Wishing you a Happy Vernal Equinox
Published: Tue, 03/20/18
Today is the vernal equinox. That means that today is officially the first day of spring. At least the sun is shining, I guess winter was just having some fun last week while it was still allowed to. I took this picture https://www.screencast.com/t/lxCNztOh5T on Sunday morning in Norfolk. Fortunately the roads were largely clear by the time we drove home over the Lincolnshire Wolds later in the day.
The spring equinox marks the point where we are exactly half way to the summer solstice and therefore a quarter of the way through the year.
How do we know it is the equinox (apart from the fact it says so in your diary)? It is the day when the length of time between sunrise and sunset is the same as the time between sunset and sunrise. Which means that for the next three months there will be more daylight in each 24 hour period than darkness, the day getting longer every day until the solstice on the 21st of June and then the process goes into reverse again.
What does this mean from a Stav point of view? If you have a practice of doing the stances each morning at sunrise or soon after then you will align yourself with the rising sun on your right which means you are facing roughly North. Today having the rising sun exactly on your right will mean that you are properly facing North. This won’t happen again until the Autumn Equinox on the 23rd of September. The stances can be done as a basic form of astronomy which develops an awareness of where the sun rises and sets. If you imagine a world without calenders or other ways of confirming dates and times then careful observation of the path of the sun throughout the year will enable you to keep track of time and know when to plant and when to harvest as well as when to keep the various festivals.
There are of course various cycles which can be observed in astronomy. The shortest being the day, then the monthly moon cycle, then the year, then the 19 year lunar or metonic cycle and then there are other much longer cycles including the one called precession which takes 25,950 years to complete. I will make an attempt to explain that another time. A clue, precession is the reason that we are now at ‘the dawning of the age of Aquarius’.
As far as Stav is concerned the purpose of learning and practicing the knowledge of the runes is to become aware of ourselves and the universe we live in. Awareness of the rising and setting of the sun is a pretty good place to start. Indeed the first module of the Foundation programme I have been trialling involves finding a place to simply observe the cardinal points and do the nine breaths each day. Then subsequent modules build up the practice of the stances in manageable stages. Various other fundamental aspects of Stav are introduced as well. The first 11 people have received the nine study modules and on Saturday we will have the first foundation study day. My target was to complete the foundation programme and have trialled it in the first quarter of the year and I have just about managed it. In the second quarter I will be trialling a martial programme, more on that very soon.
Apparently the exact time of the Spring equinox here in East Yorkshire is 16.15 GMT and you can find the time for your location online if you are interested. You might want to take a moment today to contemplate that a quarter of the year is behind us. Have you accomplished what you wanted to do? Are you ready to make the most of the next quarter?
Happy vernal equinox
Graham
PS If you would like to join in on the foundation programme here are the ways you can do it.
The next foundation day course will be on the 26th of May here in Beverley. Sign up in the next week and you will have time to receive and study the nine modules leading up to the event.
If you are unlikely to make it for face to face training you can still to the foundation programme as a distance learning exercise. Either way details at https://iceandfire.org.uk/foundation.html
If you are planning on coming to the Stavcamp on the 14th to 16th of September (a week before the Autumn Equinox) you are welcome to have the foundation study modules before the event. Two places out of ten already taken. So, if you are thinking about coming I would book your place asap http://www.stavcamp.org/
If you join Ice and Fire then you will be eligible to receive all training programmes as part of your membership, page needs updating but the signup process is in place https://iceandfire.org.uk/join.html