Autumn Equinox, 2020: Balancing on the Edge
Dear Friends:
Autumn equinox arrives in the Northern Hemisphere on Tuesday, September 22. Equinox by definition speaks of balance – a brief touch point in Earth’s journey around our sun when day and night are of equal length. This shift of seasons often brings with it a sense of relaxation and calmness after the heat and activity of summer. But as with so much this year equanimity may seem elusive.
I write Living Cycles newsletters to recognize and honor the ‘as above, so below’ nature of the universe – influenced as we are by the energy of the cosmos – and to support the ways in which we can stay awake to the life we are blessed to live within the living systems we are part of.
As we enter autumn there is a dynamic tension between Mars, the warrior planet, and Mercury, the planet of thought and communication. With Mars in the sign of Aries (“I am”), and Mercury in Libra, the sign of balance and discernment, there may be a tendency for the ego to act impulsively, overwhelming thoughtful intention.
Our challenge is to stay balanced within ourselves even as we may feel pulled off center by the heat of Mars energy. In the words of Viktor Frankl:
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
To find that freedom requires the capacity to stay grounded when the heat of the moment brings us to the brink of reactivity. No matter what other practices or personal work we undertake it is essential to be able to witness - to see, feel, experience - what is happening within ourselves as it unfolds. This can lead to the freedom that serves our growth and development, both personally and collectively.
It is apparent that we are in a major shift in our world. Many of us see the chaos we are in as transformative – we are witnessing the death of the patriarchy. The old power systems are losing their franchise and we are seeing the death-grip of the attempt maintain control.
How we meet this time of change will help to shape what we are evolving toward, who and what we are becoming. If we hold to Albert Einstein’s statement that a problem can’t be solved at the same level of consciousness that created it, we need our best selves and all of our capacities – the embodied wholeness of head, heart, and gut – to stay in this dance of creation and evolution.
More even than centering, grounding, or self-soothing practices -- important as they are -- sometimes just remembering what this chaos is in service to can make all of the difference in the world.
Love and Blessings.