sun is shoveling in. Saturn is Capricorn’s ruling planet. You might call it the boss. Saturn would like that and it’s always preferable to stay on a bosses good side. Saturn is one of astrology’s more infamous planets. It has a reputation for being difficult to deal with. Well what boss isn’t? Saturn isn’t as threatening as it is demanding, just as winter is demanding. Winter can turn threatening too if we are grow unconscious or lazy toward it. Saturn (and winter) has a lot of expectations. At certain times of our lives there are rules applied and we are expected to color within the lines and make the most of it. One thing that winter and Saturn have in common is that during their reign we can’t cut loose and do whatever we want. If we try speeding down icy roads it isn’t going to end well, we’re going to get hurt.
There are other rules in life that aren’t as physically obvious but breaking them can end up hurting us just as much. Another word for rules is responsibility. Saturn asks: who or what are we responsible for? If this responsibility is right and true for us to accept then how can we find joy while meeting the demands? Lastly, what are the consequences for us if we chuck it all anyway and run? This is part of what Saturn has to teach us. During the winter we all get to try on temporary versions of this kind of energy because responsibility is being imposed on us by outside seasonal conditions rather than through our birth charts, lives or transits. We feel (or should feel) the “rules of the road” this time of year. A time to pull in, take stock and recognize what is important enough to drive through a blizzard to and what is not. Scarcity is the order of the day. Everything from what is in season and affordable at the grocery store, to how much time do I have before it gets dark outside to how much energy am I going to have left after shoveling the driveway and thawing pipes? It isn’t even practical to be away from home for very long as the bitter cold can turn small mishaps back at the ranch into major problems quicker than you can say: “Jack Frost.”
There is no changing the weather, but one may change their attitude and consequently their actions and that is where astrology comes in handy. Understanding what is being asked of you and why can provide an answer to the question of: “Just what kind of joy can I get from responsibility?”
In astrology the answer to one signs dilemmas or extremes is its opposite sign. That is, the sign that is 180 degrees from it on both the astrological wheel and the wheel of the year. The opposite of January is July and the opposite of Capricorn is Cancer.  
Now another plug for my assertion that astrologers include Earth in their astrological studies:  once again Earth has something to contribute to these situations because when the Sun is in a sign our Earth is in the opposite sign. The Sun is the active principle here meaning, that it is the Sun’s dynamic (and the sign it is in) that is dominating our lives every month, the outside force to be reckoned with at this moment. Being stable and slightly inert the Earth has the passive principle. Caught in winter’s claw the Earth can’t really do a whole lot but hunker down and neither can we. This is our first hint of guidance. A passive role also includes our inside energy, the psychological attitude we need to cultivate and our reaction to this dynamic Sun energy that is snowing on our parade. In other words the Earth sign, being the opposite of the Sun sign at any given time shows the creatures of Earth how best to deal with the Sun’s present energy level or color.
Let’s look at the energetic signature of the sign of Cancer. Cancer is known for a penchant to pull in when a situation threatens and assess the emotional temperature around them for the purpose of getting a better bead on things. As a result their natural intuition gives them the ability to instinctively know the best time to take their next step.     
Cancer is also famous for its extreme nurturing abilities. According to Dictionary.com to nurture is “to support and encourage or to feed and protect” Also covered is training and education for the development of oneself.  
When the year swings around and the Sun is in the sign of Cancer (and the Earth in Capricorn) we experience the other seasonal temperature extreme here on Earth: high summer. It follows that in July we then look to Capricorn for the right psychological mindset and emotional mood to align ourselves with. Here we have a see-saw like pattern unfolding:
In January, Capricorn Sun: Peak of Winter, freezing cold and bitter outside? Cancer Earth: Regroup and make plans and nurture them. Develop and deepen your talents or even train yourself in a new specialty. Stay indoors and nurture you, your home, your family and friends and maybe a business idea or two. Reconnect with all indoor and internal levels and ideas.
In July, Cancer Sun: Peak of summer. Emotions are running high, family and friends actively coming for a visit. Need a retreat? Capricorn Earth: Take charge, organize and defer. Throw yourself into work and career, plans and projects should be at their highest operational level now.
However like its mirror image winter, the sweltering hot days of summer can hold some similar restrictions too. Recognize that this time of year is not the time to spread yourself too thin or run too fast, you’ll collapse with heat stroke. Get all your plates in the air and then kick back a little in the afternoon. Wine cooler on the patio with a lively guest anyone?     
The planet Saturn, like the winter season, represents a limiting set of circumstances and high expectations whether it’s one month a year or as in our natal charts: throughout our entire lifetime. Yet if we heed the message in the medium of astrology, paying close attention to opposites, marrying the active outgoing principle of the Sun and the attitudinal passive principle of the Earth (in the signs of Capricorn and Cancer respectively, this time of the year), if we work within that criteria we can meet Saturn’s expectations with a song in our hearts. Then Saturn rewards us for a job well done. We will establish ourselves as serious and successful workers who can handle life’s adversities with know-how and great timing while sporting the support system of a strong foundational home-life of family and friends. Happy Winter!                  

The August Sun

We are a month behind weather-wise in the inland Northwest. It all started with a very cold and rainy spring that really never let up until sometime in early July. We were probably the only place in the country fairly cool all summer. However, now that September is here, we are having our August temperatures at last. In the northern hemisphere August is usually everyone’s hottest month. Appropriately, the sun is in charge of August in astrology because it is the ruling planet of Leo. Most sun sign Leos are born in August. In the public arena it is specifically the sun and sun sign astrology that gets the most press (That should please all the Leos out there.) Everyone is familiar with their sun sign. When we look at the sun symbolically it is representative of the center of the self or, our home base of operations, a touchstone for all that we are in this lifetime, and it governs our self expression, so after all, this is a pretty important piece of the personality to consider.

Besides being a powerful planet in its own right, sometimes the sun can actually be over emphasized in a person and of course that would be reflected in the natal chart. The most common ways a planetary energy can get ramped up are:

1) The sign the sun is in at time of birth can make it stronger
2) Where it is placed in a natal chart, especially when on the cusp of the angular houses 1st, 4th, 7th, or 10th 
3) By aspect: a planet’s power can be increased (or decreased) by its association with other planets    

But when it comes to this “planet” you don’t need to be an astrologer to observe someone with stronger sun energy flowing through their chart. Just like the August sun they are quite noticeable! There is a line from the movie Jurassic Park that describes this situation quite well. In an early scene when the guests are being introduced in the helicopter, Dr. Hammond the park curator, has this to say about one of them:
“You’ll have to get used to Dr. Malcolm he suffers from a deplorable excess of personality.” Have you ever encountered someone like that? When they walk into a room they will take the conversation over. You may admire the way they unabashedly light up the room and never apologize for being who they are. They may be funny, clever or just very entertaining. They’ll delight in being the center of attention and even make you feel somehow special. When it comes to life, they are “all in.”
Sometimes though, the intensity of that sun can also create the loudest or even the most obnoxious person you’ve ever met. (At least you will remember them!) Like the hottest summer sun they can be overwhelming, unrelenting, and exhausting wearing you down until you run for the shade.
           

Winter Solstice 2005


The snow is piling up on Black Pine Mountain and it seems downright refreshing after the dormant dryness of last year. The dark is a bit depressing and I never get over how fast it falls. One minute it’s day and the next, the stars are out.
There is plenty of dark now; we’re approaching the longest night of the year. Since summer, the sun has been sliding south, taking the light with it, days growing shorter by the minute. On December 21, Sol reaches the farthest point south and it’s as far away as it can get from us Northerners. This explains the very long night. Meanwhile, the Australians are baking on the beach till all hours.
For centuries the Winter Solstice, or Yule, has been celebrated all over the world as a powerful yet festive time for good reason. The autumn equinox showed our ancestors a sun that was slipping away day by day and they had no assurance that it would ever return. If it kept going, they were all doomed.
By the solstice there was near panic. They needed comfort and craved some control over their destinies. So they began to develop elaborate rituals to encourage the sun’s return. They lit bonfires on the hilltops, imitating the sun’s light and heat, a way of honoring what the personal fireball did for us.
They Looked everywhere for a sign that life wasn’t completely gone and would perhaps return to full flower in time. They searched for what still might be living and green in the soil of their natural world.
The evergreens were a sign. They cut fir or pine trees and brought them into their homes in a celebratory way. If these trees were alive then surely they would have a chance also. They devised an ornament made from the trees branches, a circlet of evergreen boughs to hang on the door, this was another symbol of the sun and through sympathetic magic perhaps it could be encouraged to come back their way again.
Then, wonder of wonders the sun did return, the light was born again and all rejoiced at the Yuletide. Life on Earth would continue.
If this theme strikes you as somewhat familiar, it is. Before Jesus was a glimmer in Mary’s eye, people celebrated this life affirming holiday and revered it as a time of renewal and the moving out of darkness. When the Christian priests wanted more followers for their new religion they decided that the solstice was a good spot to place the birth of Jesus.
The symbolism was apropos and, besides everyone was partying anyway, the people might just be persuaded to celebrate Jesus instead of the Earth. I’ve been told that the Bible hints at Jesus’ actual birthday being sometime in the fall. At any rate it worked pretty well.
I think that it is important to know the true history of things so that we understand what we take for granted and why. One problem that arises in shifting the celebration from the natural world to that of a holy man is that we no longer feel we belong to our own earth. Our spiritual emphasis has become human-centered, no longer do we revere and celebrate the Earth and all that live on her.
This may seem like a (deceptively) trivial point at this time of year but having all the old celebrations of nature and the seasons removed from our psyches has helped to cut the cord of kinship with our very surroundings, snowballing into an appalling human apathy when it comes to our planet and home. How can we talk about the winter wonderland while tossing an empty beer can into it? We got control and lost the connection.
As you sit by the fire on December 24, it doesn’t matter whether you choose to celebrate Christmas or Yule. They are equally religious and beautiful holidays and past misdemeanors really don’t matter anymore. The theme is still one of bringing light into our homes and hearts and remembering to love.
Whatever your spiritual beliefs let them include one of the greatest gifts God or Goddess gave us: the earth. That said, Jesus is part of the godhead, but so is the earth – so how can we sing the praises of one and ignore or even harm the other? It makes no sense to me.
What matters this holiday season is that we choose to revere and honor all of life and the spirit of the God/Goddess inherent in it – called Jesus, the Earth or our other fellow beings.
So in that spirit, go on out and commune with some stark, yet still quite lovely scenery. The way the snow shines like a million diamonds on the hill, the color of the birds at the feeder all flutter and fancy in the still air, the whisper of a deer walking through the woods, a gentle reminder to slow down and breathe within our busy lives.
These are things we can enjoy with or without money and they bring us ever closer to a connection with the incredible life we’ve been given and the beauty of it.
When we stop and turn our attention to the natural world, and care for it, we raise our awareness of a gift we may have forgotten we have and help us to feel gratitude for who put us here. It all leads to the same place of holy reverence because we are all part of the same life force, are we not? It’s a circle, but we have to make more of an effort now, because we have no routine seasonal ceremonies to remind us of the honor we hold.
During this time of rebirth, let’s give rise to an attitude of inclusiveness, along with the love and joy, embracing not only our fellow human hearts and minds, but the others we share this planet with. For by honoring them we honor their (and our) Maker.
May the power of the season continue to inspire you throughout the year, Merry Christmas and Happy Yule.

Halloween


Halloween 2005

The sky is turning ash grey and orange at twilight. The frosts have deepened and outside: all is still. The trees are almost bare, the last of their leaves rattle in the wind like a skeleton’s bones. The air is so crisp that when you take a breath, it’s like biting into an apple, an introduction to the chill of winter.

Halloween as the beginning of winter makes far more seasonal sense than the end of December when winter is almost half over. I see our blind allegiance to the present (fairly meaningless) traditional naming of the seasons as another symptom of a lost sense of rhythm with the earth. Yet, if we follow this seasonal thread to its logical conclusion we will see why All Hallows Eve is not only the first day of winter but also why it became spooky to so many.

Halloween is a time fraught with many varieties of vertigo.

The autumn colors are no doubt, beautiful, but they also mean death. We are all but surrounded by the falling leaves, dying plants and dead insects. The sun is not spending very much time with us either and what little there is of it is slanted and low. The outside world is folding it in for a very long night. Sometimes we may wonder: how did we get so lucky to live through it? There was a time when that was in doubt.

Long ago when we made a more direct living from the land, the spring and summer months were times of ease, food was abundant and hunting was a leisurely affair. Then October swung around. As the weather grew colder the harvest became more frenzied. Soon the snow would fall. Everything possible had to be picked preserved without the help of freezer or refrigerator.

There would be no stopping by the grocery store to stock up, what we grew and gathered and preserved was all we had to see us through a very serious time of lack. In addition to the seeming death of the natural world, this was also the time of year when we slaughtered most of our livestock. It was necessary, we needed the extra food and there was no way we could support feeding a lot of animals through a time we could barely sustain ourselves. The pigs or sheep set aside were only breeding pairs to begin again next spring. As we watched the herd dwindling down we must have agonized: how many must die? Did I keep the right cows? How we must have felt looking at the larder, rows of jars, salted meat, baskets of apples or cabbages. What will the winter be like? Do we have enough supplies to survive? We were nervous or even scared. With the future so unpredictable, we sought answers, so we consulted oracles: cards, fire coals, or even apple peelings to help plan our next move.

By October 31st all the preparations were over. To signify the end of the harvest many cultures have legends like the Pooka: a mean spirited Irish entity that traveled across the countryside on Halloween night to claim any crops left out as his own. There was to be no more gathering, winter was upon them.

So through the dark doorway of wintertime we pass, uncertainty our guide. It is natural that we now spend time contemplating our own mortality and that age old question: Where do we go when we die? We call it the “other” side and it is said the veil between our world and the other is the thinnest at Halloween. For all our progress in other intellectual pursuits, real knowledge of the spiritual realm still eludes us.
We have not found a way to study and understand something that is in this world but not of it.
Yet, some where deep in our DNA we remember where we were before we got here and may long to connect with that which lies beyond before we die. At the same time, we worry that if we really understood the spiritual realm, how would we cope with such a potentially radically different concept of life? One based on spiritual energies instead of physical form? To make the journey we will have to let go of the familiar and once very necessary. When faced with an unknown quantity such as this, it is easy let our imaginations conjure up devils and hobgoblins, but they are only the skewed physical representations of what is out there and perhaps after us: our own discomfort around any changes we know we must face.

We still carry quite a lot of antique and ancestral unease about Halloween and all it represents. It is logical to associate it with death, and death’s symbols: skeletons, ghosts and zombies. Then there are the animals. Animals that historically were said to be connected to the soul and the soul’s crossing over: Cats, bats and owls. The devil and the hag witch symbol came in with Christianity, an attempt by some church leaders to give warning to all those heathens (people living on the Heath or in the country who had not yet joined their club) that they were in danger of losing their immortal soul. But, we see monsters where we want to see them.

At this time of year we get restless with an outdated and therefore frustrating need to do something, but there is no need now to work harder at this time of year for our preservation. We eat more, blaming it on the colder temperatures and the need for extra fuel. (We’ll store up one way or another). We light Jack ‘O’ lanterns to ward off evil, (our fear of the unknown) and then we spend the night appeasing the masked ones from the other side by dropping candy bars in their bag, so they will leave us in peace and pass by.

Halloween’s many oddities have evolved from the years we spent grappling with our own demons of the past. It now calls us to rise to the challenge of change. To let go of our fears and trust in a power that is both larger then us and intimate to us. Embrace the unknown and have a Happy Halloween.