The Equinox Has a Gift for You
The equinox arrives twice a year, and most of us barely notice. We might acknowledge it as the first day of fall or spring, but we miss the deeper meaning. Indigenous cultures have always known that these times are more than just marks on the calendar. They’re sacred days meant for our spiritual growth.
I learned about this practice from a talk given by Arkan Lushwala. He’s a Peruvian ceremonial leader raised in both the Andean and North American Native traditions, and the author of two books on indigenous wisdom teachings, Deer & Thunder and The Time of the Black Jaguar.
In the Native spiritual traditions, we’re all on our way to mastering the dualities of the material world. The summer and winter solstices represent the extremes: hot and cold, light and dark, expansion and contraction. The spring and fall equinoxes represent the balancing of those extremes. Our goal, individually and collectively, is to learn to maintain a state of balance, or centering, while in the midst of the dualities of daily life.
The seasonal cycle is designed to help us master life—if we’re paying attention.
As Arkan described, these four times of the year, equinox and solstice, are sacred days offered by what the Andean people call the Pachamama, the universal energy that runs through all things.
On each of these days, through the alignment of Earth and Sun, it’s as though the Pachamama arrives at our doorstep with a gift. But in order to receive her gift, we have to be at home and listening for the doorbell. Most of us are not at home, because no one ever told us that a gift is on the way.
The equinox is the day the Pachamama creates equal hours of day and night for the entire planet. Her gift is an enhanced planetary atmosphere for balance and centering. The way that gift shows up in our lives is different for each of us.
If you want to receive your gift, the most important thing you can do is stop your everyday routine and pay attention. Turn off your devices and remove yourself from your daily activities for some amount of time. If you can manage a whole day, do that, but if you only have an hour, that’s okay too.
Find a quiet space and ask yourself, what is the gift? What has the Pachamama brought for me this day? And then listen for the answer. Notice what comes up for you.
You can meditate, journal, pray, or do any ceremonies you like to do. If you want to be outside on this day, that’s wonderful, but it’s not necessary.
The Pachamama is everywhere, and she is always offering us gifts. But on the equinox, she offers us something extra special—an enhanced atmosphere for moving beyond duality, a threshold moment for spiritual growth. A day when the door between worlds opens just a little wider.
All you have to do is stop long enough to find out what wants to come through it.