Equinox of Light and Shadow
A Story inspired by Mary Magdalene and Yeshua and the Equinox
The wind moves through my hair, carrying the scent of earth, myrrh, and the last breath of the night. The desert is quiet, holding its secrets like an ancient scroll, waiting to be unrolled by the hands of the rising sun. I stand barefoot on the sand, feeling the coolness of the earth before the fire of the day begins. The Equinox is here.
Yeshua is beside me. He does not speak. He does not need to. His breath moves with mine, slow and steady, as if the very rhythm of the world were settling into balance within us. This is what we have always known: the Sacred Year is written in the heavens, but it is also written in the body, in the cycles of longing and return, in the moments of exile and revelation.
The Equinox is not just a passage of time. It is a door. And today, we walk through it.
I dip my fingers into the small clay jar I carry, pressing the oil of balsam and cassia onto my forehead, my heart, my hands. The scent rises like a prayer. Myrrh lingers in my hair, anointing me with memory.
Yeshua turns to me, his gaze deep, knowing. He does not ask if I am ready. Readiness is not required, only presence. He holds out his hands, palms open. Without words, I pour the oil onto his waiting skin. His fingers brush over my hands, pressing the anointing into my flesh, sealing the moment with something unspoken.
We whisper the Name.
Alaha…
The sound barely touches the air before dissolving into the silence of the dawn.
The first light spills over the horizon, painting the desert in gold and rose. I feel it move over my skin, warming me, filling the spaces where the night still lingers. We stand together, facing the east, watching as the world tips into perfect balance.
This is how it has always been.
At the hour of perfect stillness, we walk.
We do not rush. The desert does not respond to haste. Footsteps press into the earth, marking our path, though I know that by dusk, the wind will erase every trace. That is the way of the sacred, it leaves no footprint, yet it changes everything.
I listen to the silence between us. It is not empty. It holds every prayer ever whispered, every longing, every answer that has ever arrived in the quiet.
We reach the sacred fire, a place that has held our ancestors, their stories woven into the smoke. Yeshua kneels, his fingers grazing the embers, feeding them with a piece of wood. The flames rise, flickering between seen and unseen, shadow and light.
He picks up the frame drum, his hands moving over the stretched skin. A single beat. Then another. A pulse, like the beating of the earth’s heart.
I close my eyes.
My voice rises, low at first, becoming steady between the drumbeats, my sound slowly connecting heaven and earth.
We chant the ancient names of Alaha, calling the presence that is always here, but which we so often forget to see.
The Equinox is the threshold between dark and light, but it is also the threshold of the soul, the moment we choose to stand fully in our path, to let the old dissolve and step into the unknown.
I open my eyes, and Yeshua is watching me, his gaze deep and steady, as if he sees beyond this moment, beyond this life. As if he has always seen me.
The flames dance between us, gold and crimson, flickering like the breath of the Shekhinah herself.
I take his hands in mine. His skin is warm, scented with oil and fire.
“Do you remember?” I whisper.
A slow smile, barely there. “I have never forgotten.”
The sun continues to rise, spilling light over the desert, over our faces, over the place where heaven and earth meet in the space between us.
And I know:
This moment is forever.
The Equinox has passed, but something in me has shifted, something has opened.
I press my fingers to my heart, sealing the memory into my skin.
Tonight, we will stand again, this time facing the west, watching as the sun sinks into the waters, as the cycle completes itself.
And in between, we will walk the path of remembrance.
The balance remains.
The light has never left.
And neither have we.
Equinox: The Threshold of Light and Shadow
The Equinox is a sacred threshold, a moment when light and darkness stand in perfect balance, mirroring the journey of our own soul. Mary Magdalene and Yeshua walked this path of remembrance, honoring the rhythms of the Sacred Year, not as mere observers, but as initiates, as those who knew that the mysteries of the heavens are also inscribed within us.
The Equinox happens within.
It is the moment we stand between what was and what will be. The moment we release, surrender, and open.
It is the place where exile meets return. Where longing meets fulfillment. Where the fire of our soul is rekindled, even in the silence.
Reflection Questions for Your Equinox Passage
Standing at the Threshold:
What is shifting in your life at this moment? Can you name what is being asked to be released, and what is calling you forward?
The Living Waters of Renewal:
At dusk, Yeshua and Magdalene would stand in prayer, watching the sun sink into the waters of the west. If today was a moment of completion, what would you bless and let go of?
The Balance Within:
Where in your life do you feel pulled between light and shadow? How can you honor both as necessary parts of your becoming?
Chanting the Name:
Mary Magdalene and Yeshua chanted the sacred names of Alaha by the fire. When you pray, meditate, or breathe deeply into your heart, do you feel a connection to something beyond yourself? What sound, name, or breath brings you home?
Sacred Union of Masculine & Feminine:
The Equinox is the merging of sun and moon, action and receptivity, giving and receiving. Where in your life are you being called to bring greater balance? Can you soften where there has been force? Can you take action where there has been hesitation?
The Wind & the Soul’s Longing:
The desert wind carries the prayers of those who walk its path. If the wind could carry one prayer from your heart to the Divine today, what would it be?
The Light That Never Leaves:
Even when the sun sets, even in the longest night, the light has never left. What part of you is waiting to be illuminated? What truth, gift, or calling is ready to be seen?
The Equinox is a Door. Will You Step Through?
Today, honor this threshold. Not as an abstract moment in time, but as something happening within you. What would it mean to step through fully?
Breathe. Open. Listen.
The desert speaks. The fire remembers.
And the light has always been within you.
©Copyright Ana Otero. From The Desert Speaks available to purchase on May 2nd.
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Sending love to all of you.
Shabbat Blessings.
AHAVA,
Ana Otero
