The Equinox provides an opportunity to look at balance and the polarisation poised opposing forces. You have probably noticed the light retreating and the nights drawing in. Soon, day and night will be equal like someone has pressed the pause button and stopped the dance of dark and light. The outer, daylight hours versus night time affect us on a physical level as we adjust our lives to it but the same dynamics shift is taking place on an inner level too. It is a time to balance tendencies within yourselves too. The Equinox is symbolised by black and white. In rituals, a black candle and a white candle can be used by holding one in each hand and looking at the flames to balance. You could find yourself a black stone and a white stone and place one in each hand. if you are wondering what this would do it is a psychological exercise to be still and balance the often warring opposing forces within yourself. The Light/White represents the Conscious and the Darkness/Black symbolises the Unconscious.
For me, notably this Autumn Equinox, black and white is highly symbolic. I have been campaigning against the live capture and training of dolphins/whales for human entertainment. I went to see the film documentary “Blackfish” about Tilikum the orca who has been implicated in trainers’ deaths at Seaworld.
The other animal that I have been campaigning for is our badger. There is a senseless cull going on in spite of all of the campaigning and a petition that showed that people are against it. Black and white also brings cows to mind (although of course there are other colours)
The card that I think of at this time is the Chariot.
The Chariot symbolises travelling through mysteries within the universe. One of the mysteries is of polarisation, the tension of opposites, light and dark, the seen and unseen, interface points of beginnings and ends, mergings, false difference. Look at the two sphinxes in the Chariot Tarot card. Both are of the same colouring but one is mainly white and the other is mainly black. But both are actually equal depictions of one whole. The Light contains the Darkness and the Darkness contains the Light. Without one the other would not be. This card is number 7 in the deck. Libra is the seventh sign of the Zodiac and represents balance, harmony and finding the middle ground. Finding the zero point that contains and holds the opposites and resolves the tension.
Culling badgers and abusing sea creatures like dolphins and orcas to me represents the shadow aspects, the dark side of humanity. We who oppose these are trying to bring enlightenment into the darkness and are trying to raise these issues into the consciousness (the light) of the general public. The sphinxes depicted on the Rider Waite tarot card are relevant here as they are half man and half beast, so for me, at the time of this Autumn Equinox (themes of symbols shift. They are not fixed in my opinion. The basic features i.e colour, form are but I perceive that their representations shift at different times according to what is going on in your life) they are asking us to look at how we interact with the animal species. Do we acknowledge their consciousness or not? What are our interactions with and perceptions about animals telling us about our conscious relationship with our shadow self? As humans we have a tendency to project our faults and not so agreeable traits onto another being, which can be a person, organisation or I am maintaining here, an animal or species. Badgers are destructive and are spreading bovine Tb. No, we are destructive and spreading bovine TB. The farmers who are not abiding by sanitation standards and our demand for dairy products are spreading Bovine TB. The middle ground here would be to acknowledge that there is a problem. Have compassion for both species, badgers and cows and start a vaccination process. The fact that this course of action is not being pursued also shows another way in which dark and light interact and can be manipulated. The dark conceals things. The more light that you introduce, the more is revealed. It is slowly coming to light that there might be a hidden agenda at play here. it has been suggested that the planning laws are about to be relaxed. Badger setts are protected so it would not be possible to build in their vicinity.
In the time after the Equinox when there is more darkness than light I am wanting something to shift. Will the real reason for the badger cull please stand up and show yourself!
There is another black and white force that plays a part in all of this too and it is the media. What was hidden/distorted in the darkness comes to light which is why it is apt that black (hidden) is often printed on white (revealed to consciousness) This is why they play such a huge part in agenda setting.
How are darkness and light showing themselves in your life? If you can, take even an hour this weekend to just be still, poised between aware conscious thought and a dreamy meditative state. Ask yourself what needs to be more balanced in your life and ask how you can achieve it. Allow your inner self, your deeper mind to have a voice and bring you insight about your life, bring it into conscious awareness so that you can work on it. Write any thoughts/impressions down and see if your dreams bring you any insights or if things in your daily life take on a different significance and speak to you in a new way. You know more than you are consciously aware of. You just need to create the space for your inner self (which knows everything about you) to bring things to light, into consciousness for you.
