TIMING THE 2021 VERNAL EQUINOX

The 2021 Vernal (Northward) Equinox, Start of Spring, Aries Ingress

For the ritually oriented and the curious, here are 2020 Spring Equinox times for Greenwich and the USA.

March 20, 2021
9:37:21 AM UTC (GMT/Zulu) +00:00:00
London, England (not yet on Summer Time)

USA TIME ZONES
Saturday, March 20

Eastern
Boston
5:37 am EDT

Central
New Orleans
4:37 am CDT

Mountain
Salt Lake City
3:37 am MDT

Pacific
Seattle
2:37 am PDT

Friday, March 19
Hawaii
Kahului
11:37 pm AHST

Eostre by AngiandSilas

March 19-20 brings the Vernal Equinox, also known as Ostara, or Eostre, or Eastre, named for the Germanic Goddess of spring and dawn. When the Sun's path along the Ecliptic crosses the Celestial Equator from the South to the North we have the Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring, zero degrees of Aries. The longer nights of the winter season are now in equal balance with daylight. From this point, the length of daylight increases. It is the beginning point of the Zodiac that astrologers use for measure.

All points in the eight-fold year (defined by the astronomical measure of solstices, equinoxes, and the midpoints between those) are marked by human celebrations, holidays, and holy days. Those coincidental celebrations are not accidental but knowingly or circumstantially correspond to the astronomical. There are holy days with the Jewish and Christian calendars (also with Chinese, Hindu, and other systems of reckoning) that combine New and Full Moons with solstices and equinoxes. For example, the Full Moon after the Spring (Vernal) Equinox is Passover. The Sunday following that Full Moon is Easter (the preceding Friday is Good).

Some astrologers chart the Vernal Equinox (Aries Ingress) and derive information about at least three and at most twelve months following. Other astrologers favor the Winter Solstice (Capricorn Ingress) for the twelve months following that event. Many mundane astrologers will chart all four, Solstices and Equinoxes, and utilize those charts for a sense of the three months that follow each. The chart for the first day of Spring is said to be in effect, for the year until next Spring. It is considered especially strong until the Summer Solstice chart "comes in" in June. Tropical zodiac positions are always measured from the Vernal Equinox.

Happy Spring!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz3lqVv0vCE

“The Mummers' Dance” is a single by Canadian Celtic singer Loreena McKennitt from the 1997 album “The Book of Secrets.” The song refers to the seasonal Mummers Play performed by groups of actors, often as house-to-house visits.

[Verse 1]

When in the springtime of the year
When the trees are crowned with leaves
When the ash and oak and the birch and yew
Are dressed in ribbons fair

When owls call the breathless moon
In the blue veil of the night
The shadows of the trees appear
Amidst the lantern light

[Chorus]

We've been rambling all the night
And some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

[Verse 2]

Who will go down to those shady groves
And summon the shadows there
And tie a ribbon on those sheltering arms
In the springtime of the year

The songs of birds seem to fill the wood
That when the fiddler plays
All their voices can be heard
Long past their woodland days

[Chorus]

We've been rambling all the night
And some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

[Verse 3]

And so they linked their hands and danced
Round in circles and in rows
And so the journey of the night descends
When all the shades are gone

A garland gay we bring you here
And at your door we stand
It is a sprout well budded out
The work of our Lord's hand

[Chorus]

We've been rambling all the night
And some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

We've been rambling all the night
And some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

2021 Imbolc timing

2021 Imbolc timing

 

Current technology gives easy access to calculate the precise moment of astronomical phenomena, including of the cross-quarter days, those that are mid-way between the solstices and equinoxes.

Imbolc, the cross-quarter between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox

15° Mid-Aquarius

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

London (United Kingdom - England), February 3, 2021 at 2:58:41 PM GMT UTC
UT +00:00:00

Washington DC (USA - District of Columbia) at 9:58:41 am EST UTC-5 hours

Chicago (USA - Illinois) at 8:58:41 am CST UTC-6 hours

Albuquerque (USA - New Mexico) at 7:58:41 am MST UTC-7 hours

Seattle (USA - Washington) at 6:58:41 am PST UTC-8 hours

Kailua-Kona (USA - Hawaii) at 4:58:41 am HST UTC-10 hours 

Statue of Saint Brigit - Saint Brigit's well Kildare

Imbolc or Imolg (also Oimelc – ewe’s milk) is celebrated at the end of January/beginning of February in Celtic and pagan traditions when Winter has reached its peak, the days are lengthening slightly, and the first signs of Spring begin to show. Coinciding events include Saint Brigid’s Day (to the Irish she is the Triple Goddess of Poetry, Healing, and Smithcraft), Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus, Candlemas, Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Groundhog Day.

From Palden Jenkins this:

“...there is a distinction between the quarters and the cross-quarters. The quarters represent change-points in energy-patterning, in terms of light. The cross-quarters represent change-points in manifest energy, in terms of visible seasonal changes. The peaks of the four seasons show themselves at the cross-quarters.”

For more on Imbolc, please use the search function near the top of the blog page, just below “Astrology STARTALK from Tim Rubald.” Type in Imbolc and click “Search.”

Samhain 2020

Timing Samhain 2020

This year Samhain, the Cross-Quarter, midway between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, 15° of the sign Scorpio, occurs November 6. Here are the times for a few time zones. Feel free to ask me for any zone not represented, or go to the web site timeanddate.com where time is of the essence, and the essence is time.

From card by © Amanda Clark all rights are reserved. http://www.amandaclarkartist.co.uk/

Friday, November 6, 2020
11:14:04 UTC
Dublin, Ireland
11:14:04 AM GMT
Boston, MA USA
06:14:04 AM EST
St. Louis, MO, USA
05:14:04 AM CST
Santa Fe, NM, USA
04:14:04 AM MST
Vancouver, Canada
03:14:04 AM PST
Honolulu, HI, USA
1:14:04 PM AHST

Samhain (or Samhuinn, or several variations) is pronounced "sow-in" (with "sow" rhyming with "cow" or pronounced “sah-wen” by others). It is seen as the dividing point between years. It marks a time that is neither in this year or the next.

Samhain is the beginning of the Celtic winter. It is balanced by the corresponding day of celebration called Beltain (or Bealtaine, Beltaine, etc.) that signals the start of summer, six months later. Both are fire festivals. Bonfires are lit in high places. The ancient Celts probably held them as closely between an equinox (when day and night were equal), and the following solstice (when the nighttime was shortest, summer, or longest, winter) as they could figure. By our current calendar, between the Fall equinox and the Winter solstice is a range of November 5 to 7.

Samhain is the source of Halloween. It is a time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest. The Celts believed that upon death, everyone went to a beautiful place free of hunger, pain, and disease, called "Tir nan Og," sometimes translated as "Summerland." The belief was that two separate and nearly identical worlds existed. At Samhain, the veil between the worlds grows thin, and the concept of ghosts and goblins making their presence known comes in.
"The pagan idea used to be that crucial joints between the seasons opened cracks in the fabric of space-time, allowing contact between the ghost world and the mortal one." [B.G. Walker, "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets," Harper & Row (1983), Page 371-372]
"The spirits of dead friends sought the warmth of the Samhain fire and communion with their living kin." [Janet & Steward Farrar, "Eight Sabbats for Witches," Phoenix Publishing, Custer WA, Pages 121 to 136]
Celts believed the future may be predicted most effectively at this time.

What do you see for the year ahead?

There was no monolithic “Old Religion” or paganism, but Solstices, Equinoxes, and Cross Quarters were likely recognized and utilized by a variety of peoples from very ancient times for ritual, augury, and as portals to exchange with the world of Spirit. Ancient astronomical accuracy recognizing the events is evident in many more structures than Stonehenge and Chaco Canyon and from a wide variety of cultures globally. The Eightfold Year resonates in celebration and ritual in the calendars of religions and peoples, often obscured from the source, such as Groundhog Day for Imbolc (in the belly) midway between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

Samhain falls with the Sun at the midpoint of the sign Scorpio, the Scorpion, symbol of death and transformation. It is a Water Sign traditionally affiliated with Mars but akin as well with Pluto, (not visible to the ancient world, but well recognized by the astrological community fairly quickly after its discovery, February 18, 1930.)

Via the brilliant and prolific astrloger and artist Aysem Aksoy

Scorpio is of the body zone of sex when considering the astrological associations from the head, Aries, to the feet, Pisces. While Mars is strongly in the masculine, male, camp, Pluto well includes the so-called dark female, embodied by Persephone from the Greek view, and especially with Inanna the Sumerian goddess. The richness of mid-Scorpio easily includes all of the celebrations, holy days, and rituals that cluster about this time.

Rights to the images belong to their respective owners, and I will quickly honor any removal requests. The rest is copyright © Tim Rubald 2020

Autumn Equinox 2020

Timing our Autumn Equinox
(Southward) Equinox, Sun enters Libra (Sun at 0° Libra), Maybon (Holy Day)
September 22, 2020, 3:30:33 AM (Hawaii), Sun 0° Libra

Not in Hawai’i? Here’s Equinox timing for some other time zones.
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
UT/GMT 01:30:33 PM
UK 02:30:33 PM
EDT 09:30:33 AM
CDT 08:30:33 AM
MDT 07:30:33 AM
PDT 06:30:33 AM
HST 03:30:33 AM Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time

Image courtesy of filamentlearning dot com.

Twice a year the sun’s rays shine directly over the Earth’s equator and there are nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world. The sun rises and sets exactly due east and due west on the equinoxes. Instead of the Earth tilting away from or toward the sun, its axis of rotation becomes perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the Earth and the sun. From Autumnal Equinox to Winter Solstice (December 22) the nights get longer. This is the first day of Fall (Autumnal Equinox) in the northern hemisphere and the first day of Spring (Vernal Equinox) in the southern hemisphere.

The key to “getting it” is equinox points are places in Earth’s orbit where the Earth's axis is between the stages of pointing toward or away from the Sun. Toward takes us into northern hemisphere summer, away into winter.

The publisher, Llewellyn offers Maybon, a “name for the autumnal equinox, also known as the Second Harvest Festival, Festival of Dionysus, Wine Harvest, Cornucopia, Feast of Avalon, etc. The first Thanksgiving was held on or near this date, and it is from these early harvest festivals that the modern Thanksgiving feasts developed.” - Kristin Madden (Llewellyn Publications)

Image via mytripolog

Similar recognition of the equinox marking the harvest season occurs in Central America. “In Mexico, crowds flock to the pyramid at Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula. A serpent-headed statue is at the foot of the pyramid and as the sun sets, the sunlight and the shadow show the body of the serpent joining with the head.” 

The Wheel of the Year Turns Toward Darkness.

As some followers of Earth oriented religions express it, after the Fall Equinox, the energies of the dark gods and goddesses begin to increase and gain attention. The balance described by the Taoist symbol of Yin and Yang reflects the Equinoxes but an imbalance begins at the point of this Equinox as night begins to overtake daylight's duration. The processes of inward-turning gain significance. Persephone returns to her throne with Hades in the Underworld.

This is a solar marker of the continual heartbeat of creation, what to some traditions is known as "the Word." While the heartbeat may slowly alter over eons of time, Earth's relationship with the center cycles rhythmically through the centuries. That essential relationship of Earth to Sun establishes the core pattern that is the basis of tropical astrology, astrology based on the seasons.


Reminder: in a few weeks, on November 1, 2020, Daylight Saving Time ends – turn clocks back one hour, 2:00 am becomes 1:00 am.