Yesterday was officially the final day of summer 2020. Today marks the Autumn Equinox and the time for moving inward. The sun is moving away from us for a while, so we must say goodbye to the flowers as we celebrate what was hopefully, a bountiful harvest.
Autumn symbolizes the time to dive deep into our inner world and to face the darkness we find there. It can be a time to seek forgiveness. Forgiving our enemies is often one of our biggest challenges because we falsely believe that it means to accept or to condone a wrong that has been committed; but on the contrary, forgiveness is about freeing ourselves from pain and anger that has attached a shadow to our happiness.
I was focusing on my body in order to sense where love and hate resided there. I felt love as a radiating warmth around the area of my heart chakra, in the upper portion of my chest. When I thought about someone whom I found difficult to forgive, I felt a heaviness around my solar plexus. The acidity or alkalinity of a soil can be measured on a scale. When it is halfway between acid and alkaline, it is considered neutral. I think that finding forgiveness is about finding that place in our body where hatred can be neutralized. It is that place in between love and hate – it is the place of peace. I like to visualize my body as being a lighthouse or a pane of glass through which light can shine. When I get out of my own way, the light can shine into the furthest depths, dispelling the darkness that has been harbored there. Borrowing from The Wizard of Oz, I see a house suddenly drop from the sky on top of the person I believed had hurt me. Then I see vultures fly in to dispose of the remains and I turn and walk away, finally free of the dark gloom that had clouded the glass and dimmed the light. Having reached that place of peace, forgiveness is accomplished, and the love that I felt in my chest expands throughout my body and beyond. This inner light will carry me through the dark winter months until we reach the Spring Equinox.
