March is here with all her wild, mystical, powerful, energetic shifts. It is a season of change, and no matter where we live, we will be moving through an equinox. One of the best ways I know to be present during the shifts, to deal with change, and to flow with change is to return to my soul through the habits, patterns, and practices that ground me. To remember how to find the wild, sacred beauty in the midst of everyday life. So, like I did back in December with my Midwinter Rituals series, I’ve created + committed to an Equinox Rituals series for the month of March. To count us down to the Spring/Autumn Equinox on the 21st of March.
I am so very excited about this series, you guys. Once again, I will be sharing a post every other day… as a chance to slow down + sink into the shifting of the seasons. To tap into our wild souls as we follow the cycles of nature. Remember, we are nature. We are a part of the wild, organic, beautiful planet. Made of both stardust + earth. Meant to live in harmony with all of life.
So, here’s how it’s gonna go:
On the first day of March, I had a little meditation session with myself to help me welcome the month + to draw the 12 cards for this series.
I’ll be using those 12 oracle cards as my themes for my 12 blog posts.
The blog posts will be every other day + they will focus on my thoughts and intuitive interpretations of the card of the day.
The purpose +intention is to slow down, ground down, and to allow my inner soul guide me through the shifting of the seasons by returning to this simple ritual of spending time connecting to my inner fire, nature, and spirit.
And I invite you to join me by simply showing up to read the posts. Reflect on them + on my words. Listen to your soul + what it is saying to you. Use these posts + days to be present as you move toward spring or autumn.
My hope is that this will be a way to move mindfully + meditatively through this month, focusing on staying present + grounded. And preparing for the awakening of spring or the inner descent of autumn.
With that said, let’s get right to the first post of this series!
Honestly, the Peace Pipe card seemed an unlikely card with which to begin this series when I turned it over. It felt a little weird. But, then, as I sat for a minute with it, I came to feel that it was perfect.
Native Americans gather together and use a ceremonial pipe for various reasons. It’s not actually known as a peace pipe to native tribes, from what I can tell. Instead, it is a tool to be used in a sacred gathering, and yes, often to mark a truce or a time of peace. But, it is not limited to peace treaties and the like.
To share a pipe is an intimate, community building gesture, akin to the breaking of bread in the Christian tradition of holy communion. Or, in reality, of simply sitting together around a table or around a fire, for the purpose of gathering, sharing, and marking a sacred moment.
Religious or not, the peace pipe card reminds me that all gatherings in peace are sacred + holy. And they can be experienced anytime, I believe, anywhere we open our minds + hearts to share a meal, a pipe, or a drink together with a mindful purpose of creating a feeling of community.
The smoke from a ceremonial pipe is often seen as a symbol of the prayers of those who are gathered rising up to the divine. It is an opportunity, as I see it, to awaken to the endless possibilities of that we have when we gather + work together. And it is a prayer to the divine to guide us with humble hearts.
So, what does this ceremonial, tribal, gathering in peace card have to say as we begin the Equinox Rituals series?
Well, I feel that it is a clear reminder + marker that a new season is beginning. For me, in the northern hemisphere, it signals the end of the dark, inward, solitary season where we focus much on our own contemplation + hibernation. It is time to begin to awake, to begin to prepare for our calling out into the community. And, it sets the tone to approach the community in which we find ourselves with a heart of openness, peace, respect, and deep love- even when we disagree. It’s a call to focus on who we are called to be in our tribes + in this world. What role do we each have? What role do you have? Do I have? And, it’s a call to begin to discover that role, if we aren’t really sure…to begin to know that we can + will be used for the good of the tribe, for the good of the global community, if we only allow ourselves to be.
We all have a place at the pipe ceremony. We all have a place at the table. Every single one of us. And the peace pipe cards calls us to gather together + to begin to focus on what we have in common, what we share, what dreams + goals + intentions bind us. There’s no room or need to focus on that which separates us. We are humankind… together. Meant to share in the community-building ceremony of peace.
So, as we begin this blog series, as we begin this month + this march toward the changing of the seasons, may we begin with the attitude + intention that we are all welcome. That we have more in common that not. That we all desire deeply love, security, purpose, and meaning. That we are all sacred beings on this earth, each with our own sacred callings. Perhaps this month, we will discover for ourselves what our callings are for just this time.
Pass the peace pipe, wild souls. We belong together. And together we will journey through this shifting of the seasons. What a beautiful way to begin.
xoxo. liz.
