The Spring Equinox

“Meditation is not a doing, but a happening”
The spring equinox at zero degrees of Aries is the beginning of the solar year, where the solar angel brings down a fresh impulse from higher circles. This time represents the midday sun and the highest point of enlightenment.


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At spring equinox the sun crosses the equator on its seeming journey northwards, and at noon time its rays strike the earth vertically. If we put a rod into the earth, no shadow can be seen. The same happens at autumn equinox. This way the ancients have detected the two equinox days, where the day and night are of the same length.

The highest point of the sun at spring equinox on the equator marks the exaltation or the brilliance of the annual sun at noon time. This corresponds to zero degrees of Aries. At the meridian we have the maximum light, and Aries is the most radiant sign and stands for the highest point of enlightenment. Just like the shadow is shortest at this time on the equator, it is the easiest to submit our shadow, the personality, under the light at the midday time of the year.

In humans, Aries is located in the upper part of the head, which is also the highest of man. Since man is made in the image of God, Aries is revered as the head of the Cosmic Person in the Vedas. At the beginning of each solar year the solar angel brings down an impulse from higher circles. This fresh impulse is a new message every year, a plan for the development of the planet and its beings. In us, it descends via the head centre, for the solar principle, the principle of liberation, is in our Sahasrara.

Thus, at spring equinox, we should align with the brilliant spiritual awareness in our head and envision the flood of the light of initiation, our “twelve noon” (the head center). The great Master Pythagoras called this the “High Twelve”.

At the equinoxes the energy of the sun comes down vertically into us. We are the only beings on the planet that move vertically with self-consciousness. Plants and animals are not self-conscious; the animals also do not move vertically.

To be able to best absorb the energy of the equinoxes we can imagine ourselves standing on the equator of the earth in our vertical alignment and see the sunray go through our nervous system. The sunray can be received through the golden middle path of the Sushumna and enlighten our whole system, from the head to the base center. This central channel is called by Master CVV as “vertical levels” and “chief life”. He creates the yogic balance between the energies of materialisation and spiritualisation.

The Sushumna is the pillar of our inner existence. It is of diamond light, from which our diamantine body is made. So a Yogi stands in the column of the Sushumna and experiences via the alignment to the soul the connection to the Sun and then to the Central Sun and the Cosmic Sun. Thus, all four levels of the soul stand in alignment.

The Lord of the Planet, Sanat Kumara, is in deep contemplation on the Sun, the Central Sun and Cosmic Sun. The Spiritual Hierarchy receives the influx of energy and transmits it to the beings on the planet. We can also join in this alignment in order to gain the experience of the cosmic, solar and planetary existence. When we regularly meditate in the Sushumna, we balance the right and left side in us, and the male and female energies are nourished and balanced. In the state of equilibrium we stand in the light of the androgynous consciousness. God himself is androgynous, male-female, and he created us in His image and likeness.

Although, the length of the day is the same at the two equinoxes, their energies differ. While at vernal equinox, the sun moves northward across the equator, the energies rise from matter to spirit; it is an ascent from Muladhara to Sahasrara. At autumn equinox, there is the movement from Sahasrara to Muladhara, from top to bottom. The autumn equinox symbolises the lowest point reached by the Sun God. It corresponds to the midnight of the day and the Muladhara centre at the base of the spine.

At both equinoxes spirit and matter come into balance, and in the Scriptures, this state is also called synthesis or the state of yoga. Accomplished yogis move with equal ease in the worlds of spirit and matter, as necessary. They can transform beings from lower levels, so that they can reach the higher worlds; and they can also bring down the energies of the higher planes to the earth plane.

The times of the balance between spirit and matter are considered the best for yogic energies. These include the equinoxes, but also their corresponding times of dawn and dusk and the 8th lunar phases. If these times coincide, there comes an even stronger support from the subtle worlds and we can easily settle on the Buddhic plane.

The equinoxes are particularly important spiritual festival days, where meditation and alignment are easier for us than on other days. The best times are the days around the spring equinox at the beginning of Aries. In many ancient cultures the importance of the vernal equinox was known, and they chose the first sign of the zodiac as the beginning of their year. Therefore, we should prepare ourselves for these days of initiation and use especially the day before, during and after for conscious inner work. This helps us to readjust our energies and to be in harmony with the Self and the surroundings. United as a group, we can more effectively align ourselves meditatively, to be charged as souls with Light.

When on its northward or southward journey the sun crosses the equator at the equinoxes, it is said that it cuts through the annual ring with a pair of scissors to create a beginning and an end. The Sanskrit word for scissors is Krittika. While crossing the equator on its northward journey, the sun passes through the constellation Krittika. The spring equinox stands for the great ritual of the cutting of the head, for the death of the lower man and the birth of the perfect man, the Master.

The Puranic author Vedavyasa tells the ritual in an allegorical form as the story of Daksha the Prajapati. The Prajapati is the (solar) year, whose head is cut off and replaced with the head of a ram. The “sacrifice of the ram” indicates the end of the old and the beginning of the new year.

The ritual has other dimensions as well: Daksha exists in us as the consciousness of personality. When a man grows in his knowledge and skills normally the pride in one's own achievements and virtues also grows. The smarter and cleverer you are, the more swells the head, the ego. The Purana says that the King Daksha possessed all the powers and abilities and therefore was filled with pride. He performed the ritual without inviting the Lord beyond time. Then Daksha was made humble by the Lord by cutting off the head of Daksha and replacing it by the head of a ram.

The cutting of the head stands for the initiation of a disciple in the head centre. This causes the end of his human consciousness and the beginning of God-consciousness in him. Aries is the symbol for that great initiation, which connects the disciple with Shamballa. In the physical body Shamballa is located in the head centre and is directly related to the Lord Sanat Kumara in combination. He who realises the Light in the head, ascends to the divine realm.

It is recommended to study the story of Daksha in the month of Aries, in order to overcome the animal nature of the ram and to begin the annual cycle in the right way.