Mabon Greetings to all my friends,
In Celtic Tradition, September 23rd is Mabon, also the fall equinox, and it is the second of three traditional harvest festivals (August 2nd and October 31st are the others). On the day of the autumnal equinox the sun crosses the equator from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere. Only twice yearly do we see this balance of light and dark.
What is extraordinary is that this state of balance occurs only twice a year for one day. When the relationship of the Sun to the Earth is in perfect balance, it is cause for celebration yet that balance is not static and neither are we. People express the desire to live a balanced life yet I would suggest that if the Sun and Earth only achieve this twice a year perhaps we can embrace an expanded concept that includes the ever moving and changing states of our lives. Think of the metaphor of a gyroscope: we spin through life on an axis that is our essential self. Sometimes we do feel that perfectly balanced moment and it is certainly something to savor. Yet it does not serve us to fearfully cling to this as the only safe place since living inevitably includes the dips and wobbles that we call our life lessons.
We live in a world of both complimentary and opposite energies. In the Shamanic tradition I have been trained in, the medicine wheel places Mind in the North, Heart in the South, Body in the West and Spirit in the East. There are variations of where these four aspects of the self are placed, but wherever there is a Wheel (and most Indigenous Cultures honor the four directions), there are the four elements of Fire, Water, Earth and Air, and the four aspects of our Wholeness: Mind, Heart, Body and Spirit.
So how can we learn to navigate the wobbly times and reset the gyroscope?
When you experience the dips of your gyroscope, you can look to the opposite energy for a balancing force. For example, if your heart is broken, look to the beliefs that may be holding you stuck (mind), but also seek the comfort of healing touch (Body). If you are stuck in never ending analysis, the purview of the mind, you can allow your emotions and intuition to inform you, also seeking spiritual practices that help you connect with Spirit.
My husband has created a 20-foot diameter Medicine Wheel on our land in the Anza Borrego desert region. He has marked the perimeter with quartz crystal gleaned from the property and he has doused the energetic vortices that look like a crossroads in the picture of the wheel below. Walking around the outside path allows you to move into contemplation and meditation, or even altered states. The Wheel becomes a way to access deeper awareness, much like a labyrinth. This is one way to honor celestial events, seasonal changes and also aspects of the self. In addition you can connect with the powerful ley lines of the Earth.
Walking around the physical wheel, with the directions delineated and feeling into the meaning of each direction allows us to feel universal and innate truths; understanding and balancing these aspects of our wholeness, especially when we are in a state of meditation or trance frees the imagination to generate a sense of what is needed when we are “wobbly.” You can create a simple medicine wheel in your living room, or backyard and experience it for yourself. (If you want to know more about dousing Ley Lines, Wikipedia has some good information.)
I hope you will tune into this time of celestial balance and harvest all that life offers.
Many Blessings of the Harvest, Linda
lindasavagephd@goddesstherapy.com
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