Earth & Us:
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Dear friend,

This is the fifth issue of my free newsletter. Your feedback is most welcome!                   

The first day of spring: day and night are equal, on the Equinox. In nature, the lengthening hours of sun and warmth allow the trees to burst into bloom and leaf, tender green plants to grow rapidly, and animals to give birth to their young. How might we align ourselves with this simple, yet profound planetary change?

All of the solstices and equinoxes are essentially celebrations of the life-giving sun, of light. Not only do we depend upon the sun to grow our food and warm us; the sun has been revered as the divine essence, a spark of which is in our own nature. For many centuries and in nearly every culture, these dates were significant holy days, times when it was believed that the veil between the visible world and the invisible spirit realm became thinner, and humans could call upon help from the ancestors and other spirits. Everyday activities were suspended, and prayer, ritual, and celebration took place.

In the Medicine Wheel tradition as practiced by Sun Bear and many other native peoples, spring is a time of renewal, fresh energy, and illumination, like the dawn of a new day. It is a time for expanded vision, symbolized by the golden eagle who soars highest into the sky and sees furthest. It is the powerful, clear vision of youth, who experience life without the learned limitations of habit, old age, and fear.

The myth of Persephone is tied to the seasons. For half the year, she resides in the underworld, like a seed in the dark fertile soil, and spring is the time for her joyous return, just as a bright flower arises from the ground. The earth, which was in mourning, is gladdened at her return, and new life bursts forth everywhere.

In today's world, we are sadly out of balance with the harmony of natural cycles. Our electric lights elongate the days, we burn fossil fuel to give us artificial heat, our diet routinely includes fruits and vegetables grown a thousand miles away, we zip around in jets between time zones. Worse than that, our bodies are filled with unnatural and toxic chemicals which are in our food, water, and air. Many people live surrounded by buildings and cars, hearing electronic sounds more than bird songs, looking at computer screens instead of the sky, trees, and water. In the flow of nature, there is always reciprocity of giving and receiving. Unlike our forbears, the indigenous peoples, our culture only takes without giving back to the earth, even in a symbolic way.

At this time of nature's perfect balance of darkness and light, we might pause and reflect on the balance of aspects of our own lives. Yin and yang also represent darkness and light. Yin is the feminine principle, associated with quiet, moisture, night, darkness, coolness, inwardness, receptivity. Yang is the masculine, bright, warm, dry, strong, outgoing. Have you noticed that our culture values the yang qualities more than the yin? Some other pairs of qualities to contemplate:

giving/ receiving
activity/ rest
logic/ intuition
work/ play, leisure
speaking/ listening
noise/ quiet
creating/ allowing
joy/ grief
feasting/ fasting
group/ alone

Some questions for reflection:

- What do I wish to balance in my life? What do I have too much of, or too little of?

- What seeds have I planted in the winter that are sprouting forth and flowering, this season?

- What help do I wish to request from the Spirit world?

- What is my broader vision for this phase of my life?

- How might I bring forth my loving nature? In the words of cross-cultural anthropologist Angeles Arrien , "Is my heart full, open, strong, and clear?"

- What do I wish to celebrate, honor, and give thanks for?

If you would like to read more about deepening our connections with nature, or to view previous issues of "Earth and Us," please visit my website, www.TalkingBirdsPress.com.

Blessings of the Spring,

Cathy Holt

Prepare for Surgery. I offer a free class to help people prepare for surgery at the UCSF Cancer Resource Center, 1600 Divisadero, San Francisco, on the first Thursday of each month, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. For more information, please call Keren at (415) 885-3627.

Does your group need a speaker? Contact me at (510) 845-5879.