signs of life — spring bursts forth
The sun is Love. The Lover, a speck circling the sun. A Spring wind moves to dance any branch that isn’t dead. Something opens our wings. Someone fills the cup in front of us.
The first signs of spring are the breaking open as death gives way to life: buds bursting from the trees, shoots leaping from the earth, a great rising amid the debris of winter. For nature, renewing herself through dying is the only way she can be reborn. And this rebirth is what links Easter, Passover, Purim, and the Goddess festival vasant navaratri to the spring equinox. There are both gradual and sudden metamorphoses of new light and life. Now is the time to give full power to the seed dreams you incubated in your Heart Fire during the darkness of winter. The spring equinox is a powerful time to care for the earth and shed any limiting or toxic behaviors. During this time of tremendous growth, let us all take care to protect the precious seedlings that have emerged from the depths of winter. Let us honor the fiery energy of new life.
We taste only sacredness.
To say “yes” means to allow a thought
— "R UM I 2
or circumstance to flower, to let go and expand. The trees say “yes” to every season. When spring comes, they say “yes” and they flower. Then summer comes, they say “yes” and become dry and thirsty. When fall comes, they say “yes,” change color, and are ready to drop their leaves. To say “yes” means to surrender—to every thought, feeling and emotion. It means let go, and letting go is a journey toward the heart. —" D R . VASAN T LA D 1
ALBAN EILIR—SPRING EQUINOX
PA S S O V E R
Alban Eilir, “light of the earth,” is the balance point between the winter and summer solstices and between Imbolc and Beltane. The spring equinox is one of two times during the year when the tilt of the earth’s axis is parallel to the sun. On this
The springtime festival of Passover celebrates the liberation of the Israelites from Pharoah’s rule. The festival lasts for eight days. The first two and last two days are full-fledged holidays. Celebrants light holiday candles, perform the kiddush blessing, and
day the forces of darkness and light are equally matched, but light is on the increase. It is a time of great fertility and hopefulness, containing the promise of abundant crops and burgeoning
serve lavish holiday meals. In strict observance, during these four days of ritual work, observers refrain from working and engaging in many other everyday activities; all focus is on the many varied
creativity. Spring equinox is aligned with those holidays connected to the reigniting of the candle flame, from the Jewish culture’s Passover as a time of liberation to the Christians’ Easter as a time of
elements of ritual and on contemplation.
the resurrection of the light. Mayan temples, too, affirm the cyclical process of time: the serpent of light Kulkulkan descends and manifests at the spring equinox and then returns back in the cycle of death with the fall equinox. The connection to the triumph of light is also reflected in the Festival of Color of Holi and of the celebration of the strength of Hanuman.
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REEMERGENCE—CHICHÉN ITZÁ
FIREKEEPING PRACTICE— COLLECTIVE IGNITING OF THE HEART FIRE
For the spring equinox of 2012, I made the pilgrimage to this extraordinary site, which aligns with the spring and fall equinoxes. Here, mostly
For the past twenty years in the collective medita-
thousand years ago to witness the descent of the “serpent of light,” or Kulkulkan. All gather at the
many beautiful experiences of the “passing of the
moment when the shadow play creates this effect. Thousands raise their arms in joyous celebration, a
of symbolically lighting each other’s candle or dipa
EASTER
heightened experience of collective alignment that is not led or dictated by any leader. It is instead a
Easter is a celebration of the triumph of light over darkness, and it marks the end of Lent, a fast broken by the feast celebrating Christ’s resurrection. The name Easter hails from Eastre, the Teutonic
spontaneous experience in the moment that hovers and lasts for that peak few moments and then dissolves into the general auspiciousness of the spring equinox—the entry point into the following season
goddess of spring and dawn. The full moon of the vernal equinox represents the “pregnant” phase of Eastre, the bearing of the fruit of summer that gives birth to the sun’s offspring. The Easter egg
of greatest waxing light.
symbolizes creation, the cycles of nature, and the union of masculine and feminine. The Festival of Holy Fire takes place at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the walled Old City of Jerusalem. Each year on the day before Pascha (Easter), at noon on Holy Saturday, a miraculous light appears from the core of the Holy Sepulchre, from which the patriarch of Jerusalem lights thirty-three candles from the deep center of the tomb and then offers this light to reignite candles all over the world. The flame of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is considered by many to be the longest attested annual miracle in the Christian world.
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local Mayans and Mexicans from throughout the region come to this ancient pyramid built nearly a
TENDING THE HEART FIRE
tions I have led in the evening, I have been part of flame,” mirroring the cross-cultural, ancestral practice (small lamp) from one central source. I have witnessed this in the city of Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, where more than a hundred thousand women light their central cooking fires one by one from the central fire of the Attukal Devi (Goddess Temple) during the spring festival period. Whether it is a small family gathering or a larger meditation circle, you can ignite the central candle with one primary flame along with a silent or vocal prayer or chant. From there, either “pass the light” with smaller candles that then circulate or have everyone present come forward and light from the central flame.
H A N U M A N J AYA N T I Hanuman Jayanti is a celebration of the monkey god Hanuman of the Ramayana, who represents strength, energy, resourcefulness, and devotion. It, too, is celebrated around the spring equinox. On this holy day, devotees fast, read the Hanuman Chalisa, offer seva (service), and spend the whole day in the japa of Ram-Nam, Ram Ram Ram.
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