Spring is a lovely time of year, the time everyone I know looks forward to with great anticipation.
The world is warming and greening and the days are getting noticeably longer. Songbirds are filling
the air with audible joy. Gardeners start planting seeds and admiring the shoots of fall planted bulbs
which will shortly grace the garden. The crocus, snowdrops, hellebore, and violets have already made their
appearances and the flowering shrubs are beginning to burst into color.
With so
many signs of the return of Persephone from the underworld, enthusiasm and gaiety are not far behind.
I was born in early
March, so not surprisingly, my connection to this time of year is especially strong.
When I was a very small, my family lived
in a northern county in Maryland where the land was still chiefly in agriculture or wild. My two younger
brothers and I had some semi wild areas alongside cattle pastures for our playground. As I recall there
was a shimmy-through-fences necessary to get to the fun—and we were too young to factor in the risks of scolding for
extra-dirty knees and seats! We had an actual yard in front our house where my mother would have preferred
we stayed in plain sight, but the allure of the trees and the animals beyond them was much too powerful for us.
Some of my earliest memories are from this time. The year I turned 6, I remember Kevin,
who is just a year my junior, scampered up to me excitedly one afternoon and whispered in my ear, “It’s your birthday,
we’re gonna have cake!” Even though this was an exciting idea, I was dubious.
“It can’t be my birthday yet. The leaves on the trees are too small.”
Somehow I had already formed an expectation for the relationships between developments
in the natural world and those events occurring on the schedule kept by the adults in my world. I am sure
what happened was something on the order of a hard winter which would have delayed things a bit.
But I just had to confirm
it so I went to our mother. Ooops, Kevin got in a little hot water and I got a jolt to my certainty—it
was indeed my birthday!
I learned to pay as close attention to the calendar on the wall as my calendar in the wood.
Earlier this afternoon,
while sun was shining down in that it’s-only-just-past-February slant, I went out to plant peas in the garden.
The weather here has been so mild, I really could have done it several weeks ago, but I just didn’t trust that
it was time yet.
Even though the leaves on the trees were open enough.
This year, I am still working to find
balance. Equinox is a good time to start in earnest.
Light some green candles for the Maiden,
Silver for her Mother. Pour libations in celebration of reunions and new beginnings. Ask
the Goddess for blessings in all your endeavors. Plant some seeds in small pots—sunflowers are fun
for the kiddles—to plant outside after Beltane. Dance and make merry.
Vernal Equinox/Eostara incense
on sale 15% off until 12 midnight PDST, Wednesday March 31st 2010.
Blessed Be!
~Rae
