How to Create a Spring Equinox Ceremony

For those not on my elist, I post this reminder that this weekend is one of the best times to practice individually and to celebrate communally.
Michael

Inside Tao News:
1. How to Create your own Spring Equinox ceremony – and capture
Nature’s impulse to birth new realities (= manifest what you NEED in
your life. This is an update of an earlier article, improved and worth
re-reading anyway.

2. Spring Equinox Event & Stone Circle Meditation is Sunday, March 20
. Its at the Celtic-Taoist Crystal Stone Circle behind our home in
Asheville: Eight giant quartz crystal boulders aligned to the 8
trigrams & 5 cardinal directions. Perfect place to attune to this
powerful moment of Cosmic Balance, even if you’re far away! 3 – 4 pm:
Hot tea, shake out the winter chi. Good weather is predicted. 4 ú 6pm:
Equinox Ceremony + standing/sitting meditation
6- 7 pm: POTLUCK DINNER party
7- 8:30 pm chi party: theatre, music, creative play
Beyond – welcome to hang out for longer silent meditation.

3. To find out your exact local equinox time, visit:
Global Equinox Times: http://www.archaeoastronomy.com/2005.shtml
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Dear Seekers of the Natural Fountain of Life,

The springtime sap is beginning to run in the veins of trees, and
birds are magically singing a fresh green world into existence.
Something also begins pulsing in the blood and tingling in the
energetic meridians of every human living in the northern hemisphere.
You don’t have to eat anything special or do any kind of exercise to
get this free ride – it’s a gift to you from Nature. But are you
accepting it? Are you using it to birth what you love most in your
life?

This weekend is the Spring Equinox, the exact moment is 7:33 am EST on
Sunday March 20. But this celestial event is energetically huge, and I
urge you to seize the moment anytime this weekend and capture the gift
that Nature is offering each of us. Equinox is recognized in my Taoist
tradition of inner alchemy as one of the four cardinal moments during
the yearly cycle that a deep opening occurs in the earth’s chi field.
There are four other intermediary points – the four midpoints between
solstices and equinoxes.

On the journey between the extreme poles of Great Yin/Winter and Great
Yang/Summer Solstices, this is the halfway moment of perfect yin-yang
equilibrium. When equal night and day express this equilibrium, an
abundance Of the third force – yuan chi/Original Breath – is released
by Nature’s spontaneous alchemical process.

Equinox as Nature’s Alchemy

When outer fire and water achieve balance, this third force, the
hidden primordial field of Original Energy/Breath and its guiding
Original Spirit becomes more accessible. It is an outer opening of
Nature’s inner womb, called the “Mysterious Female” by Taoist
alchemical adepts.

The energetic mechanism is different than the solstices, but the
effect is similar: the Original Chi becomes more accessible. It is
this opening of the Original Breath that re-births and rejuvenates all
the polarized steams ofyin/yang consciousness and energy that define
physical life.

Of course, this rebirth is happening internally (micro-cosmically in our
body) every moment, but our self-awareness is vibrationally too slow
and too fuzzy to notice. Spring Equinox is simply an external
(macro-cosmic) celebration of this cycle in the larger body of Nature.
It’s so big it slaps us in the face, saying “wake up – it’s time to
re-birth!”.

In western astrology – originally an initiatory process of western
inner alchemy – Spring Equinox is acknowledged as the beginning of the
zodiacal New Year. This 2005 Equinox is given a boost by the expanding
chi of the first quarter moon on March 17. There are four lunar
quarters, and the first quarter moon symbolizes the spring season.
When lunar and solar cycles synchronize it intensifies the energy.

Wow! All these great cosmic forces are aligning NOW. Why not dive into
it, celebrate it, capture the primal forces and put them to work in our life
– instead of sleeping through it? It’s easy to do, using a little
focused intention and ritual knowledge developed by the ancient sages
of all traditions.

The Power of Physical Movement in Ritual

I feel the most powerful ceremony includes a ritual chi kung (qigong)
form. The movement of the physical body invokes your deepest soul essence
(jing) if you are deeply centered while moving. When you combine a
movement ritual with specific intention, it becomes nei kung
(neigong), or “internal skill in cultivating the life force”.

My favorite ceremonial form is one developed by the Taoist sage Chang
San Feng, the creator of the original tai chi form and its esoteric
sister, wuji gong. Wuji gong I translate as Primordial Chi Kung or Tai
Chi for Enlightenment. (For more about its origins and efficacy, see
http://www.taichi-enlightenment.com <http://www.taichi-enlightenment.com> . Its available in dvd or video, and has
an optional audio training as well).

The Yang family tai chi chi kung 8 movements/5 directions form taught
by Mantak Chia is also a lovely ceremonial form, and very grounded. It
circles left and right and interacts with the chi of all five
directions. But it doesn’t evoke as much heaven chi as wuji gong does.

My Deep Healing Chi Kung form (available on dvd) is also very
ceremonial in nature. It faces all the directions and harmonizes the
center of the Sun with the deep center of the Earth Being. Doing just
one of its six movements – the three part mandala of Sun-Earth exchange
– transports me into an altered state. It’s called medical chi kung
simply because it was developed with that intention. But it could be
directed to any other goal, or used to add power to an equinox
ceremony.

You don’t have to know a chi kung form, although doing the same one
every solstice/equinox is more powerful. Using the same form
“programs” and empowers your energy body to contact the yuan chi at
those times. It helps to capture/embody the elusive yuan chi, which
our polarized egos don’t want to notice because it threatens our
illusory belief that we are an island. Original Chi is boundary-less,
so it challenges our belief that the energy we feel is uniquely
‘mine”, under “my” control.

The truth is no one owns the chi field, and it is not controlled by
any one deity or external agent/God. It just IS. It is self-generating
and self-regulating. Everyone can use its abundance if we have the
skill to do it. We use it unconsciously all the time. But if we
consciously use it to promote harmony and balance in our life, the Tao
will give us more chi to play with. If we abuse it or over control for
selfish ends, a natural contraction occurs. We will face increased
resistance in our life and chi flow, resulting possibly in suffering,
disease, or death.

Suggestions for an Equinox Ceremony

1. SACRED SPACE. keep it simple. Find or create a sacred space where
no one disturbs you, indoors or out. The more neutral the better – if
any element (wind, noise, sun) is too strong, it will distract you.
Turn off all phones. Face all the directions, and smile or tone to all
beings in that direction, and ask them to help you purify your ritual
space. Don’t forget to smile to the inner space of your body, and
attune to its highest, most core divinity. Invite in the Tao
Immortals, your personal guides, and any other beings you feel are
important.

During the actual ceremony I invite the Beings of All Directions and
All Dimensions into my ceremony. Don’t exclude the dark side – it is
holding part of the balance. It is important to align yourself with
the whole field of the Life Force, as it carries your greater self –
including the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. If we embrace
the whole within our personal self, then our ceremonial intention will
come out balanced.

If you light a candle, put it in the east to symbolize Spring, or put
five candles – one in each direction and the center. Timing: Sunrise
is perfect mini-equinox moment that matches spring, with the sun
rising in the east. But any time can work. Its a big event, the chi is
flowing strongly for three days at least.

2. FOCUS INTENTION. Get a clear intention as to the ONE thing that is
most important to GROW or birth in your life in this moment. Do not
attempt to wish something for other people or even your own children –
let them unfold their own nature. Be specific, be concrete as to what
you want to change and grow in yourself NOW. Do not use language
delaying anything into the future. Receive it NOW.

Don’t feel guilty about asking to GROW material things if they truly
would serve you best at this moment ( new car, a different job, a
lover). It is not selfish to ask that your material needs be met.
Harmony and balance arrives from each individual completing their
destiny, their soul desires. Just make sure they are authentic needs,
not the idle desire for a million dollars. Do not ask for money except
for the exact amount needed for a specific purpose – you risk growing
unconscious greed or fear of not having money.

So you would say, by example, “I need to grow a thousand dollars for
this specific retreat I want to attend”. Or “I need to receive
$200,000. IN ORDER to grow a new life and buy a house in Hawaii”. You
don’t need to focus on the selling of your old house, just whatever it
is you want to grow.

Or grow a specific spiritual quality in your inner body-mind space,
such as a greater capacity for self-acceptance, other-acceptance,
abilty to heal a disease or a broken relationship, deeper power of
meditation, deeper service to humanity, or deeper movement practice.

3. RITUALLY COMMUNICATE WITH CHI FIELD. After you have established
your clear intention, face EAST (direction of Spring, sun bringing new
life). Open your heart, share your sincere need to merge more deeply
with the Life Force and all beings. Do your movement ritual, which may
involve facing and gathering chi from all five directions, as well as
above and below. If you don’t have a chi kung or a short piece of a
tai chi form, do spontaneous movement, song, dance, or poetry. After
you finish, face east again.

4. RELEASE PERSONAL INTENTION TO FIELD OF YUAN CHI. Infuse a booster
shot of yuan chi or Original Breath from the Equinox chi field into
your specific desire. Simply feel and mentally focus on your desired
goal very strongly, with all the personal chi you can muster. Your
specific desire polarizes the chi field. Then release it into the
larger chi field. This acts like a cosmic lube job, as the field of
yuan chi at Equinox will spontaneously attempt to balance your desire.
Nature now knows EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED has an easy path with little
resistance to delivering what you truly need.

5. BE PREPARED TO ACCEPT CHANGE. A lot of people forget about this
part of the deal. You want something new, and you do a powerful
ceremony at a powerful fluctuation in the chi field. But that means
YOU have to change in order to receive what you asked for.

If you ask for more power in your life, it brings greater
responsibility as well. This can come as a nasty shock to some. You
get the new lover you asked for, but s/he makes a lot of demands on
your old comfortable way of life. Change is not just external — it
must be matched by internal changes.

I wish you a powerful ceremony and the power to digest what you
invoke!

May the Five Inner Tones of the Tao Sing in our Heart,
Michael Winn