By: Janette Dalgliesh – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
Everyone gets excited about a Solstice (and they’re right to do so), but for me there’s something extra special about the Equinox.
Derived from the Latin for ‘equal night’, the Equinox is the moment when we feel the Earth sits perfectly balanced on her axis – not ‘leaning’ one way or the other, but at the exact correct angle so that the Sun moves directly overhead along the Equator.
Night and day become equal.
At the September Equinox, we’re experiencing Spring in the South, Autumn/Fall in the North. Seasonally, we’re travelling in different directions. Northerners are heading towards the dark nights of winter, while here in the South we’re anticipating the brilliant days of summer.
But, for this special moment twice a year, we share this common experience.
Twelve hours of daylight, twelve hours of dark, uniting us all and reminding us we are all one.
Sidebar: astro geeks in the room might want me to add that it’s not exactly twelve hours for everyone, because of the way we humans measure sunrise and sunset, and because of the way our atmosphere refracts sunlight.
But basically, as human animals we do experience it the same way all around the world, making this a beautiful time to celebrate unity and connection.
September Equinox sees the Sun moving into the Cardinal sign of Libra.
Ruled by Venus, this Air sign is known for balance, justice, beauty, relationships, ease and grace. It’s where we find powerful one-to-one collaborations of equals, the meeting of minds which creates a flowering of ideas, concepts and knowledge. And because it’s Libra, it’s also gracious and refined, never boorish or brutal.
As the Sun moves into Libra, it is also activating the other Cardinal points – Aries, Cancer, and Capricorn.
Cardinal points bring something from the interior to the exterior; from the private to the public; from the intangible to manifested reality.
Cardinal points initiate and celebrate change for the better. With Libra, it’s all about creating the change which results in more balance, more justice, and more equality.
Every Equinox or Solstice already inherently contains this Cardinal energy, the potential for change and new directions.
In 2020, we have the big Saturn-Pluto-Jupiter party still going on in earthy Capricorn, now joined by expansive optimist Jupiter, as well as wily mistress of strategic thinking, Pallas Athena.
Those great players are being awoken and challenged by warrior Mars in Aries (still in Retrograde mode).
Think bold courage, powerful strategies, and an urge to stand up for the vulnerable — all pointed towards changing things for the better when it comes to the themes of authority, public legacy, governance and power.
Meanwhile the Sun entering Libra activates master-of-healing Chiron in Cardinal Aries. If you feel there is some impossible quest to be undertaken, you can lean into Chiron’s role as the coach for great heroes, just as he was in the days of the ancient Greeks.
This applies both personally and politically.
Personally, where have you not yet fully claimed your own great power? Where are you letting other people run the show, leaving you the vulnerable underdog in your own life? Where can you point some audacious healing, so you can fulfil your own public legacy, and ensure your internal authority and boundaries are strong and well-built?
Politically, where can you take bold actions using smart strategy, to help others implement your desire for justice and fair play? Where can you find solid, practical actions which will ensure the most vulnerable have equal access to the mechanisms of governance and authority?
And most of all, how can you most effectively celebrate Venus in her role as the ruler of Libra, so she can cast her blessings of collaboration and partnership done with respect, grace, beauty and intelligence?
Here are some ways to embrace and celebrate this Equinox – either at the moment of the Equinox or within the next 24-48 hours:
- create a ritual for Venus – light a candle, bring fresh flowers, adorn yourself with the elements of beauty, wear jewellery and devote it to the goddess
- Sun into Libra says it’s all about balance. If there’s anywhere you feel a duality, a tug-o’-war between two seemingly opposite urges, find some ways to walk that dual path in the most balanced way for you. Drop the either/or perspective and embrace the and/and. Or if you realise you always favour one ‘end’ of a binary more than the other – seek out the third way which blends them both
- celebrate the universality of the Equinox, as each hemisphere heads into its own season of winter or summer. There are people on the other side of the planet who are celebrating Equinox and experiencing equal day and night at the exact same time that you are. That’s pretty damn cool! Call up friends in the opposite hemisphere. Organise an Equinox-week party on social media. Imagine total strangers celebrating Equinox somewhere far away. Send them a blessing, or raise a glass to them, because Libra does love a party!
- create and activate a magical ritual. Solstices and Equinoxes have been focal points for magical and shamanic ceremonies for millennia. You can make it simple (light a candle, dance by moonlight, worship the Sun for a few minutes, spend time in prayer). Or you can create a complex ritual marking the inherent freshness of the Cardinal energy and the season you’re in right now — fresh flowers and light scents for Spring; late season fruits and warm aromas for Autumn.
- with Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto doing their Capricorn dance, do some mental time-travelling to the future you want in ten, fifty, a hundred years’ time, then describe in detail what it looks and feels like, ignoring the question of how we got there. It’s a potent exercise in brain focus as well as conscious creation, and you can formalise it with a favourite (or brand new) technique – scripting, affirmations, visualising.
- activate deliberate beauty. That means both deliberately practising the art of noticing existing beauty wherever you are; and bringing more beauty in whatever way pleases you. Your environment, your online world, your spaces, your person. What is already beautiful? What can you beautify? How can you embody and acknowledge the power of the goddess within you, by adorning and celebrating your own beauty?
- revisit your intentions for Mars in Aries but this time, bring in the Libra urge for balance. Ask yourself:
- Is this the most effective action I could take here?
- Is this the right timing for this action, or is there a better time yet to come?
- Is this action truly coherent with my most authentic self?
- Is this action a high priority for right now?
- Is this action inspired by fear or love?
- Is my own relationship with power, authority and governance as transparent, loving and forward-focused as possible? If not, what action can I take to feel more aligned?
Most of all, enjoy the sweet feeling as all humans connect through our shared experience: that turning point of equal night.
Exact times (US Eastern timezone):
22 September, 9:30AM – Sun into Libra (Equinox)
Janette Dalgliesh helps rebel progressive women create their big, world-changing dreams FAST (even if they yet don’t know what that dream is). She uses her unique blend of astrology and neuroscience-based coaching to support her international clientele — the poets, the politicians, the artists and the entrepreneurs — so they can do work which makes a difference, makes good money, and makes their hearts sing. Find Janette at her website.
