Embrace the In-Between Time

We are in a season of change.

Yesterday in the United States we started Daylight Savings Time, shifting the clocks to move an hour of daylight to the evening.

Later this week, the Sun will move into Aries, marking the Equinox, the moment where the day and night are equal, before the Northern Hemisphere tips toward longer days and shorter nights. It will mark the official start of spring.

In the cycle of the seasons, we are in the winter. And if we look at the fractal nature of the seasons — where each season in itself includes all seasons — we are in the winter of winter; the end of winter.

In the cycle of the Zodiac, we are in the last week of Pisces season. Pisces is known as a mutable sign — an changing, in-between sign. As the last sign of the Zodiac, Pisces contains a little bit of every sign that came before it.

It comes at the time of year between the depths of winter and the emergence of Spring, a season wherein we might feel the temperature of either season.

Some pockets of the suburban landscape still retain snow, even as the gardeners are reemerging to prepare lawns for planting.

Our current world season is also in an in-between time. Although nee COVID cases and deaths remain high, vaccination efforts are proceeding. There seems to be promise of a new spring, even if we don’t know when it will arrive.

The not knowing when it will arrive is the reason that most of us don’t like these in-between times.

We want to know.

We want to know the plan. When the idea will manifest. How long it will take. We want to put a date certain on our calendar and circle it in red. We want a target.

That’s not how it works. We may know, with exact precision, when the planets and the Sun and moon will be moving to new signs, but the calendar arrival of spring isn’t always reflected by the weather.

To cling to a timeline is to set ourselves up for resistance, frustration, and disappointment. Nature abides her own schedule.

The best we can do is embrace the in-between time.