"The Procession of the Eqinoxes

"The Procession of the Equinoxes"

“One fine morning in the Procession of the Equinoxes this ‘satiable Elephant’s Child asked a fine new question that he had never asked before. He asked, “what does the Crocodile have for dinner? Then everyone said, “Hush!” in a loud and dreadful tone, and they spanked him immediately and directly without stopping, for a long time.

By and by, when that was finished, he came upon the Kolokolo Bird sitting in the middle of a wait-a-bit thorn bush, and he said, “My father has spanked me, and my mother has spanked me; all my aunts and uncles have spanked me for my ‘satiable curiosity; and still I want to know what the Crocodile has for dinner!”

Then the Kolokolo Bird said with a mournful cry, “Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River all set about with fever trees, and find out.”

Do you remember “The Elephant’s Child” by Rudyard Kipling? It was one of my favorite stories as a little girl, I think my parents must have read it endlessly for years, along with the other lyrical tales in “The Just So Stories”.

When my own children were small and the equinoxial gales whipped over the landscape and whistled in the trees I would say to them, “when the Elepahant’s child went to the great grey-green greasy Limpopo is was the time of the procession of the equinoxes.”

Newton explained the procession of the equinoxes as an effect that was a slow wobble of the earth’s axis caused by the gravitational rotation of the sun and moon at the equatorial bulge of the earth. The earth’s axis is now known to make a complete turn in 25,720 years.

And now is the time of the Procession of the Equinoxes. Here in the Southern Hemisphere it is the time for rolling from the last endless heat of summer and into the colours and languid cool of the approaching Autumn. Colours change, the earth smells dry, the days are noticeably shorter and the nights cooler.

I find the concept that the procession of the equinoxes” takes so very many years and yet we experience two equinoxes each year. The two yearly events are experienced as windy times, as times when the quality of light is markedly different, the angle of the sun has changed, the colours, textures, creatures are all in flux. And yet, for one complete procession of the equinoxes we would need to stick around for 25,720 years. My what changes we would experience in that time.

If we experience the changes that occur with each equinox, if we observe the changes that happen to ourselves as we go about our practice or the ramblings of our mind, we are experiencing the short term transitions of our life. If we put all these changes and observations together over time, it is rather like a personal procession - our own rotation of our being, our personal aclimatising to short and long term changes. I wonder if Patañjali would love the equinoxes - I think perhaps he would for certainly the Yoga Sutra-s slip around this concept of change over time in their own delicious way.

Equinoxes bring wind - wind that whips the frills of dry grass, tickles the dancing boughs of trees. They remind us of the fierceness of change. the expectation that it is natural, indeed positive, to look outside our daily rhythms to embrace our own ‘satiable curiosity - to be whipped and danced over new landscapes. Above all it is the wind, indeed a myriad of winds, that defines the equinox.

‘Myriad’ (a word that indeed has a mathematical equation to explain it) means many, many and many times. It is a word I am particularly fond of. It sits roundly in my mouth and seems to roll along my tongue and then spill out to find its place in the world. When I imagine a myriads of winds that fly through the skies at the time of the equinoxes, I physically feel the ways in which my body and mind respond to that busyness.

There is an equal and opposite word that I love. Samasthīti - that lovely Sanskrit word that refers to stillness - a stillness that is a reference point.

With the Procession of the Equinoxes the wind blows, but it comes to stillness. In that stillness there is a magic of awareness of that which is around us.

Often our lives are busy, our mind rattles on, our bodies keep on keeping on, and then, if we allow it, it all stops, it is as though the winds of our personal procession of the equinoxes cease. We become aware of subtleties in and around us in a different way.

Samasthīti is that same stillness that reveals more than we may be able to imagine.

Perhaps without the procession of the equinoxes, without the very tangible, elemental changes that happen around us, maybe our experience and ‘satiable curiosity would not find a myriad of ways to contemplate our beingness.

And so, welcome to the autumn equinox. May your curiosity blow like the wind into the corners of your mind and may your contemplations settle on something, anything, that delights and intrigues you.

My curiosity in and around the procession of the equinoxes was inspired not just because it is indeed the Autumn equinox and I love the sensation that comes with a good change of season, but also by an essay by Elemental Physicist Steven Weinberg. He wrote of the mathematical equation that surround the word myriad and related it to ancient Greek discoveries about the equinoxes. I can’t begin to understand all that he spoke of but the way he said it was intoxicating and the bits I did understand thrilled me. If you are interested, it is essay 5 in his book “Third Thoughts”

Since my last newsletter I’ve been to Śri Lanka. What a great country. I dream that I used the time to find a venue for a yoga and Ayurvedic retreat, but actually I just had a holiday. I’m rested and inspired which is, in my opinion, just what a holiday should do.

Speaking of rest, inspiration and holiday, the “Pamper in Paradise” in Bali retreat has morphed into a very cost effective opportunity for teachers, healers, creatives to come together to share ideas and practices, stories and songs. The ultimate networking opportunity maybe! If you would like to know more please message me. Essentially June 3-8, 2024, $950 (base price - you would need to add airfares and any before and after accommodation), each day a different presenter (you get to nominate what you would like to offer - any thing from yoga/meditation, chant, stories, writing, art - whatever it is that is your thing).

And I’ve added relaxation massage to my toolkit. Women only, Mondays and Fridays in Guildford. Message me if you are interested.

And to end yet another something miraculously delicious. The smoothies in Śri Lanka were something else again. Thick, yoghurty mango smoothie topped with a variety of goodies - my favorite - nuts, chia seeds, banana, sprinkle of chocolate, pumpkin or sunflower seeds. Especially good if served in a half coconut.

Thanks so much for being here with me.