The Spring Equinox, or Alban Eiler, occurs this year March 20, 2010, at precisely 1:32 P.M. EDT.
Time honored opinion is that this is the time of year when Druids and other pagan/wiccan/ neopagans celebrate the return of spring. The night and day share equal time as well as the influences of the sun/moon. This is one of those between times especially sacred to Druids. When something is between two places or states of being is the most fortuitous times to consider the balance in your life and shift energies, to create transformation.
In ancient Ireland there are sacred places more directly associated with Alban Eiler than even Stonehenge, Cairn T and Knowth to name a couple. They are dated to 5000 to 6000 years old, and both align to permit the sun to shine directly on a stone on the morning of the equinoxes. You will notice the eight spoked wheels on the stone inside Cairn T (Links provided at bottom of article) if you take time to view that monument in County Meath, Ireland.
There is also unbelievably half a world away in Sedona, AZ, USA, a similar stone (Links provided at bottom of article) that also marks the arrival of spring. Keep in mind the completely different cultures of the Hopi and Pre-Celtic Ireland, and look at the similarities between the two cultures stonework. The equinox is also marked on monuments at The Maiden tower in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Mayan pyramid El Kukucan (Chichen Nitsa) and even at the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, which dates back an additional 4000-6000 years (!) according to researchers Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval.
It is even celebrated in Judaic-Christian traditions as Easter, and in Mesapotamia, women were obliged to serve as priestess in fertility rites at the the temple of Ishtar/Inanna at least once before they could marry. Regardless of which culture you are looking at, they all seemed to recognize this as a special time of year, probably a time to begin planting.
Modern Druids, Wiccan, and other pagan traditions revere this time of year for pretty much the same reason, a time to plant seeds of growth for the spirit or to influence new projects. In Wicca we celebrate Eostre/ Ostara the Goddess of the Morning and Evening Star, fertility, and Spring, to whom hares and birds were sacred. Altars may be covered in pastels or green cloth (growth), and a blessing of new projects or even actual seeds is appropriate. Whatever your personal traditions are, take time to celebrate in some way. Lets face it, the entire ancient world couldn't have had it all wrong, could they?
Storm is an entrepeneur/writer/mystic, and basically a complicatedly simplistic man. He lives in the Ozarks of southwest Missouri and has for 37 years. He is a grandfather, father, Wicca Priest, and traveler with over two decades of journeying into alternative spiritual paths. This article, with pictures, was originally published in the spring edition of http://www.shamansrune.com/ezine.htm, where you will find lots of interesting stuff. The stones mentioned in this article are available at:
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