'CERES Calling' NEWSLETTER (Spring Equinox)
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Volume I Number 1 * Spring Equinox * March 20, 2003
Welcome everyone to this first issue of CERES CALLING, the newsletter of the CERES Project. Eight annual issues of CERES CALLING, will follow the natural rhythm of the Seasons of Vermont.
by Paul Kervick, Awakening Sanctuary
From ancient times people of every culture have planted, celebrated, told stories and lived by the cycles of light and rhythms of the moon. Picture a compass with north at the top, south at the bottom, east to the right and west to the left. These cardinal points mark the points of each year in terms of maximum and minimum light - the solstices (north and south) and the points of equal light and dark- the equinoxes (east and west). Halfway in between each quadrant are those special times when we are quickening the movement between the seasons. It is at these cross quarter days that many of the worldÕs cultures celebrate holidays marking the time where change accelerates. In Vermont we are blessed with dramatic seasons and they contribute greatly to our vitality.
Spring Equinox marks the beginning of new life Ðthe waking up from the dark and cold of winter - a time where seeds are ordered for the gardens to come; that special time, the unique fifth season, in Vermont known as mud season when the earth awakens and the frost begins to push up through the ground making space for the worms and flowers to begin their annual journey into the light. Also, uniquely in Vermont, the special brand of democracy symbolized in our tradition of Town meeting occurs just before the spring equinox in the beginning of March during the in-between season before our gardens, fields and the growth and business of the spring season have arrived. We also have the sweet warm/cold days of sugaring a time to remember the sweetness of life that renews itself from our maple trees each season.
May 1 marks the midpoint between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Our next issue will come then.
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