Ignored Significance of Extraordinary Yearly Cycles

The body as a reflection of cosmic patterns

Jun 10, 2025

“Time in Ayurveda, has been divided predominantly into hours, days, fortnights, months and years based on the movement of the sun and moon. Twenty four hours are divided into day and night; a month, into approximately two fortnights of the waxing and waning moon; and a year is divided into two six month intervals where the sun looks like it is moving northward and southward.”
The ‘Asthanga Hrdayam’ by Acharya Vaghata Translated by Dr. Sanjay Pisharodi and edited by Chitra Eder.

The two six month intervals commence at the equinoxes, when light becomes greater than dark and vice versa. The solstices are when the offspring of light and dark begin to intensify. The offspring of light is heat and the offspring of darkness is cold. After the spring equinox the sunlight warms the cold, after the fall equinox less light begins to cool the heat.

It is understood that we are not taking into account various earth climates. We are looking at a general overview which indigenous people understood. In our modern world we tend to look at micro patterns which are more specific to location.

Summer Solstice is nine days away, mostly celebrated through rituals at sacred locations. Some enjoy the day with picnics but mostly it’s like any other day on the calendar something to note and forget.

The body and it’s functions is a reflection of cosmic patterns.

The Ayurvedic basic principle is similar to the Hermetic principle "As above, so below" - one of the most fundamental concepts in ancient wisdom traditions.

The saying is attributed to Hermes Trismegistus and found in the Emerald Tablet, suggests that patterns in the macrocosm (the larger universe) are reflected in the microcosm (smaller systems).

Above/Macrocosm: The annual solar cycle with its seasons, solstices, and equinoxes
Below/Microcosm: The daily 24-hour cycle with its corresponding energy patterns

What is the Ayurvedic Significance of the Solstices?

Most of us believe that the Ayurvedic Clock from which we get our daily rhythms are tracking the cycles of dosha’s as they rise and fall during the course of a day. What we are really tracking is the complex dance of the five elements, ether (space), air, fire, water and earth.

The fire element is the element most closely connected to the sun. The Vedic Seers recognized three types of fires, the sun, lightning and what we call fire (flame).

The solar external fire has a corresponding internal fire (macrocosm/microcosm relationship). Ayurveda mostly talks about the digestive fire which corresponds to the solar fire best because it rises and falls in the same daily rhythm as the sun rising and setting.

Our digestive capacity also increases and decreases in direct opposite relationship to the amount of solar light in the form of heat expected throughout the year as the earth revolves on its axis around the sun.

Our daily clock is a fractal or reflection of the solar year.

Tracking the sun on a yearly level is about tracking the amount of light in the form of energy we can expect to hit the earth by hemisphere at any given time of the year.

Ancient agricultural calendars used solstices and equinoxes as fundamental markers to track the entire cycle of farming activities, creating sophisticated systems that guided survival itself.

Planting and Harvesting schedules were the most critical application. The spring equinox signaled when soil temperatures would begin warming consistently, indicating safe planting times for different crops. Ancient farmers knew that certain grains needed to be planted a specific number of days after the equinox to avoid late frosts, while others required waiting until closer to the summer solstice for optimal germination.

Religious and social festivals were integrated with agricultural needs. Harvest festivals celebrated successful crops while also serving as communal work periods for processing and storing food. Planting ceremonies invoked divine blessing while coordinating community-wide agricultural activities.

While we no longer track solar movements in the same way the understanding that the body behaves in predictable patterns according to cosmic patterns. Our bodies still remember and adjust.

Ever wonder why in winter you can eat heavy foods and have a larger appetite, while in summer a watermelon can satisfy your hunger easily?

Mapping the equinoxes and solstices to a single day would create a compressed annual cycle that reveals the fundamental rhythm of seasonal change.

A 24-hour solar year would look like this:

Midnight (12:00 AM) ~Winter Solstice - Peak darkness, cooling continues
6:00 AM ~ Spring Equinox - Equal day and night, warming begins
Noon (12:00 PM) ~ Summer Solstice - Peak light and heat continues to rise
6:00 PM ~ Autumn Equinox - Equal day and night again, cooling begins

This creates a perfect symmetry where the "day" represents the warm half of the year (spring equinox through autumn equinox) and "night" represents the cold half (autumn equinox through spring equinox).

Just as dawn gradually brightens toward noon and then fades toward sunset, spring gradually warms toward summer's peak and then cools toward winter's depth. The equinox become the "dawn" and "dusk" of the year - balanced transition points between extremes.

Our texts ask us to wake in the hours before dawn for greatest health, unless there is a disease process occurring.

Spring and Autumn Equinox ~ 6 AM/PM represents the quality of balance, clarity, and peace. It is easy to feel happiness, calm, kindred, meditative, content, and caring.
Summer Solstice ~ 12 PM - Dynamic intense energy rising.
Winter Solstice ~ 12 AM - Storing energy for future use, time for rest,

Ayurveda always asks us to prepare for the season ahead and release the previous season. We do this naturally by changing seasonal clothing and changing our activities.

During the solstice the sun and it’s light is changing it’s northward movement to its southward movement (in the northern hemisphere, the opposite in the southern hemisphere. This summer solstice is an opportunity to honor peak daylight and recognize that it’s energy (heat) will continue to rise even though darkness is on the rise.

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