Welcoming the Spring Equinox
On March 20th, Day and Night are in balance. How's your equilibrium?
Dear Friends,
On March 20th, we welcome the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s also known as the vernal equinox—vernal meaning fresh or new and equinox deriving from the Lain for equal. On the Spring Equinox, day and night are in almost equal balance.
After months of winter energy and stillness, it’s time for a shift, for a shaking off, for throwing open the windows and cleaning our homes. Dusting off the energy inside of us, our winter worries and dreams, can take effort. I tend to resist change a smidgen—anyone else?! Even transitions we look forward to shake us up, trigger anxiety. It’s human.
In many cultures through history, rituals were held to honor the Spring Equinox. Rituals help us through the liminal moments, the changes in the natural world and inside of us. Even though we’re tethered to little electric screens most of the time now, the increase in natural light each day impacts us. Rituals help us notice how our energy and emotions may be shifting.
This week’s writing prompt is an invitation to build a relationship with the transition to spring, your own ritual to mark the Equinox.
Poetry is where I find guidance in how to be a human and make any sense of life on this earth. This week, I’m sharing Instructions on Not Giving Up by Poet Laureate Ada Limon as a meditation on ‘the strange idea of continuous living despite the mess of us, the hurt, the empty.’ Take a read and then try the prompt below.
More than the fuchsia funnels breaking out of the crabapple tree, more than the neighbor’s almost obscene display of cherry limbs shoving their cotton candy-colored blossoms to the slate sky of Spring rains, it’s the greening of the trees that really gets to me. When all the shock of white and taffy, the world’s baubles and trinkets, leave the pavement strewn with the confetti of aftermath, the leaves come. Patient, plodding, a green skin growing over whatever winter did to us, a return to the strange idea of continuous living despite the mess of us, the hurt, the empty. Fine then, I’ll take it, the tree seems to say, a new slick leaf unfurling like a fist to an open palm, I’ll take it all. Writing Practice: Set aside 5-7 minutes for this practice. Write in a journal or open a ‘Journey with The Season’ document where you can return each Sunday.
In Ada Limon’s poem, she offers ‘the mess of us, the hurt, the empty’ as something that each of us experiences. What do these words bring up for you? Write about what feels hurt or empty or messy in your life right now.
When you finish writing, take a breath, pause, notice your energy.
Now, your invitation to welcome spring. Write your own ‘Instructions on Not Giving Up.’ Your words don’t need to be poetic, just straight from you. What have you learned about continuous living, about the life force inside you, about your strength?
These phrases might help you get started:
Despite what’s hard in my life, I find comfort in…
Knowing new life comes each spring, I feel…
I have learned a lot through this winter…
Deepening Practice:
Take a look at these 10 Spring Paintings To Celebrate the End of Winter. Notice which one draws your attention most. Share it with someone you love. Bookmark the link and return to it through the week. Journal about what the painting evokes for you.
Please comment or email me at gabriellekm@gmail.com with anything you’d like to share.
On March 21st, I’m holding a free live Spring Equinox Writing Circle over zoom. You can register here. Invite friends!
If you’re interested in joining my next online expressive writings series Soulful Spring starting 4/16, registration is now open. An amazing community is forming.
For folks in the Greater Philly area...
Come play in person at The Joy of Creativity Retreat! All of the details and registration is here!
Thank you for being here and for your support.