Today is the vernal equinox, otherwise known as the astronomical start of spring. Not to be confused with the other start of spring, the meteorological one, which was on the first of the month. Well anyway, winter is now properly cancelled. Equinoxes marks the time in the year when light and dark is half and half causing folklore to ripely abound. Which would have been perfect, had it not been for Other Life.
So in a swift change of plan, I did think about singing a spirit song to attract personal growth, which apparently is a good thing to do at the vernal equinox. This would have involved intoning ‘Ahhhoooowennnn’ or Awen, a powerful word meaning inspiration in Welsh (although not according to Google Translate) a couple of times before breaking out into more experimental sounds. But then, I also have neighbours to think about.
There was also a visualisation I found that involved standing up and balancing. Which also wasn’t going to work.
And planting, the VE is all about the planting. But then my grow bag is already groaning with the spuds and the onions (first shoots coming through, whoop!), so that was no good.
So I went for the utterly debunked tradition that tells of the vernal equinox being the time when you can stand eggs on their ends. Now, it’s very true that they can be balanced today, but then it’s also true of yesterday, tomorrow and any other day of your choosing. If you have the right egg.
Which I didn’t. I went through a whole carton and couldn’t make any of them stand up, irrespective of surface. Which I suppose is a bit of a spoiler given that here is a video of me not being able to stand three of them up on a plate. But then, it is a very dull and half-hearted video (despite me mucking around with titles), so maybe it’s best you know in advance.
Should anyone crack (pun fully intended) the balancing act. Do let me know…
Also, I turned the heating back on. It was just far too frosty.
Resources
Forest, D. (2016) The Magical Year, Seasonal Celebrations To Honour Nature’s Ever-Turning Wheel, London, Watkins
