For everyone north of the equator, spring arrives on 20 March. From an astronomical point of view, this day marks the day when the sun crosses the earth’s equator moving north after spending the autumn and winter months south of the equator. This day also marks one of two times of the year (the other being the autumn equinox in September) in which day and night are more or less equal depending upon where you live. It is this “balance” between night and day that creates a special opportunity in which we can rise above self-created imbalances that keep us from living the life we want.
In the realm of spirituality, balance is one of the most fundamental requisites for living a joyful and successful life. Without balance, our physical and emotional health suffers. When we “lose our center”, our physical well being is upset and we experience dis-ease. In our minds, we become unstable and emotionally insecure such that small events and normally easily managed life situations cause us irritation, worry or stress. On the other hand, when we have inner balance, we are able to meet every situation with equanimity and skill.
What does it mean to be in balance? At a core level, balance is simply a state of equanimity. Practically, this means our masculine and feminine natures are perfectly in balance. As a man or a woman, our tendency is to over-emphasize the quality that matches the sex of our body, creating a state of imbalance. In their primary expressions, masculine qualities include action, service and logic while the feminine qualities emphasize creation, reception and emotions. Both are necessary in order to live a fulfilling life. However, because we are sentient beings with free will and the capacity to make choices, we tend to over analyze our lives creating an imbalance. A man becomes too focused on taking action and ignores his capacity to receive or feel emotional depth. A woman can rely too much on her emotions and ignore her capacity for reason and taking right action. As a man or woman, it is natural to express ourselves accordingly but not at the expense of our inner peace.
The equinoxes are opportunities to bring back that balance. On this day, see yourself as not simply a man or a woman but as a conscious “piece of Life” full of unlimited possibility. See yourself as having both the power to create and the power to take action, to give and to receive, to sustain your life in the best possible way. Within you is the power to create and maintain existence, your existence. Within this power is the capacity to experience life in the most beautiful and invigorating way for in truth, you are not just a man or a woman. You are much more. Seize this day and discover your “other half”. ?
What a pleasure it was to participate at Edinburgh’s Holistic Ways Festival this past Sunday. Gail and Adrian made sure we were all settled and had everything we needed to make it a success. I was completely busy reading people’s charts from the opening at 1030 until an hour and a half after closing time. My only break came at 1230 when I gave an hour talk entitled “Freeing Yourself from the Past: How Astrology Can Help You Live the Life You Want.”