By Len Wallick
Almost there. This coming Saturday, March 20 at 17:32 UTC (1:32 pm EDT) the Sun’s rays will squarely encounter the equator of our little planet with an angle of incidence equaling ninety degrees. Everywhere on our stony wet sphere, every living thing will receive a square deal of equal days and equal nights, for about one week centered on that day. Equator, equal, equinox: just recite that three word chant a few times to yourself. Feel the reality.
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At the exact time of the equinox, the Sun moves into the sign of Aries. Of all the calendars and all the new year days, this one seems the least arbitrary and most resonant. To start over again from equality shared at a point of balance. Equinox is the last of the New Year holiday events. The first is the Pagan New Year, in November, followed by the winter solstice, followed by our civil New Year, followed in turn by Asian New Year, which leads to the vernal equinox.
As of today, the Sun is still in Pisces. All around the wheel, the cusps are crowded on both sides. Its almost as if the luminaries and planets are queued up to pass through security checkpoints or just having done so. Can you imagine what contraband they smuggle, what treasures they carry?
Joining Sol in the last degrees of a sign are Uranus (also in late Pisces) and Neptune (in late Aquarius) and Chiron (in late Aquarius, still just one degree from Neptune). There’s Ceres (in late Scorpio). There are other Centaurs: Chariklo (also in Scorpio), Thereus (in Taurus) and Cyllarus (Gemini). Asteroids Klotho (time, history, story), Magdalena (the free woman), Sphinx (the presence of a mystery), Siva (sound, ritual, transformation), Atlantis (the use and abuse of technology; ethical issues around technology) and Sisyphus (the work we do that seems to get us nowhere) are in aspect to the Sun as well. There is always a lot going on, when you look at the small planets, and they tell a story. It just might take a while to see what it is.