Spring Equinox 2024
As the solstices mark the waxing and waning of solar power throughout the year, so too does the equinox mark the transitional moment in the delicate celestial balance between the dominance of light and darkness. In the northern hemisphere, the spring equinox gently stirs us from our regenerative winter rest and arrives as a reminder that long, warm, glowing days are ahead. As the sun’s journey through the sky lengthens each day, gifting more of its light and energy, we too are called to unfurl and look ahead to the first budding signs of spring and the promise of the reawakened earth’s abundance.
The longer days invite the return of traveling, migrating creatures – the red-breasted robin, and eventually the quick-darting swallows. Long-slumbering animals reemerge from their dens and burrows to snack on tender shoots, buds, and leaves. Crocuses, snowdrops, and hyacinths are some of the first blossoms to welcome the return of the sun and the divine balance that bestows us with such abundance. Symbols of plenty and scarcity are transformed amongst different climates and cultures. Throughout time, the annual cycles between seasons of feast and famine are intertwined with solar powers, perhaps most of all for the Ancient Egyptians.
In Egypt, seasons of scarcity are the hottest, driest parts of the year, when plants wither and creatures tuck themselves away from the heat of the day to shady, cool hideaways. In this ancient land of sand, stone, and sun, solar energies are the highest power. Sunlight itself symbolizes life, goodness, and knowledge. The Heart of the Sun invokes these ancient traditions, reminding us to focus and reflect on these solar aspects of life and light. The Egyptians honored these powers in marvelous ways by learning to use them. They drew the strength of the sun into buildings by reflecting sunlight from one mirror to the next, illuminating even the darkest rooms. They marked time with sundials and heated water by lining pools with dark tiles to amplify the sun’s heat. Many wondrous inventions were created with the alchemical, transformative power of solar rays.
Even the sun must adhere to the metaphysical rules of cosmic balance, however. Just as it generously grants life, it is also capable of spreading chaos and death. The open desert, without the cool, nourishing power of water to temper its intense solar heat, remains a warning to us of the danger of prolonged imbalance. By honoring the sun and divine order, by seeking and supporting balance in all things, life in Egypt flourishes. We, like the Egyptians, may be called to transform during difficult times, transmuting ourselves in nebulous darkness to reemerge in brilliant light. While floating in liminal spaces – the times between, like hte spring equinox, as we transition from one state of being to the next – recentering and refocusing on intention can pave the way forward. Sometimes we must find within ourselves a glowing kernel of truth, goodness, and integrity to light our way through times of darkness. In seasons of scarcity or times of transition or difficulty, we can draw on our own power whilst also turning to some of the energies and guides that led the sun-honoring Egyptians back to abundance and balance, like the scarab.
A symbol of resurrection, continuity, and balance, the humble scarab was honored by people from all walks of life. The beetle could be spotted outside of cities, ambling alongside healthy flocks to collect and roll droppings into globe-like balls that they stored in underground burrows before laying their eggs. Scarab hatchlings feast on the food collected by their parents upon waking, only to grow, eimerge from the burrow at the start of spring, and repeat the cycle. Ancient Egyptians recognized the scarabs’ habits: disappearing into the soil just before the dry season and reemerging as the world returns to balance. They naturally follow the ebb and flow of the solar cycle, and they may begin to return to the sun’s watchful gaze as early as the spring equinox. The season, the cosmic event, and the humble scarab are aligned as cyclical energetic and celestial shifts occur, as heralds of longer days ahead, and of promised seasons of plenty.
In art, a disk or ball appears between the scarab beetle’s legs: rolling it into the burrow is compared to the movement of the sun, which mythologically journeys through the underworld at night (or in autumn) only to reemerge each morning (or spring). Thus, the scarab becomes a symbol of life, rebirth, and resilience, forever united with the solar symbol for life and light. The scarab, with or without the solar disk, can be found painted on the walls and sarcophagi of pharaohs, their family members, and royal court. Ancient adornments also feature the beetles as rings, pendants, and earrings, as well as amulets that bear magical protections and otherworldly properties. Countless scarab amulets have been found between the soft layers of linen that swaddle mummies, preserving their bodies. These scarabs are most often made from gold, lapis lazuli, or Egyptian Blue – divine, powerful materials that invoke the brilliance of the glowing sun and the darkness of the star-speckled night sky. The Scarab Amulet is a testament to the unfathomable transformative potential we carry within us as resilient souls, whether reforging ourselves through hardship or manifesting our highest selves, growing toward the best incarnations of ourselves. Just as the gentle flooding of the Nile returns life-giving nutrients to the riverbanks for another season of plentiful harvests, the scarab promises an inevitable return to natural balance, life, and abundance.
As we begin to emerge from winter’s long cold nights, we are transformed in the glowing light of longer days: rested, prepared, grounded, and eager to stretch our welcome to the returning sun. We look forward to the full flowering of spring, gladly anticipating the approaching seasons of vitality and energy ahead whilst acknowledging our gratitude for the deep-rooted season of rest afforded by those shorter days and longer nights. Like the scarab, we are reborn into the life-giving light of the sun.
