Welcoming in the four directions of the compass; north, south, east and west. Reaching down to the 3000 metres of ocean deep below us, stretching up to the sun moon and stars above. We come to you, Yemaya, Goddess of the ocean and King Neptune, we come to you as a circle of hearts, Queens of our time, thanking you for safe passage, clean water for all. May we be of service to you, to protect our oceans and the earth.
The crossing of the equator is an event that has been building in anticipation for some days now. It’s a major milestone and something that was discussed via Facebook even prior to our departure. How would we celebrate and commemorate this moment, how would we thank Neptune and the Goddess of the sea, and make sure that our ceremony was fitting, appropriate and inspiring? We had bounced a few ideas around over the last few days and the one that stuck was to celebrate something for which we were thankful and to use the opportunity to let go of something that we no longer wanted. Negative feelings, a part of ourselves that no longer helps us move forward positively.
We were woken by Imogen around 7.15, saying that we were about 15 minutes away. Many of us ran around getting ready while others made use of a few spare minutes of sleep. It wasn’t until some time later that we realised that the minutes Imogen had been talking about were minutes of latitude, meaning that there was still quite some time before we would actually reach the equator. This gave us time to really prepare. Heather had bought us all sarongs in which to dress, Christine had brought temporary tattoos with which we decorated ourselves, and Sarah adorned herself with ocean blue sequined pants (which she wore on her head). We decided to share our positive messages aloud, but to commit our statements of intent to paper and ultimately to sea and to Neptune. As we crossed the equator, Imogen thanked Neptune for our safe passage and our beautiful oceans, and then each of us in turn expressed our gratitude for our lives, our oceans and our futures, whatever felt right for each individual. Sarah hailed the ocean Goddess Salacia and Neptune to hear our wishes and gratitude.
As we entered the Southern Hemisphere, we celebrated the experience that we are sharing as a group. The discussions on board have been open and embracing, and I know that this has helped us to see our futures more clearly, to concentrate on our deepest feelings and accept them openly. Our watch has become a family. We laugh, cry and laugh some more together. We support and ridicule each other in equal measure. Since crossing the equator, there is a sense of renewed energy and a calm lightness among us. It’s a day of significant change; we now look forward to altering our course later this evening and heading west to Recife, marking a new direction of the boat and in our lives. We are celebrating Equator Day with a day off from science school and some grilled cheese on toast!
We are sending a shout out to our follower(s). Our number 1 fan Sam Dendys sent an email touching our hearts, comforting our souls and continuing to fuel our motivation. We hope you continue to enjoy the blogs from our watch team.
– Amanda, Sarah, Jess and Jan.
