Today marks the Vernal Equinox. Due to various astronomical and atmospheric variables, the amount of light we have is equal to the amount of dark. This is popularised by saying that day and night are of equal lengths, but that’s not quite right. To be specific we should say light and dark.

The fiction writer in me loves that idea.”

Depending on what hemisphere we are in, we’ll move into a time when one or the other is greater. This continues until we reach the next solstice when ‘light’ will begin to move in the other direction.

• Do you prefer the light or the dark?
• Are you afraid of one or the other?

By sheer coincidence, today’s writing prompt on A Ticket To Write is all about the dark. If you want to explore some fears, then go and take a look. For vampires, being stuck in the dark is no bad thing. But as the light is greater for the next six months in the northern hemisphere they may find it easier to migrate to southerly shores! Although vampires are purely fictional… aren’t they?

Light and dark are also metaphors for good and evil. Though for those who prefer the dark and who are, on the whole, perfectly decent people, this might be a little unfair. But this is where fiction can have such fun playing with the shades in between. And, we should remember, even the bible refers to Lucifer as an angel of light.

At the vernal equinox, at this moment of equality, all is in balance. The path will soon diverge. One way leads to the light, the other to the dark. In about six months we will find ourselves in pretty much the same place. A place of balance and equality as we reach another equinox.

But at that time, what tales will we bring with us as we have ventured into the light and dark of the previous months?