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Solar Ceremony: March Equinox
Welcome to a celebration of Sun & Earth!
Before I begin to ramble, if you're simply seeking ritual & practice - click here to head straight to the video.
Now I'm sure I'll find my way back to this page to edit & add.. or perhaps rewrite completely.. but for now, let's try to find our footing.
On March Equinox, the Sun (which appears to travel across the sky, moving about one degree per day along the Ecliptic) crosses the Celestial Equator. When I say "travels across the sky", I'm not talking about the daily sunrise to sunset motion, which is caused by Earth's 'Rotation'. I'm talking about the secondary motion, Earth's 'Revolution', our annual journey around the Sun.. which ends up looking like the Sun's journey around us. It's a much slower process ( a year to be exact, ha!) & is most noticeable when observing the night sky over periods of weeks & months.
The best way to view this motion is by observing the Moon. If you look into the sunset sky every day at the same time on the days following New Moon, you'll notice that the Moon separates from the Sun, moving towards the East. This is the path all celestial bodies appear to follow from our geocentric perspective. (& if an astronomer questions your use of this geocentric logic, one might ask why we say things like sunrise & sunset anyway....)
On the image below, you'll see the Ecliptic (apparent path of the Sun) in yellow - & the Celestial Equator in green. If we viewed at this exact moment every day onward, the Sun would appear slightly further along the yellow line (Ecliptic) moving to the left on the screen until it was no longer visible (& eventually returned to it's current position.)
Astronomers define this March Equinox Point as the First Point Of Aries. Right Ascension & Declination are measured from this 0 , 0 point. Astrologers know this point as 0* Degrees Tropical Aries & measure the Zodiac Eastward from it. In the Northern Hemisphere we celebrate the Vernal Equinox. Ostara. The start of Spring. In the Southern Hemisphere, Autumn begins & Mabon is celebrated.
But these terms & definitions are not our focus today.
We've crossed the threshold.
The Sun has entered the realm of Aries.
A Solar Season of Self Assertion.
Of acknowledging the ME & flipping it to acknowledge the WE.
Of maintaining balance.
The video below was recorded while the Sun moved through the 8th House. The ritual that came through is one I am deeply grateful for. Entering Aries Season is always a bit uneasy for me. I cried, I felt the warmth of the Sun. I laughed. I wrote. I tried something new. In true Aries fashion, I leapt before I looked. But I am happy to share it with you now.
Footnotes
Ecliptic: The path of Earth around the Sun. From our geocentric perspective, we refer to the Ecliptic as the path of the Sun. It is embraced by the 12 traditional zodiac constellations & outlines the order of our Tropical Zodiac Signs.
Celestial Equator: The projection of Earth's Equator in space, against a background of Fixed Stars.
Right Ascension : Celestial Longitude.
Declination: Celestial Latitude.
A useful page for further study can be found here.