There are four portals that occur throughout the solar year that mark pivotal placements in the relationship between the sun and our planet. The two solstices mark the solar standstill, a pregnant pause that occurs when the solar energies have either reached their peak as part of the earth is has reached its closest point to the sun, or the trough, when part of the earth is furthest away. The other two pivotal placements are the midpoints between the two, heralding the time of the equinoxes.
Next week this is where we will find ourselves, at the time of “even light” (as equinox come from the Latin meaning “equal night”), at the spring equinox here in the Southern Hemisphere, or the autumn equinox if you reside north of the equator.
Leading up to these pivotal timings, our inner biology changes on a deeper cellular level for the approaching season. As this occurs, even for the briefest moments, our own personal energetics come into alignment with those of Mother Earth. We are provided with a unique opportunity to deepen the alignment of our subtle energetic fields to the turning of the seasonal wheel, utilising its ebbing and flowing nature.
National Geographic has described the equinoxes as “Two times a year, Earth’s orbit and its axial tilt combine so that the sun sits right above Earth’s Equator, casting the dividing line between the light and dark parts of the planet - the twilight zone - through the North and South Poles. Earth isn’t the only planet that experiences equinoxes: every planet in our solar system has them.”
The timing of the equinox has long been considered to be a magical portal due to it being a time of deep transformation, the alchemical process of turning one thing into something else. In County Meath, Ireland, some 5,000 years ago our distant ancestors constructed the Cairn of the Cailleach (“Cairn T”), a sacred mound and stone passageway aligned exactly to the spring and the autumn equinox. Only at dawn on these special days, a single ray of sunlight pierces the dark, womb-like passageway and lights up the “Equinox Stone” positioned at the end of the chamber and engraved with talismanic glyphs. This barrow was also called the Cairn of the Hag, or the Womb of Cailleach, and was believed to have been modelled on the architecture of the female vulva-womb-pregnant stomach, fertilized by the energy of the sun. It was rebirth technology.
Inside Cairn T at Louchcrew, Co. Meath, Ireland
Today, this extraordinary moment goes by almost completely unnoticed. Surrounded by artificial lighting and the seemingly endless glow from mobile phones and computer screens, the equinox seems to hold little meaning. The more we separate our lives from the natural ebbing and flowing of nature, the more we separate our own selves from the very root that brings life and provides us with healing and regeneration.
Regardless of whether you find yourself at the gateway to the warmer summer months with lengthening light and increased abundance, or the approach of winter with the approaching darkness and time for rest and retreat, there are a number of simple ways that you can realign yourself to the sacredness of this pivotal time.
For three days before the equinox, spend around 15 minutes absorbing the energy from the early morning sun. As you do, visualise your entire body (including your energetic field) being regenerated by the light. If you are not able to get outside, then stand by a window that faces the morning sun to receive the light that way.
For three days before equinox, spend around 15 minutes in the evening, greeting the night as the sun fades. Close your eyes and allow your body to sense the feeling of night.
After sunset dim down and turn off bright lights in your home.
If you are able to, attempt to switch off your mobile telephone and computer after 8pm.
Turn on blue light blocking mode (night shift) on iPhone and Android phones which can be found through your phone settings.
As the ever changing patterns of light and darkness act as master regulators of not only our human physiology, but also our states of spiritual connection and awareness, this means that during the portal of the equinox, our bodies prepare themselves to receive either the increased abundance of summer (in the Southern Hemisphere) or deep regeneration and cell dreaming of winter (in the Northern Hemisphere). In other words, we are truly alchemists of both dark and light.