CELEBRATING A CHANGE

Many religious celebrations have their origins in pagan festivals as cultures merged and evolved over time. Easter is one of those that adopted OSTARA and the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre to celebrate light over dark, never mind the eggs, rabbits and marshmallow chicks. With the increased cost of eggs, those colorful plastic ones are likely to fill the shopping baskets.

If you are one of those who pay attention to changing seasons, which are all governed by the relationship between the sun and the earth, you may want to pause and welcome the vernal equinox, when the amount of night and day are about the same. The calendar says that Spring will officially arrive on Thursday, March 20, at 5:01 A.M. EDT. The difference between the two dates (Equinox and Easter) is because Easter is set as the first Sunday after the first full moon, after the vernal equinox. So, that date can be as early as March 22 or as late as April 25. This year it is later in the cycle and arrives on April 20.

The amount of daylight will continue to increase until Summer Solstice on June 20 after which the daylight decreases slowly until Winter Solstice and the return of more light each day. The leading theory for why Earth's axis is tilted is a long ago collision with a large celestial object. This impact caused the Earth to lean on its axis, resulting in a tilt of approximately 23.5 degrees.

As the Earth orbits the Sun, the tilt means different hemispheres receive more direct sunlight at different times of the year, leading to the seasons. In the southern hemisphere this is the autumnal equinox as shown in the featured image. Two Equinoxes, Spring and Autumn, and two Solstices, Summer and Winter.

You might be interested in doing something different this year with this change of seasons. Consider the following and find something that appeals to you or fits your practice of honoring the Source that sustains life, the Sun. https://wemoon.ws/blogs/pagan-holiday-traditions/spring-equinox One size doesn’t fit everyone. Another excellent resource is https://www.farmersalmanac.com/spring-extended-weather May you find a special way to share and celebrate this 2025 arrival of Spring.

Read, write, eat, drink, pray, listen, sing, walk, swim, dance, soak of some sun, feel the warmth, and yes, share the love and kindness that help heal a broken world. One to one, one to many, many to one. Each of us is only one among the 8 billion but we are one. “I am only one but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can (and will) do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” Edward Everett Hale