Herfst Equinox celebration

An equinox indicates the moment that in one day of 24 hours there are equal parts of day and night. A perfect balance of light and darkness. It happens twice a year: in March when the sun proceeds the path from winter to spring, the Spring Equinox, and in September, when the sun moves from Summer to Autumn, the Autumn Equinox.

On the day of the Autumn Equinox the presence of the sun will illuminate and activate our world for precisely 12 hours. The other 12 hours will be dominated by darkness and rest. In 2008 the autumn equinox occurs on September 25th when the sun rises at 7.31 am and sets at 7.31 pm. And because the sun's presence will continue to be less and less around and becomes less powerful with each following day, the days will become shorter and all outside activities come to a slow halt when we start to prepare ourselves for the rest and regeneration during the months of coming winter season.

Bring the last harvest in
The season of the autumn equinox is still a season of harvesting. Fruit, nuts, seeds and berries are still to be found on branches and in shrubs. It is a time of gathering this bountiful harvest and prepare them for storage so that they can feed you in the bare winter ahead. You can also look at this from a spiritual point of view: now you harvest the fruits of your creative fire of this solar year. You keep them in the treasure chest of your heart and in the winter time, when you open up this chest, you will find all these treasures and you can start sorting them out to get a more clear idea of what fruits you will want to carry next year and what fruits you can give away for others to keep.

Invitation
We invite you to join us in a celebration of the Autumn Equinox on Saturday September 20th, 2008. In this musical gathering we will embrace with gratitude and joy this special moment of perfect balance in nature and in us. It is an homage to all that has grown and beared fruit this year, as well as in nature as in the people around you and in you.  

Music instruments
Bring your (shaman) drum, African drum, didgeridoo, rattle or other rhythmic instrument and join in! 

Location
This event will be held at a wooden bungalow surrounded by nature, a big pond, an herb garden, walking paths and beautiful regional trees. It is an inspiring and peaceful place where we have held many events before, and each time we add something to the beauty and energy of this place. I am sure that the trees and the birds will be delighted to welcome us back again.

Fee
This event is free, but we do ask you to bring along something to eat and/or to drink to contribute to the autumn harvest buffet. Think for instance of berries, grapes, seeds, nuts, apples, but also drinks like honey mead, apple cider, wine etc. Also all derivates from fruits and nuts are welcome, like apple cake, honey cake, well you get the point. I'll leave it to your own imagination now

World Didgeridoo Meditation
Normally, we would have a combined Autumn Equinox and World Didgeridoo meditation. Unfortunately the World Didgeridoo meditation is planned on Tuesday September 23rd 2008 this year and we deliberately choose a Saturday (when most people will be able to join) to celebrate the Autumn Equinox. But if you want to tune into the World Didgeridoo Meditation on September 23rd, you could play a CD with didgeridoo music and listen to it for 45 minutes and then have total silence for 15 additional minutes.