[A Cauldron Full of Stars] Balancing of the equinox

[UK Pagan 59]

Equinoxes remind us to balance. They are the moment in which day and night are equal, both beautiful and glorious, but neither overpowering the other. It is a moment to respect each of their unique energies and powers and the necessity of both in the world.

I am struggling with balance this equinox.  Everything from my daughter's healing broken leg and my own broken nose to politics and the grocery store are sending me tumbling. I find myself flailing to find my lost sense of equilibrium, and I am frustrated, startled, and feeling defeated often.  My balance seems hopelessly wobbly and weak.  Forcing balance is less helpful than it seems it should be, and I find moments of true balance are fleeting, organic, and powerful.

To know healing, you must be acquainted with those things that are its opposite. To know peace, you must have experienced its opposition. The same is true of justice, abundance, and fortune.  We need to experience oppositions, and at the same time, we loathe to embrace many of them.  Equinoxes present an opportunity for us to practice this embracing of dialectical oppositions, as the sociologist Claude Levi-Strauss called them.  Sitting quietly and feeling conflicting emotions and energies without action or judgment can be a powerful exercise for balance.  It's simple, and yet, when we give ourselves this space to try balance, we can often hear profound insights from these energies.

In a world that needs our outrage at injustice, our hatred of cruelty, and our fight for peace, equinoxes become all the more meaningful and necessary. Lightness and darkness balance twice a year, and this reminds us that all things ebb and flow, but they also pause, for a moment in balance before swinging back into action.  I bless you with a moment of balance and the beautiful, painful, magical messages that come with it on this Autumn Equinox.

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