Equinox message March 2023

Builders of the Adytum
Equinox Message
Embracing Change
March 2023

The tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis and its revolution about the sun create the familiar change of seasons with its ebb and flow of light and darkness. As perceived on earth, this pendulum-like motion gives us the summer and winter solstices. The two poles of the longest day and longest night each reach their maximum influence and pause, then accelerate in the opposite direction toward the other. It is the midpoint of this arc where the point of greatest velocity or rate-of-change corresponds to the equinoxes where day and night are equal in length and these opposite influences are in balance. What is the nature of these influences and how do they affect our lives?

We know that all forces are derivatives of the One Force, the One Will-to-Good. The flow of that familiar river or stream of consciousness that winds its way through the Tarot keys illustrates this Light Force. This same force descends through the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, manifesting in Chokmah as the Universal Mind’s perfect knowledge of Itself and its powers. This awareness animates the primal impulse, the Life Power’s desire to create, and its inspiration to explore the possibilities of what it knows Itself to be. Each of us, as vehicles of that Force, responds to this impulse with the desire in our hearts for something better. We may not recognize the Primal Will as its origin. Our desires may take imperfect forms due to our delusions of separateness. We are works-unfinished. But the root of all our desires is our deepest yearning to achieve our divine potential. Consciously or unconsciously we all seek the liberation that comes from conscious identification with the Higher Self.

It is Binah that first gives concrete expression to the force of inspiration. The lunar force, associated with the darkness of form, acts as a cosmic mirror, reflecting the Life Power to Itself. Similarly, the forms that take shape in our individual lives, reveal ourselves to ourselves. It is a dialogue between light and shadow. It is this alternating motion between conception and perception, Wisdom and Understanding, that gives voice to the conversation with our Holy Guardian Angel. It is the constant waxing and waning momentum of this force that propels us, and all of creation, along the path of return.
The interplay of light and dark, each quality reflecting, and thus informing the other, is the work of the Sun and the Moon. And as a pendulum suggests, with each pass, with each half-cycle, these influences are momentarily in a state of balance. Perhaps with that symmetry comes an alignment that promotes receptivity – and from that, inspired activity. The cycle is not static but rather advances with each completed period. We learn from our mistakes. Hence Key 21, the Administrative Intelligence depicts this reciprocating force as a pair of ascending spirals. All acts of creation, be it by artist or artisan, begin with inspiration. They are informed by the initial shape it takes, refined by reflection upon that form, and reformed by the next inspirational response in the cycle. The artist through the interplay of inner vision and reflected form refines the image upon her canvas. The musician perfects his musical score. The artisan hones her technical skills. Each of us, in our own unique way, is always striving toward something better in our lives: and our lives are, in a manner of speaking, our living works of art.

It is good to keep in mind the Qabalistic maxim, that “of ourselves we do nothing.” As individuals, the currents of our lives are but eddies in the cosmic stream of consciousness. Our lives are truly lived within the support and movement of the Cosmic Will. Hence Key 16, The Tower, warns us of the chaotic consequences of undue attachment to, and reliance upon, the ever-changing forms of the outer. Perhaps what manifests in our lives in truth doesn’t support us, but rather informs us. In contrast with The Tower, Key 7 The Chariot, displays the safety, support, and peace that arises from reliance upon, and identification with, the motion of the Eternal Observer, the inner. On all equinoxes and all that transpires between them, may we see the Divine Presence in ourselves and all of creation. May we hear the hidden harmonies in the sounds that surround us. May we enjoy the abundance of all-that’s-needful in the ever-changing forms of Life. Shalom!