Spring Equinox 2020
Dear, Generous and Calm Children of the Earth,
Despite the chaos that we find ourselves in with the Corona Virus, Life goes on. The Vernal Equinox is here and new life is coming into being all around us. The unmistakable experience of the days getting longer has been happening and here we are at the point where Day and Night are of equal length. For the next three months, days will lengthen. We can count on that.
In this troublesome time of uncertainty, it's a relief to watch the Earth and all her beings respond to the sun in a way that makes sense.
Take yourself outside into nature and let yourself breathe in some air that's been filtered by our friends, the Trees. Put your bare feet on your friend the Grass and turn your face to your friend, the Sun.
We're all nervous and uncertain right now but in any crises, there's something new that's trying to emerge. We have choices right now. "Normal" life is being disrupted and we're all being asked to change. We can give in to panic or we can help the people around us.
This is an opportunity to understand that, Yes, We are all connected. What you do to others, you are really doing to yourself.
Love, and an easy breath,
Mary
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I have two poem for you today.
As William Carlos Williams said,
"Maybe poetry never saved anyone's life, but every day men die for lack of what's in them."
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Talking with the Sun
…by Joy Harjo (Current and first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States)
I believe in the sun.
In the tangle of human failures of fear, greed, and
forgetfulness, the sun gives me clarity.
When explorers first encountered my people, they called us
heathens, sun worshippers.
They didn’t understand that the sun is a relative, and
illuminates our path on this earth.
After dancing all night in a circle we realize that we are a
part of a larger sense of stars and planets dancing with us
overhead.
When the sun rises at the apex of the ceremony, we are
renewed.
There is no mistaking this connection, though Walmart
might be just down the road.
Humans are vulnerable and rely on the kindnesses of the
earth and the sun; we exist together in a sacred field of
meaning.
Our earth is shifting. We can all see it.
I hear from my Inuit and Yupik relatives up north that
everything has changed. It’s so hot; there is not enough
winter.
Animals are confused. Ice is melting.
The quantum physicists have it right; they are beginning to
think like Indians: everything is connected dynamically
at an intimate level.
When you remember this, then the current wobble of the
earth makes sense. How much more oil can be drained,
Without replacement; without reciprocity?
I walked out of a hotel room just off Times Square at dawn
to find the sun.
It was the fourth morning since the birth of my fourth
granddaughter.
This was the morning I was to present her to the sun, as a
relative, as one of us. It was still dark, overcast as I walked
through Times Square.
I stood beneath a twenty-first century totem pole of symbols
of multi-national corporations, made of flash and neon.
The sun rose up over the city but I couldn’t see it amidst the
rain.
Though I was not at home, bundling up the baby to carry
her outside,
I carried this newborn girl within the cradle board of my
heart.
I held her up and presented her to the sun, so she would be
recognized as a relative,
So that she won’t forget this connection, this promise,
So that we all remember, the sacredness of life.
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Lockdown
by Fr. RIchard Hendrick
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness,
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul.
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
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Click on any of the links below to find out more about Equinox
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https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-a-solstice-and-an-equinox
https://www.schooloftheseasons.com/spring.html
https://www.learnreligions.com/all-about-ostara-the-spring-equinox-2562471