'If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of spring'
- from the musical Pickwick, by Leslie Bricusse/Cyril Ornadel
Spring arrives early this year. While March 21st is traditionally the first day of spring, the astronomical event that marks the turn of the seasons – the Vernal Equinox – occurs at 11.44 this morning, Friday the 20th.
As their name suggests, the two equinoxes of spring and autumn are the points when day and night are of equal length – at least north or south of the equator, where light and dark are a lways in balance.
For astrology life begins at the spring equinox, when nature bursts back into activity and the Sun in Aries kick starts the zodiacal cycle. The Aries Ram is an urgent creature, a heads-down-and-charge leader, and while the glyph for Aries resembles a pair of horns, it can also be seen as a young shoot, pushing blindly above ground. Everything quickens now.
Thanks to the joyous spring sunshine, it looks as though fairweather gardeners and horticultural heads will be tending their plots in tandem. Note, however, that the Aries new Moon, which opens prime planting time, doesn't arrive until Thursday 26th, at 4.06 pm. Until then your time is as well spent pruning, weeding and raking out the remains of the last annual cycle.
