Welcome to the season of spring!The long winter is slowly coming to an end + it is time to wake, emerge, and rise to new life. This is an inspiring + empowering season calling us to explore who we are created to be + how we are invited to live. That sounds a bit heavy, doesn’t it? But, it’s not, y’all. It is important… but it is also meant to be a hopeful, free-spirited, and inspiring time of the year. It’s time to step up + step into who we really are. So, let’s dig into this season, the medicine, the energy, and way to live these glorious spring days.
The rhythms of nature
This shift in the wheel of the year leads us into the energy of the spring. It is the season that reaches from Imbolc on February 1/2 to the Spring Equinox in March (Ostara) to Beltane on the first of May. It is now, time to begin to leave winter behind and to release all of that deep, inward, resting energy. Now, we start to open our eyes, begin to move our stiff bones, open our windows, set our bare feet on the ground, emerge from our cocoons, and slowly rise to life again. But, after the winter, we are not the same. So this season is here to inspire us to embrace how we have changed so we, like all of nature, can rise to new life.
The medicine of the earth
Like the first, tiny flowers pushing up from the soft ground, the lengthening days and the warmer weather, we slowly begin to also emerge from our winter hibernation. As we watch how the earth slowly awakens + is reborn, it’s good to remember that this emergence takes time. There are still snow days mixed in with the first warm, sunny days. And, if you’re like me, then there are still moments where we feel not quite ready to rise from our cozy, winter slumber. So, this is the perfect time to simply drop into the slow unfolding of the season. To understand that waking + rising is meant to take some time. Even for us.
But, as the earth awakens in the northern hemisphere, and as we begin to slowly feel more alert + alive, we see that something new is being born. And, we are also invited to see what new life is waiting for us. This season is also our rebirth.
Energy for the soul
It’s time to release the mystical, cosmic, mysterious, airy, dreamy energy of the winter and move into the grounded, earthy, community-focused, service-oriented, personal, artsy, creative energy of the spring. In other words, it is time to release the season of soul reflection + enter the season of our soul’s calling.
It is time to step forth. To decide what we want to take with us from winter + what to leave behind. This is the time to think through all that we have learned in the darkness of winter + the season of solitude, and to fold all of that into what we are called to step into as spring rises, nature awakes, and life begins again. It is the time for us to be re-birthed into our own power. Into the ways that we can lead + create + live. It’s time to consider the gifts we have to offer, the ways we can inspire, and the life that we want to live.
Gatherings, sabbats, + sacred celebrations
The season of the wise one is filled with the magical, meaningful of holidays + festivals. Many of them connected by ancient practices of our ancestors all around the world. Even though they are so common in our everyday life, they are often misunderstood or they remain surface-level celebrations instead of deep, soul-filling ceremonies and rituals that inspire us in these dark winter days.
There are so many special, holy days to recognize + celebrate throughout the season, beginning with the winter solstice + ending with the spring equinox. Recognizing or marking any or all of these special days is how I bring magic to everyday life. I often find that the more I celebrate, the more rituals + traditions I participate in, the more present I am in my life from day to day. The more sacredness I find in the little things.
I do not participate in rituals + traditions because I must, or ought to, or should, or because that’s just how it’s always been done. If I feel like I “must” do something. then I don’t do it. I try to never do something/participate in something just because… Instead, I recognize + celebrate because I feel called to. Because I know that these rituals + celebrations bring a sense of grounded presence + magic to my daily life.
All that to say… here are the opportunities for celebrations + gatherings during the season of the wise one. Pick + choose those which seem to call to your soul. (I will do my best to share my gatherings + celebrations on the blog as we move through the season).
- Imbolg: The midpoint between the Winter Solstice + the Spring Equinox! The word imblog comes from the Old Irish i mbolg meaning in the belly, a time when sheep are nearing birth. It is the time, even way up here in the Nordic countries, when we know that spring is not far off. Birds begin to sing in the morning, tiny flowers begin to pop up from the ground amid the snow. It is winter, but the earth is preparing for spring.
- Lent: The 40 day celebration and remembrance of Jesus’s time in the wilderness. It is a deeply introspective time before Easter, meant for silence, solitude, fasting, and reflection. As the earth slowly wakes, I see this time as 6 weeks of preparation for the season that is to come – a way to embrace and understand our own unique medicine, as we prepare to respond to the calling to share it to the world.
- Spring Equinox: The earth is alive! We make another turn on the wheel and enter a new season of life!
Wisdom, mindfulness, and slow living.
But what does this season really mean for our everyday lives? How can we integrate + align with the medicine + energy? Now is the tim to tap into our own empowerment, embodying our truth, speaking from our soul, living from our heart, integrating the wisdom of our spirit into slow mindful ways of inspiring others. To be wholly unto ourselves. To embrace all that we are, all of who we are. This is the season for stepping into our calling. To be sovereign + true to ourselves. To live fully in our own power.
From the first stirrings of Imbolc to the new life of the spring equinox, we move through the portal of quickening, waking, wilderness, and pondering how we want to live + who we are called to be. What do we leave behind? To what are we being called? And are we ready + willing to step into our soul’s calling, our divine birthright, our own personal legend?
As we approach Beltane, we truly begin to rise to our own, unique empowered life. What it means is that this is the time for wondering…how, then, shall I live? In other words, how can I emerge and live from my soul? In what ways can I serve + lead? What unique medicine + gifts do I have to offer?
The energy of spring is all about waking, emerging, rising, and stepping forth into who we authentically are. So, shall we rise up, my friends, and greet this new day, this new birth, this new season with open arms?