Spring Equinox, 3 invitations

We just passed the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, a moment of balance between day and night. 

Sap is starting to flow up from tree roots towards the gnarled branches. 

First delicate fuzz of green is appearing. 

Life is quickening.

Everything is reaching up, towards the light. 

I have come to see these seasonal shifts, among many other beautiful things, as an invitation to practice 3 things: 

1. Remembering that there are matters much more enduring than our man-made systems. 

It’s easy to look at our economic, social, financial, political or any other man-made system and see it as solid. For me, remembering the bigger, more enduring systems we’re governed by; the rhythms & cycles of our Earth, helps me to imagine other ways of being. It doesn’t change the current systems of oppression & extraction that our world is built on but it creates a sense of perspective; we are more than this, life always has & still is so much more than this. We can choose other stories to live by. For more on human temporalities, check out Ted Hunt’s work Circa Flora *

2. What is the invitation of this moment? What might Earth be asking of me right now? 

In recent episode of The Spaceship Earth podcast, Dan talked to David Wendl Berry, the UK’s first Vision Quest guide. He explains the way nature mirrors all that we’re holding and offers us unmatched life insights & guidance. In his words: ‘you don’t know it, until nature points it out to you’. 

When we look at the energies associated with seasonal shifts, when we ask what is other life up to right now. We get clues & insights for our own participation in life’s cycles. 

For me, this year’s Spring Equinox has been a real invitation to integrate opposing energies. Particularly, when I think of holding both the sorrows & grief of this world and the joy & beauty. I know when these things are in balance within me, I can give the most. Being able to connect with what’s difficult & what’s beautiful in this world, is my most generative, generous place.

3. Reconnecting with myths & symbols 

Having evolved within Earth cycles, we have a rich history of myths, symbols, deities & energetic currents that accompanied us, as we navigated the mysteries of life on Earth. Every seasonal shift is an invitation to remember, reclaim or reimagine a myth, an ancient story or a deity connected to the energies of this season. 

I think these stories can tell us so much about what our relationship to life on Earth once was. Without romanticising it, our ancestors were flawed humans after all, we can take insights from these stories and reclaim or re-imagine them for our times so that we can restore our relationships to life today. 

And if the idea of myths and ancient deities is a stretch too far, here’s another shout out to Ted Hunt’s work on brands & myths for a grounded perspective. He invites us to realise the unreality of brands by comparing them to Greek gods, he says ‘brands are no more real than Greek gods’. For me, this prompts a somewhat opposite reflection; if we can create such material effects with something so unreal as brands, how might non-material myths & ancient gods assist our very material efforts today? 

I’ll be dropping my audio reflection on this’ month’s seasonal myth in the next couple of days.

I’ll revisit & re-imagine the myth of Marzanna, the Slavic goddess of the Winter dream who gets burned or drowned at Spring Equinox. 

If you’re curious to hear it, subscribe below. 

*Ted Hunt is a speculative designer & one of the guest teachers at our upcoming course. Find out more & apply to join

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connect with me @evva_sem