The Between Places

The Between Places

 

Every Year, on the Summer Solstice, I trek to the V Bar V Ranch. This little-known site, in the Verde Valley near Sedona, is one of the largest and best preserved petroglyphs in Arizona.

It’s fascinating to visit any time. But I go specifically on the morning of the longest day of the year.

The sun rises over the top of the rock wall, and an annual miracle occurs. Bands of light pass between two rocks and illuminate specific points in the figures permanently etched in the stone. The petroglyph art is positioned so that when the sunlight hits a specific line carved in the rock, it coincides with the start of the planting season. For the Sinagua Indians living in this arid land nearly a thousand years ago, this was their calendar.

The growing season was tricky. Plant too soon and the corn crop would shrivel and dry before the monsoons. Plant too late and the kernels would not have time to ripen.

Timing was everything.

My visit to V Bar V on the day of equal light and dark reminds me to keep a balance in my own life. To resist wasting my time auditioning for others: parents, teachers, employers, lovers, strangers, and friends. To stay true to myself and to Nature.

I yearn to balance dark and light, the way the earth balances day and night. The shadow has its reasons and seasons, and brings us important lessons to learn. We must know when we are way out of balance, have had enough, are stagnated, or need emotional rescue of a practical nature.

Maybe you are oriented on your path by a set of rules you didn’t make. Or maybe you coast along because it’s so difficult to change course, regardless of what strongly held beliefs that course is violating.

Can you can recall a moment when you stood at a crossroads, a point where opposites met and a choice was required: dark or light, joy or sorrow, right or wrong, be silent or speak out. Fight or flee. Do--or don’t do.

According to Goddess beliefs, we are now standing at one of those crossroads. On June 21, the world will literally begin filling with darkness, as the wheel turns toward winter. Until then, we have the opportunity to stand at the world’s still center and survey which path to choose.

The Sinaguas had their map, revealed to them at the proper time. Like the ancients, I don’t look for paths, they will seek me out. That’s what is so exhilarating about these in-between days. They are the creative nexus at which vision and craft come together.

Feel your power! Create. Let your poetry, song, art, new love or inspiration uncoil from the shadows and fill your core.

The between places are not horrible or frightening. They are thresholds for awakening, if the soul is alert and watchful for omens of change.

And yes, timing is important.

So look in the mirror. Meet the eyes you see there directly, because they belong to the only person in this world you can truly change.  Be attentive to the thresholds and boundaries of your life—the places where metamorphosis occurs—and find the lines you should erase and re-draw.

How will you transform in the remaining year?