The Spring Equinox and the Return of Balance
What the turning of the light has always asked us to notice
A Moment Held in Balance
There are only two points each year when day and night come into near alignment. The Spring Equinox is one of them—a brief moment when the world feels evenly held before the season begins to shift.
On March 20, daylight and darkness share the day almost equally. It is not exact, but it is close enough to notice. For a short time, nothing dominates. The light has not yet overtaken the dark, but it is no longer receding.
And then the balance begins to change.
A Different Kind of Beginning
For much of history, this moment marked the start of the year. Not in the middle of winter, but here—when the natural world began to visibly move again.
The change was practical. Days grew longer. The ground softened. Cycles that had paused through winter resumed. What had been dormant responded to light and warmth.
This was not a symbolic reset.
It was a seasonal one.
A Gradual Shift
What defines the equinox is not just balance, but transition.
There is no clear dividing line between seasons. The shift happens gradually, often unnoticed at first. One day does not feel dramatically different from the next, but over time, the pattern becomes clear.
The equinox sits inside that change.
It marks the point where movement has already begun.
In the World of All Souls
This kind of change feels familiar within the world of A Discovery of Witches. Deborah Harkness builds her story around forces that exist in tension—science and magic, past and present, instinct and control. These elements do not resolve easily, and they are not meant to.
They are understood through their relationship to one another.
The equinox reflects that same structure. It is not a resolution of opposites, but a moment in which they are briefly held in balance before something shifts.
What This Moment Offers
The equinox does not ask for action.
It asks for attention.
It invites a different kind of reflection—not focused on what needs to change, but on what is already changing. The shifts that matter most are often the ones that begin quietly, before they are fully visible.
Taking a moment to notice those changes is enough.
The Return of Light
The light returns gradually, extending itself into the days ahead without announcement. Most forms of growth follow the same pattern—they begin quietly and gather strength over time.
In A Discovery of Witches, change unfolds in much the same way. It emerges through study, through time, through the recognition of what has been there all along but not yet fully understood.
The equinox belongs to that kind of change.
A moment of balance that does not last, but marks the beginning of something that will.
A Small Practice for the Equinox
To mark this moment, I’ve created a simple two-page Spring Equinox Reflection you can print or save. It offers a space to notice what feels steady, what is beginning to emerge, and what you may be ready to leave behind as the season shifts.
If you return to it at the Summer Solstice, you may find that more has changed than you expected.
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