About 15 years ago I switched hemispheres, currently living in Aotearoa. When I came here, the festivities to celebrate the seasons confused me hugely. It seemed totally “out of sync” to celebrate the re-birth of the Light, of the White Goddess, in mid-summer when the Light is at the height of his power. And I couldn’t get my feelings around celebrating fertility and the sprouting of Life in its many forms – which makes total sense after a long winter period – in Autumn. The Germanic Spring Goddess Ostara would have chuckled about that one. She is often depicted with generic symbols of fertility (eggs and rabbits – we know why…). Christianity rewrote this story, however, couldn’t quite get rid of the eggs and the bunnies. Chocolate is just too addictive J Anyway: I digress… I tried to go with the Northern cycles – until I realized how anti-cyclical and simply not fitting it was. Autumn is a time of giving thanks to summer’s harvest, to prepare for the winter period, to start the journey inwards – and not to fly into a chocolate frenzy to celebrate the growth of Life in its many forms.
I stopped to go along with rhythms and ceremonies that are not at all aligned with the land I live in. I looked for the stories of the people who walked this land before me – long before me. And sure enough, there were/are heaps of stories who explain and illustrate the rhythms and cycles of the Southern Hemisphere. Māori mythology is wonderfully rich and deep. I won’t share any of the stories here as it is not my place. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds (according to Luke anyways). The point I would like to make here is:
The more we ignore, dismiss, neglect the cyclic nature of Life (within and around us), the more we lose our alignment and connection to a very vital real-ity of Life.
It stuns me that (almost) a whole hemisphere succumbed to the dominance of a (Christian) storyline, coming from scribes in the Northern Hemisphere – and dismissed the richness of Southern Hemisphere native mythology. No matter if you are of Christian faith, no matter if you like chocolate eggs and bunnies, Christmas presents etc. etc.: it is worth to consider the misalignment and disconnection and the corresponding imbalances you are causing in your life IF you are swimming against the current. It adds to the stress and physical, emotional and mental imbalance – because if we acknowledge it or not: we are an integral part of a bigger web of Life, always interconnected, following ever-changing and cyclic rhythms – and swimming against the currents is exhausting and draining and highly disruptive for all Life, not just us.
So no matter if you live in the Northern or the Southern Hemisphere: learn about the “big cycles of Life”, observe what the Sun and the Moonin are doing (longer days = more male energy influence, longer nights = more female energy influence) and their impact on you/others, look out for some of the old native myths and legends of the place you live in and distill their rich essence and wisdom as a starting point and guidance for your orientation and navigation towards connection and alignment.