March 21, 2021

Equinox Weekend

 

Today, we are on the tail end of the Vernal Equinox energies.  Generally, with the equinox, we have the day before and the day after that actual date to be in the stream of higher vibrational energy.  Ceremony and intent is supported during that time.  If you wait too long to do your ceremony, the energy has faded, and it is not as powerful.  For the summer and winter solstices, the window of opportunity is extended by several days on either side of the actual date. 

There is a very significant ancient sun calendar site NW of Cedar City called Parowan Gap.   As you can see from the photos below, it is a V shaped gap in a rocky ridge, with the gap running roughly NW to SE.  There is fabulous rock art there that is at least 1000 years old.  You can read the full explanation about this area here.

What makes this a sun calendar site is that at sunset for the solstices and equinoxes, if one stands to the east of the gap near the corresponding stone markers, the setting sun shines through the bottom of the gap as it touches the far horizon.  For the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes, one stands in a spot that reveals the setting sun sliding down the left hand of the V and coming to rest at the bottom before disappearing. 

On Saturday night, an interpretive talk was scheduled followed by a short hike to that exact spot to do the viewing.  This has been an annual event for years, but was canceled last year because of the COVID.  They are now starting up those presentations again for both equinoxes and the Summer Solstice. 

The weather forecast for Saturday was not the greatest, so I decided to drive out there on Friday night instead.  I got directions for the location of the stone marker from the woman who was giving the talk on Saturday.  Once I got there, I ran into one gentleman who was camping in the area and doing his photography, and also a woman who is a photographer for the Salt Lake City Tribune doing the same.  I struck up a conversation with her, and it turned out that she also got her shamanic training with the Four Winds Society out of Park City, Utah. 

Anyway, we found the general area where we were supposed to stand to view the phenomenon, but it had gotten cloudy.  Here you can see the glow of the sun as it was starting to go down the left side of the gap. 

And the clouds got thicker, and nothing for a while.

Then the bottom of the V started to glow.

Nothing else was visible until the very last minute when the sun popped out at the bottom of the V.  

In spite of the poor weather forecast, I went back there on Saturday evening to hear the presentation.  It was worth it, as the woman giving the talk took us over to the summer solstice marker, which can be seen here. 

The winter solstice marker was up on a hill to the north (right), and the equinox marker was in between, as seen here. 

As we were walking around, I took better photos of the area from east of the Parowan Gap. 


A short time after we got up a small hill to the equinox marker, it started to rain, and people headed back to their cars.  Needless to say, the sun never did pop out, so I am glad that I went the night before.

Our whole area had high winds yesterday, Saturday, so I did not get to do my bowl burning until early this morning.  It has gotten much colder since Friday, but the skies are starting to clear.  If all goes well, I will drive out to the Parowan Gap this evening and try my luck at getting better photos.  If I do, I will post them next time. 

No comments:

Post a Comment