What does that even mean? I assume that most people at least know that it means that it’s the first day of Spring. What the hell does that mean? I think most people — at least, people who live or have lived in cold climates — appreciate that around this time of year, things start to warm up and come back to life.
Not too far in our distant past, the Spring Equinox, or as it was once called, Ostara, or Easter, was a big deal. Easter traditions served to remind our ancestors of the cycle of rebirth and the need for renewal in their lives.
With the help of Astro-logic, we can generate a tremendous amount of not only a reminder, but a way to utilize this primal energy of Spring — or as I say in Astro-logic, Aries, the Ram. The Aries archetype is all about the development of courage.
“What does the Spring have to do with courage?” you might ask.
To answer that question, I have to give you a brief explanation of what Astrology is. Astrology is a tool for the study of cycles. A tool that uses the motions of the planets around the Sun the same way we use the hands of a clock. For example, I usually wake up when the hands on the clock indicate that it is morning time. I tend to get hungry around the time that the hands on the clock correspond to the early afternoon. Most of our daily activities are based around the cycles of the hands on the clock. A phrase we use often in Astro-logic comes to mind: As above, so below.
We all wake up, and we all need to eat, sleep, and recreate. These needs have the tendency to occur with some sort of rhythmic frequency. Each of us has our own unique rhythms, and our individual rhythms can change. The interactions between the larger, collective rhythms and our own unique rhythms create the meaningful events in our lives.
The more conscious we are of both our personal rhythm and the larger collective rhythms, the more meaningful our lives become. A fundamental mental rhythm or cycle that mankind has been aware of for millennia are the changing of the seasons. Whether we were herding animals, nomads roaming the land, or living an agricultural existence, to ensure our survival, we had to pay attention and live according to the seasons.
This basic logic is deeply embedded in most, if not all, natural healing philosophies. It is what drew me to begin studying Ayurveda and Astrology nearly 15 years ago. And it is what has led me into my current study of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
If we pay attention, we will notice that our lives unfold in “seasons”. I first had this insight in 2004 when I retired for the first time from the NFL. I could not explain to myself why playing football seemed to be losing its luster for me… until one day as I was leaving my condo in South Beach, I stopped by the concierge desk to ask when the next big party on South Beach was going to happen. The smile on the concierge’s face slowly straightened as he informed me that the season was over. He explained that, on South Beach, things pick up in November and go until Memorial Day weekend, then quiet down as the heat of Summer returns.
Something about his words stuck with me. I started thinking about seasons and my life and wondering if the football season of my life was changing. I had ridden the football horse as much as I could, and the future looked much less interesting than the past. All of the sudden, a sense of peace came over me as I realized that, like one season gracefully yielding to the next, it was time for me to let go of my childhood football dreams and pursue my adult calling.
The beginning of the end kind of sounds like Fall. Which reminds me of another season-related insight I had: my last year in the NFL, I finally made it to a climate that experienced four distinct seasons. One day after practice, I sat in my car watching the leaves fall off the trees. As I watched them float to the ground, I wondered if the trees felt sad when their leaves fell off every year. I thought to myself, “no way…it happens every year, and they know that they are getting a fresh new set in the spring.” Here we are back at the Spring Equinox.
The other day I came across an analogy that embodies the spirit of the connection between courage and Spring. “Soil is to a flower’s growth what life events and difficulties are to our growth. The soil provides the nutrients that the flower needs for growth, and at the same time a barrier against which the tender young plant must push until it reaches the light of the sun.”
Positive life events are initiated by decisive action. Decisive action requires courage. We never know how our decisions will go, and without courage, even our most well-planned and intentioned choices fail to deliver, often due to our doubts and fears. Life’s challenges tend to manifest in the aforementioned doubts and fears. It requires courage to steel our minds and choose decisively in spite of them.
Starting today, as the Sun enters the Sign of Aries and transmits its solar rays through the sign of the God of War, we all have access to more fire, energy and courage. What are we gonna do with it? I’ve decided to use it to launch my first company. I consciously chose today using a technique call Electional Astrology. Electional Astrology is using Astro-logic to utilize the energy of nature’s cycles to support one’s individual growth and the creation of meaningful life events.
If you are curious and want to read more, check out this article written by my teacher, the great Steven Forrest: https://mountainastrologer.