I’m not sure what the groundhog said back on February 2nd, but regardless of that particular rodent’s prognostications, we were always going to have an early spring, at least calendar-wise. That’s because the Vernal Equinox, traditionally hailed as the day when winter departs and spring arrives, will be on Tuesday, March 19th at 11:06 pm EDT.
We have February 29th to thank for that, as the equinox typically occurs on March 20th or 21st. But not always. That’s because our calendar and the Earth’s rotation are not perfectly aligned. So we have to adjust our portion of the process:
From the BBC: “The Mathematical Muddle Created by Leap Years”
As a rule of thumb, leap days come around every four years. But there are exceptions to this rule. For example, at the turn of every century we miss a leap year. Even though the year is divisible by four, we don't add a leap day in the years that end in 00. But there's an exception to this rule too. If the year is a multiple of 400 then we do add in an extra leap day again. At the turn of the millennium, despite being divisible by 100, the year 2000 did, in fact, have a 29 February because it was also divisible by 400.
The Eight of Beakers
Regardless of the calendar, spring sets her own pace. And the equinox, with its roughly equal days and nights, is a great time to contemplate cycles and seasons and out place within them.
To celebrate this equinox, I chose the Eight of Cups from the Science Tarot (you can read my review of that fantastic deck HERE). The Science Tarot uses different names than the Smith-Waite tarot—you’ll notice from the photo that this card uses a beaker instead of a cup as its icon—but the meanings remain comparable even if they are interpreted through the lens of their respective scientific fields (in the case of cups, those fields are biology and ecology).
In traditional tarot, the Eight of Cups of about moving on after a loss, releasing yourself to a new experience. There are shadows of pain in this card—grief will follow you like a lonesome dog, no matter how cleanly you try to cut yourself free—and the Eight of Cups acknowledges this difficulty.
The Cocoon card takes this idea of “leaving the old behind” and references the next step in the process: transformation. Cocoon time is active, not passive. It is both chemical and alchemical.
As the Science Tarot describes it:
Encased within a protective cocoon during its transformation, the caterpillar utterly loses its form. Every cell takes on a new purpose, and for a time the creature is neither caterpillar nor moth. Only when metamorphosis is complete does the stunningly beautiful Luna moth emerge from its cocoon and spread its wings to the sky. Times of transformation can demand a protective distance from the world, a total retreat. When the dissolution and recovery is complete, the world's challenges are not so threatening. Until that time, growth must take place in safe isolation.
I like this reframe, which centers the literal and metaphorical shapeshifting inherent to this card. It's not an easy or pretty process. But in the end, you’ll discover fresh new wings.
May your equinox bring balance and harmony to your life, and may you experience a transformation that enlightens, enriches, and energizes you for the coming spring.