Equinox

TimeAndDate.com has a scientific look at what the Vernal Equinox is:

The March equinox will occur on March 20 in 2011,(March 20, 2012) marking the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and fall (autumn) in the southern hemisphere from an astronomical viewpoint. The March equinox will occur at (2012: 12:14 AM EST, or 5:14 AM UTC) 23:21 at Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on this date.

Twice a year, around March 20 or 21 and September 22 or 23, the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night are nearly equal in all parts of the world. These two days are known as the March(vernal or spring in the northern hemisphere) equinox and the September equinox.

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The word “equinox” derives from the Latin words meaning “equal night” and refers to the time when the sun crosses the equator. At such times, day and night are everywhere of nearly equal length everywhere in the world.

March Equinox Explained

The March equinox is the movement when the sun crosses the true celestial equator – or the line in the sky above the earth’s equator – from south to north, around March 20 (or March 21) of each year. At that time, day and night are balanced to nearly 12 hours each all over the world and the earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the earth and the sun.

Astrological Musings takes a look at what this means from the astrological perspective:

This Full Moon is at the end of Virgo which requires an orderly and methodical approach to the realm of feelings.  There is an attention to detail here, and a need to care for the details of life in a body, even as the Pisces Sun urges us to transcend this wordly life for something more magnificent.

But another energetic element is at work in the chart for the Full Moon – the incongruity between the Aries influence (Uranus, Jupiter and Mercury) of aggression and defense combined with the Pisces influence (Sun, Mars and Chiron) that seeks harmony and flow.  Under the influence of this Full Moon we are being called not only to honor the daily rituals and routines (Virgo) of life and self-care, but also to remain strong and vigilant (Aries) while maintaining a grounded (Virgo) attunement to the spiritual forces (Pisces) that keep us evolving as spiritual beings having a human experience.

Sacred Spirituality looks at the balancing aspect:

In the Wheel of the Year, Spring Equinox falls halfway unsecured loans between Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice. Therefore, it is a Ceremony of Balance. All Equinoxes are a time of balance, like Libra and the Scales, whose dates encompass Autumn Equinox.

What this means to us is that it is a time to release the old, and to embrace the new, and finding the balance between the two. We cannot move forward until we release the old, so this is the first step in an Equinox Ceremony. 

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Spring is also about Fertility and New Life. We can't fully embrace New Life, until we let go of the old. Nor can we be fertile, when we have blockages bad credit loans from our pasts holding us back. Spring Equinox is the time to release everything that is not productive in your life, so that what is productive, can move forward, unfettered.

They also have a ceremony written up to help release the old:

Fire feeds our creativity and our passion, therefore Fire is the best way to release the old. It burns it away. My favorite method to release the old involves writing what I want to release on scraps of paper. Then I sit facing South - the direction of Fire - and, using a fire-proof bowl, light each scrap of paper, reading it aloud before burning it, and acknowledging it's release. The ashes can be placed in the Earth, for Mother Earth to heal, or scattered on the Wind, letting the Wind Brothers take it away. Wind, being a component of Air, helps to clarify our mental processes.