Spring Equinox, March 20 2011

March 20, 2011 By

spring equinox 2011Art by Laura Elliott. The Vernal or Spring Equinox takes place at 7:41 pm tonight (EDT) and it looks like the intensity will continue to ramp up for the next few months.  The Equinoxes and Solstices occur when the Sun moves into the Cardinal signs: Aries for spring, Cancer for summer, Libra for fall, and Capricorn for winter.

Aries is the first sign in the zodiac and as such it is the sign of initiation and the point of beginning.  There is a burst of energy at the Aries point: an unbridled explosion of pure potential and action, and this is the energy that we are experiencing when we talk about “Spring Fever.”

The chart for the equinoxes and solstices are often used for weather forecasting, and judging by the chart for the Spring Equinox it looks like we are in for more intense weather.  That’s nothing new, the Winter Solstice chart last year included a Full Moon, and the Summer Solstice  and Fall Equinox charts were also complex.

This equinox chart shows the Sun, at zero degrees Aries, in a nearly exact conjunction to Uranus, the planet of shocking and sudden events.  Ceres is nearly exactly conjunct Neptune, combining the watery mysteries of Neptune with the delicate eco-balance of Ceres.  This suggests more flooding in some areas, although with both planets in dry Aquarius there may also be severe droughts in some areas.

Saturn and Jupiter are very close to their exact opposition, which culminates at the end of March and there is a tension between the contracting force of Saturn and the expansive drive of Jupiter. The Moon in Libra sides with Saturn, anxiously seeking form and structure in the midst of the chaos, but Aries Mercury opposes the Moon and the mind takes precedence over the heart.

It’s been clear to me that the planetary dynamics over the past couple of years were much more personal – this year’s alignments are dealing with bigger events over which we have little or no control.

The equinox points are balance points since neither day nor night has precedence over the other.  Many of us have accomplished huge transformational changes in our own lives to empower us and help us to become more aligned with the direction our soul is taking towards awakening and clarification.  Those gifts will remain with us if we remain conscious and aware, and focused on that which is real – the center of calm at the heart of the storm.

Oh yes, and happy Ostara and Purim, too.

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Happy Resurrection Holiday! The Origins of Easter

April 10, 2009 By

EasterArt by Diane Clancy I have always found it interesting that the timing Christian holiday of Easter is based on the lunar cycle and the Spring Equinox.  The holiday that the Christian world celebrates as Easter retains much of its pagan roots as a fertility festival and a time of balance as the days and nights (in the northern hemispheres) are of equal length. Even the name “Easter” is taken from the Saxon fertility goddess Ostara or Eostre, who is related to Astarte in ancient Babylon and Ashtoreth in ancient Israel.  And the Easter bunny is, of course, an old pagan symbol of fertility.

The resurrection story of Jesus is virtually identical to the tale of the resurrection of the Phrygian god Attis who preceded him:  According to Gerald Berry’s Religions of the World: The Record of Man’s Religious Faiths Primitive rites, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity and others written in 1965, “About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill …Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection.”

Another interesting aspect to the timing of Easter is its combination of the solar and lunar calendar, taking place as it does on the first Sunday following the 14th day of the lunar month following the Equinox.  The Jewish festival of Passover, which was certainly celebrated by Jesus and his followers, takes place on the 15th day of the month of Nisan in the lunar calendar, which is the first Full Moon after the Equinox.  The ancient Christian leaders, probably wanting to differentiate their Easter holiday, uses an “ecclesiastical” full moon rather than the actual lunar event.  (Passover, however, is not a resurrection festival.)

Other ancient cultures celebrated the resurrection of their dying gods:  Osiris, Tammuz, Dionysus – all are gods who died and were reborn anew. In the Spring, when life springs forth anew from every tree and flower, there is a sense of resurrection and rebirth and an opportunity for a fresh new start. Even in Islam there are some stories (not universally accepted) that Mohammed ascended to heaven on a a white horse, although no effort is made to connect this phenomenon to the Spring resurrection festival.

Let us celebrate this renewal, no matter what our faith, and the beginnings of Spring!

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Happy Eostre!

April 15, 2006 By


Artwork by Paulina Stuckey-Cassidy

Many people will celebrate Easter Sunday tomorrow as the day that Christ rose from his grave and achieved godhood. In ancient mythology, the archetype of the dying and rising god actually began thousands of years before Jesus with the stories of Osiris and Tammuz, Adonis and Attis — all legends of gods that suffered an untimely end but were reborn into physical existence in order to spread their religion. Festivals celebrating the death of the god in winter when the crops were dying and the resurrection in spring were common.

Long before the birth of Jesus, Dionysus was resurrected and ascended to heaven after being torn apart by the Titans, an event celebrated in mystery cults in early Rome. Belief in Dionysus was thought to give one eternal life, and followers were initiated by bathing.

Several hundred years before Jesus, stories about the Anatolian god Attis claimed that he was born to a Virgin and was considered both the Father and the divine son. The Festival of Joy was celebrated every year in Rome: the first day commemorated his death, and on the third day the worshippers celebrated his rising from the dead.

Mithras was a Persian god who had faded into prehistory until being imported into Rome around 70 BC according to Plutarch. Mithras was born on December 25 of a virgin mother. He was born into a mortal body in order to redeem humanity and was known as Savior.

According to the 8th century Christian monk and historian Bede, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). Eostre was a Teutonic goddess of fertility, who was often portrayed in Anglo-Saxon myth with a white hare standing in attendance. The hare, or rabbit, of course symbolized fertility and it was said that Eostre took the shape of the rabbit at the time of the full moon. When Christianity took over the old nature religions, the fertility rabbit became the Easter Bunny.

The timing of Easter coincides with the Jewish festival Passover, presumably because Jesus’s Last Supper took place at the Passover meal. Passover occurs on the 14th day of the lunar month following the Vernal Equinox, and when the Catholic Church established their dogma in Nicea in 325 c.e., it was decided that Easter would take place on the Sunday following the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox except if it falls on the same day as Passover.

Regardless of the holiday we celebrate, spring is a time of rejuvenation, of resurrection as that which has appeared dead springs to life. It’s a time when we are able to revive parts of ourselves that may be dead as well, and live more consciously and with greater presence.

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