Honoring the Space Between: A Spring Equinox Personal Ritual Recipe ~ Amanda Petrocelly

by | Mar 19, 2019 | Ritual Recipes | 3 comments

Today is the Full Moon and the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere (and the Autumn Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere). It also marks our halfway point in our Current Moon Cycle exploration: Remembrance of the Sacred. Although the Summer and Winter Solstices may be the more dramatic change of the seasons, the Equinoxes hold their own potent magic.
 
The Equinoxes are days that contain the same amount of light and darkness. In many ways the Equinox is a threshold. If we pause underneath this threshold we can see that this sacred space simultaneously contains both light and darkness, and yet is not completely overtaken by either. Much like a Sunrise or Sunset, we can feel that this moment in time is a transition where we are experiencing “neither” and “both” all at once. Sunrise and Sunset can’t be classified as “daytime” or “nighttime”. If we lean into it, we can feel the Equinox defying the rigidity of boundaries we have placed on time and space. 
 
As we cross the threshold into Spring the natural world gazes towards rebirth and new life. I think that during this particular moment in time, much of our world at large is collectively anticipating, hoping, and pursuing the same thing. However, this Equinox I am called to approach this threshold differently than I previously have. Instead of contemplating what has died, been buried, and is being born again – I am pausing mid-threshold and asking myself: like the Equinox, where in my life am I both and neither at the same time, and how can I honor this threshold within myself, remembering that this too is sacred.
 
May you take this offering, make it your own, and rejoice in the sacred of the in-betweens. 

Step One: Set the Mood

As always, create space to connect to your inner guidance and that which you consider to be sacred. This is not superfluous, this is the foundation of your ritual and your forthcoming intentions. You will want to turn your phone off, be in a space with no distractions, and do use your magic to set the mood (whatever that means to you). 

 
For Example: 
 
I like to bathe before diving into Personal Ritual. It helps me feel relaxed, present, and let go of any thoughts or energies I may have been carrying around all day. Then, I love to zealously moisturize my skin (gotta love hydration y’all), light candles, and turn on whatever album I am currently obsessively listening to. 

Step Two: Feeling Into the In-betweens

Very simply now, I’d like to ask you to look within yourself and identify the “gray” aspects of yourself (vs the Black and White). The thresholds you might be standing under. The “both and neither” of who you are. 
 
I would personally recommend writing one of these on paper, and then sitting with the feeling it brings you. You are welcome to write down as many as you like in whatever way serves you. This can be poetic or stream of consciousness or anything in-between. 
 
For Example: 
 
~ For years I have felt myself standing under the threshold between “young woman” and “woman”. This makes me feel scared sometimes, like an imposter other times. I feel “too old” to not have a clear career path, I feel “too young” to be taken seriously by other established professionals. 
 
~ When I’m with some groups of friends I am “overdressed”, being “extra”,  and the only one of the bunch who enjoys wearing make up, and when I’m with other groups of friends I am a simpleton who has no idea how to contour my face (and truly doesn’t care to learn), and the only one who practically refuses to wear high heels. This can sometimes makes me question myself, my identities and how the world sees me, which then makes me question if the way I see myself is truthful. It makes me feel pressured to decide if I want to be “more feminine” or “more natural”. 

Step Three: Honoring the Space Between

 
In the final part of this ritual, I’m going to ask you if you can find a way to join the two halves.
 
Can you join the somewhat opposing parts of yourself?
Can you allow yourself to simultaneously feel both and neither, and sanctify that space?
Can you perform a ceremony to not only allow yourself to live in the in-between but declare this space sacred?
 
Only you know how to craft your ceremony, for only you know the sacred parts of your being. I can not give you directions for that, but I deeply encourage you to make it ceremonial and utilize what is sacred to YOU. 
 
For Example: 
 
~ Consciously and luxuriously dressing in a way that you feel encompasses two sides of yourself you’ve previously felt caught between. Then, venturing into public and personally declaring that you don’t have to “choose”one of the two sides of yourself. 
 
~ Perhaps, you’d like to craft a marriage ceremony for your two halves including vows to each part of yourself. Maybe you write the vows and then celebrate in whatever way calls to you. Maybe with a dinner alone, a new piece of handmade jewelry as a token of honoring the vows you made to yourself, creating a piece of art, or an extra special bath. 
 
~ Maybe you’ve been fighting the threshold you are standing beneath, pressuring yourself to cross over before you’re ready, and instead you’d like to find a way to truly surrender to the in-between and find joy in that space? What would that look like? 

Your Turn: 

Where in your life do you feel in-between, both, and neither? Can you soften into this space?

Can you declare it sacred? If yes, how did you mark this occasion? 

 

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3 Comments

  1. Rita di Ghent Sister Moon
    Rita di Ghent Sister Moon on March 20, 2019 at 9:52 am

    Amanda: I love this and I love how you wrote about it. I have 3 spaces that I triangulate between: my city apartment, my house in a town of 4,000 people, and my cabin in the woods. My jazz career keeps me pinned to the Big Smoke. My cabin satisfies my drive to be off-grid and with Nature and to bond intensely with Hecate, my canine companion. As the years go by, I can’t seem to get closer to consolidating which of this spaces I can just settle in to…each has its way of fulfilling me. But the triangulating is exhausting and expensive. It’s one of those “grey” conundrums that I seem to forever contemplate. These spaces are for me what you said: “both and neither” at the same time…

    Reply
  2. Amanda
    Amanda on March 20, 2019 at 11:51 am

    Amanda I love this. I personally have also felt the gap between acting young and being mature, being wild and being professional. Just recently though I have stopped separating. I find ways in the nature to be young and I find ways to interject my wild into my professional. I too like makeup and fun but also enjoy running through the country barefoot and dusty. So maybe instead of grey, I’m more of a chocolate and vanilla twist cone, a sparkling cowboy boot, a farmers hat and red lipstick. Maybe instead of two halves we ease in and out as we desire. Peace and love to you sister!

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  3. Keia Lavine
    Keia Lavine on March 20, 2019 at 2:16 pm

    Incredible sacred truth of the in between space… Like the in between the inhale and exhale… In that single pause ever so small but yet sacred… Yogis of old believed that the divine dwelled in that space… In between the coming and going, in between the life and death!

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