We have reached the spring equinox in the southern hemisphere. A moment when daylight and darkness are in equal balance. It hasn’t felt like a calm balance this year though - the weather has been varying wildly between warm sunshine, wet grey days and buffeting winds. It’s hard to find equilibrium, and we are easily stirred up and overwhelmed at this time of year.
The Wurundjeri people call this season poorneet, tadpole season. The sun is warming up, snakes and lizards are becoming active, birds are calling more loudly, many plants are blooming. And the dark emu stands up in the sky, perpendicular to the horizon, as his chicks are hatching. Read more about Seasons in the Sky and Emu in the Sky here.
In the last two weeks, we’ve also had a lunar and solar eclipse. If you read this in time (and it’s not too cloudy), between 6:00-8:00am on 22 September, the sun will rise partially covered by the moon, appearing as a glowing crescent on the horizon. The further south you are, the more of the sun will be blocked.
How are you feeling amidst all these big shifts and changes in the sky? There is also a lot to feel affected and disturbed by in the human realm…
I’m noticing a shift in our political and social life; how easily we are immediately othering, cancelling and separating from people we disagree with. How quickly we polarise on issues, fixing our position into us-vs-them.
Especially concerning, are flare ups of reactive conflict and violence, like the attack at Camp Sovereignty here in Melbourne a few weeks ago.
I’m grateful our school community recently invited us to come together - we shared conversations about what happened, cleansed with a smoking ceremony, worked in the garden, and acknowledged the many cultures we come from. There are 23 different languages spoken by our school families and staff.
Disagreement doesn’t have to mean separation. We can learn to be uncomfortable with differences and and still be curious and in conversation with others. In fact, this is a skill I’m trying to develop in myself as an adult, and demonstrate to the kids in my life.
More life drawing - the yang to last month's yin, Sep 2025
One of the ways I am holding this nuance is by distancing myself from the algorithms and echo chambers of social media and mainstream news. I’m filling the time that would usually take doing things with my hands - cooking, mending, reading physical books and in-depth news articles, drawing, massaging.
I find these tasks really grounding. It reminds me, in very tangible ways, that we all contain many aspects - yin and yang, dark and light, quiet and loud, soft and sharp, slow and quick. That these are two halves of a whole, not opposing forces.
Inspiration
Much love,
Emily
