Celebrating the Earth’s cycles
Watkins Magazine - July 2004
Our world is changing. We are embracing a new global consciousness. This is the new ‘we’ consciousness, transforming the old ‘us and them’ mentality that has, up until now, held our world in conflict, fear and separation. It is inspiring people to stand together, knowing that our strength lies in this togetherness.
The choices we make in our personal lives shape and change the bigger picture. With every loving response, with every choice of where we put our energy, our time, and our money and by every individual act that is life affirming, we make a difference in the world. We are free from the old outworn systems of hierarchy, duality and competition, and we are choosing to take the path of Love and positive action. We are aware of the power inherent in all our acts of goodwill and kindness.
We are learning to follow our hearts as well as our heads, our intuition as well as our rational minds. We are uniting in a grass roots spirituality that grows from our own experiences and understanding and is integrated into our everyday lives, relationships & actions. This is our joyful voyage of discovery, our delightful rebellion and our profoundly exhilarating act of adaptation. It is a potent evolutionary shift, having as much survival value and significance as any physical transformation. We are creating change, and together we are changing the world.
We are increasingly inspired to follow our intuition, our own spiritual path, our creative solutions and other inspired act of genius. It is grounded in the wisdom of nature, and reclaims some of the old understandings from our distant past. I am interested in how these can be adapted and integrated into our present shift in consciousness, embracing the holistic understanding that all things are interconnected vital parts of a whole, that we are all equally important, and we all have the ability to change and to Love.
I explore my connection to the Earth through the natural energy of the seasonal flow and the energy inherent in the waxing and waning cycles of the Sun & the Moon. I work with the framework of the 8 Celtic festivals: the Winter and Summer Solstices, the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes and in between each of these, the 4 festivals of Imbolc, Beltain, Lammas and Samhain. By understanding this flow, we can move in harmony with it, as true inhabitants of our planet Earth: belonging and changing, knowing when is the best time to rest, when is the best time to incubate our dreams and visions, and when is the best time for action, to express ourselves out in the world. We can use the underlying energy of the Earth’s cycles, to help us let go of the old and embrace the new, to transform and change in our own unique way.
I intuitively explore the underlying energy of each season and create ways to connect to this through simple ceremony, getting out into nature, spending meditative time alone and meeting up with others.
In my books I share the many ritual and ceremony ideas I have found to work well, including ideas for open family and community celebrations as well as for deeper levels of transformative ceremony, which come from working alone or in a small committed group. All the ideas have come from many years of working in this way. They encourage communication - with the Earth, with each other and with our-selves. They encourage our ability to change, to reach for what we want, to co-create, to celebrate the Earth and to be open to other levels of reality.
Each festival is an opportunity for positive actions and Earth based activities that are specific to, or enhanced by, the time of year. These help us to connect to the Earth on many different levels, to support loving, life-affirming initiatives and creative solutions, and to integrate our spirituality into our everyday lives.
Each festival also has its own native tree (see my books Sacred Tree and Earth Wisdom) whose message enhances our deepening integration with nature and the trees.
Celebrating the Earth’s cycles encourages us to become proactive in our relationship with the Earth and to become part of a growing global community prepared to bring positive change into the world. We are living in extraordinary times and I am open to the exciting possibility that a miracle is happening as we experience a collective shift in consciousness that is creating a more loving and caring world in which we can grow.
We are the change and together we are making a difference!
CELEBRATING IMBOLC.
Extract from Earth Wisdom. Revised January 2007
CELEBRATING IMBOLC
‘Festival of Awakening Fire’
End January/beginning February in the Northern Hemisphere.
End July/ beginning august in the Southern Hemisphere.
This is the celebration of the returning Fire of the Sun and the beginning of the outer growth phase. We become aware that the Earth is stirring. It is still cold but the first buds are beginning to show on the trees and Spring bulbs are pushing up through the Earth. Our acceptance of Winter is giving way to an urge to move forward into Springtime energy.
We can use this time to prepare for the changes ahead. Now is the time to bring out the wisdom and insights we have gained on the inner journey. Now is the time to express our creativity through art, craft, poetry and songs. These were seen in the past as a way of accessing our ancestral memory.
This is the time for initiation and healing, for reclaiming what has been lost, and seeking new ways forwards. It is a time for working with our intuition, with inspired leaps of understanding, and for expressing our deepest wishes, beliefs and feelings. Be open to communication from within, heed the signs and omens when you notice them and follow what has significance and meaning to you.
Imbolc is sacred to Love, to the young fertile force in all of us, to the quickening of new life and new beginnings. Imbolc reflects the stirring of the life force and the potency of action that is fired from within.
IMBOLC CELEBRATION
*Gather with friends at the New Moon when the Moon energy is also fertile and rising. Ask everyone to bring a candle, food and drink to share and their own poems, songs, artwork, craftwork and any winter project they have been involved with, for all to share and celebrate each other’s accomplishments and uniqueness. Bring drums, percussion and instruments to play.
*Ask those who can to bring fresh cuttings of stems that can be woven, such as Willow, Winter Jasmine, Honeysuckle, Forsythia, Dogwood, Flowering Currant, Almond and Cherry. Lay them on an old sheet or blanket for ease of clearing up at the end and sit around this to weave an ‘Imbolc ring’. To begin, choose a long length and create a circle the size of a small dinner plate, with the thicker end of the stem. Use the thin end like a needle weaving in and out until it holds firm as a ring.ontinue weaving in different twigs, anchoring the thick end into the circle and weaving with the thin end until you build up a ring of different plants. As you work, focus on what you have learnt during the Winter months and where you wish to take this into the new active season.
* With focus, light a candle in a bowl of sand inside your ring and speak out your new intentions.
The Imbolc rings can be taken home and placed in a shallow dish of water. Over the next few weeks they will flower, giving energy to your visions and new directions.
*Sit together and share your poems, craft and artwork, your achievements from the Winter months.
IMBOLC CEREMONY
*Gather everyone together with a chant or song around a central large bowl of earth or compost piled high in celebration of the fertile force of the earth. Ask everyone to place their unlit candles around this, each in a small bowl of sand.
*Open the circle by bringing focus to each of the 5 Elements and their awakening energy at this time. Do this poetically, focusing on their power and beauty. Choose a sentence at each Element and weave this into a new co-created chant.
*Lead the circle into a spiral, circling round the unlit candles and bowl of Earth at the centre, singing the new elemental chant.
*At the centre gather round the bowl of Earth and unlit candles and focus silently on what you wish to grow within yourself, what seeds you have been nurturing and what you wish to plant into the fertile energy of this newly emerging season. Symbolically plant them in the bowl of Earth and as you do so, let out sounds and notes that resonate with these seed wishes and intentions. Let all the sounds resonate together sending them down into the Earth and then up and outwards in a cone of power and vibrant energy.
Spiral back out again, reconnecting to the elemental chant
*Once everyone is back in the circle, each person goes to the centre and lights their candle as they name and celebrate their seed wishes.
*Close the circle by thanking each Element for the part it will play in the new growing season.
*Drum and dance together, releasing your inner Fire into the fertile power of the life force.
RELATED ACTIVITIES
WELLS AND SPRINGS
As the Earth’s energy is activated, the elemental energy of the land and water reawaken. This is a traditional time for pilgrimages to healing wells, holy wells and springs. Set out in a sacred manner, with spring water, fruit and nuts, focusing on the earth and your intention to seek clarity and vision. Use it as a way of connecting to what you wish to bring out into the world, using the power of water to make fertile, bring healing and bless.
Some wells and springs have a special tree connected to them. In the past, a pilgrim seeking healing would soak a rag form their clothing and tie it to the tree. As the rag rotted away, they believed their illness would disappear. This practice could be revived using ‘pledge’ or ‘prayer’ ribbons. Take a piece of ribbon with you, dip it into the water as you state your pledge of intent, prayer or wish, and tie it to the tree. Here they will flutter in the wind, like prayer flags, carrying messages of hope and healing.
Use the water for baptism, as a rite of passage, to wash away the past, the winter, the old ‘you’, and to bless a new beginning, new hope, healing affirmations and heartfelt intentions, leave an offering to the spirit of the water and the spirit guardian of the well. This may be something made of clay or wood, a crystal, some fruit or nuts, or a pattern you make from the natural materials you find nearby. One of the best gifts you can make is to clear up any rubbish you find there and take it with you.
TREES
Make the most of the pale sunlight to get outside and reconnect tot the awakening Earth. There is still time to plant or move your young trees before the growing season gathers momentum. Plant a fruit tree and dedicate it to someone, or a project. There are many dwarf varieties that can even be grown in a large pot if space is short. Coppice willows and dogwoods, having enjoyed their bright coloured stems during the winter months. Save these for woven projects in the garden by storing them bundles together on a north hedgerow to keep them pliant. Or plant them immediately straight into the Earth to grow living woven fences or new trees.
MOON GARDEN
Plan to create a Moon garden, a place to sit in quiet contemplation, and keep a connection to the watery flow of your unconscious mind, especially during the active half of the year. If you haven’t a garden, create it in a large pot.
Choose silvery plants such as Lavenders, silvery Thymes and Sages, and plants that have white flowers that will grow in the moonlight. Bring in a bowl for water and crystals.
Sacred Celebrations Extract:
Spring Equinox
Day and night are of equal length all over the world. In the Northern Hemisphere we still celebrate it as the first day of Spring. The days are getting longer and warmer now and the nights are getting shorter. This is a festival of balance: the balance of light and dark, the balance of the Sun’s active energy in the day and the Moon’s receptive energy at night; the balance of the inner world and the outer world; the balance of the conscious Fire energy with the forces of the watery unconscious. Here at the Equinox we can look at and work towards this balance within ourselves. This will bring change and healing as we move into new understanding and new actions.
Oestre, the Goddess of Light, brings fertility with the Spring. This is the root of the word ’oestrus’, the time in an animals sexual cycle when it is fertile and oestrogen, the hormone that stimulates ovulation, is produced. The Church overlaid this festival with Easter and its theme of rebirth and resurrection from death. It’s timing is based on the old lunar calendar: the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the Spring Equinox, formerly the pregnant phase of Oestre passing into the fertile season.
The pagan tradition celebrates the spring maiden and the ardent young male at this time. Their union makes all of nature fertile. The sexually potent young woman of the spring equinox is balanced with the sexually potent young man. Here we can make contact with their archetypal energy within ourselves. We need to balance this energy within ourselves regardless of gender. It is the energy and power of the rational conscious mind when joined with the energy and power of the intuition and inner wisdom, which brings fertility and manifestation. This is the union, which brings forth new life on many levels
As we step into the active phase of the year, remember to balance the rational, logical mind with instinct and intuition. We have laid such importance on our logical minds, that we have become used to ignoring our intuition. Learn to listen, to trust, and to act on your inner wisdom and bring your whole self back into balance.
The Underlying Energy of the Spring Equinox
Everything in nature is coming alive and awakening. The Sun is gaining strength and the days are longer and warmer. Blossom and catkins are on the trees, buds are bursting, seeds are germinating, Spring flowers appear, eggs are hatching and all the animals are preparing to have their young. Everywhere is evidence of life’s ability to regenerate.
The energy is turning from the dark depths of Winter and the inner world, to an outward manifestation of the conscious world. It is time to throw off the restraints of Winter and the cold, and reach out for what it is we want for ourselves and the world.
It is a time of rain and sunshine, the mingling of the Elements of Fire and Water, Spring gales, high tides, feelings of wildness and chaos.
Run wild in the wind and celebrate life’s fertility. We are breaking out and moving forwards. We feel empowered to take risks, strike out on our own, make things happen. It is a time to begin new ventures, make plans and make journeys.
An egg can be balanced on its end today. The balance of the Earth’s energy is now blended: Light with Dark, conscious with unconscious, Fire with Water. Here is the union of power, which brings fertility and manifestation. This is the spark of the life-force. This is the Dance of Life – interdependent complementary parts of one energy system, which we can embrace on our journey to become whole.
Spring Equinox Celebrations
Be outside today, wrap up warm if it’s cold, enjoy the Elements, the wind and the rain and the sunshine. Rejoice in them! Celebrate the end of Winter, be a Mad March hare, run wild and be expansive. Look for the arrival of Spring everywhere.
Whether you are celebrating with friends or on your own, choose a wild and powerful place to go today, somewhere where the Earth’s energy runs strong, where serpent or dragon paths can be felt. Experiment with your ability to dowse these energies.
Share a special breakfast with friends before setting out to spend the day outside together.
Make a shrine to honour the awakening Earth. Place on it Spring flowers, bulbs growing in pots, blossom, catkins and pussy Willow. Represent the 5 Elements in ways that reflects the Equinox. Burn lavender to welcome the Spring, hang cloths of yellow and green.
Make time to meditate with the trees, especially if a particular tree draws you towards it. Put your back against its trunk, feel it’s life-force energy and be open to receiving impressions and inner understanding from the tree. Greet the Dryad, the spirit of the tree.
Greet the nature spirits of flowers and herbs. Communication is greatly enhanced if you are open to their existence. Be open to communication from faerie and you may have a surprise. This ancient race far from the Victorian image of pretty winged nymphs, are a shape shifting people, rarely seen but sometimes felt, often near.
If you are gathered with a group begin by making a circle holding hands and then walk a spiral towards a centre, chanting an easy meditative walking chant. When you get to the centre and are tight together share with each other what the Spring Equinox means to you and each say “May the Spring Equinox bring…” when this has reached it’s natural end and all has been said, take up each others hands and the chant and the person leading the spiral turns its direction outward again to bring the group back into a circle.
Seed meditation for renewal and self healing. Imagine you are a seed full of life. Plant the seed of yourself in the warm earth and water it gently until it begins to open. Feel your roots growing and reaching down into the earth, drinking all the nutrients. Feel the shoot unfold into the air, your leaves, unfold soaking up the Suns rays. All that you need is given – for growing, for your wellbeing. You are in radiant health.
Plant the seeds of yourself and look at where you’re going now. Affirm your most positive wishes. Connect to your life-force. Ask your spirit guides and helpers for direction and remain open to receiving these messages.
Honour the Earth and the fertility of all life; the animals, the birds, the fish and the insect world, the great abundance of life and flowers, the herbs for medicine, and all the food growing for us to eat. Honour the balance of the Sun and the Moon, the male and the female and the power of their union.
Pass an egg or imaginary egg around the circle, each focusing on what they have been incubating since the autumn and wish to bring out into the world. This is the fertile time. Being aware of your direction will greatly enhance the outcome. Share your thoughts with each other if you want to, before passing the egg on to the next person. At the end place the egg or imaginary egg on the shrine.
Begin new ventures now, enhance your understanding of fertility and balance. Break away from old outworn ideas. If you are a man find ways to embrace your inner woman. If you are a woman find ways to embrace your inner man.
Positive affirmations are positive repetitive statements said in the present tense. They act like a meditative mantra and will break negative thought patterns that are no longer serving you. These may have been built up over the years and can actually begin to manifest as physical illnesses. Use the Equinox to look at areas of imbalance in yourself and use positive affirmations to help rebuild positive thought patterns for the future.
Decorate eggs, either hard-boiled or blown. Hard-boiled eggs can be rolled down a hill or eaten for breakfast. Special decorated eggs can be given as gifts to each other.
Plant seeds of herbs or flowers for medicine. Each bring a packet of seeds and a tray of compost. Share the seeds around so each has a variety of useful plants.
There is a tradition of decorating hats with ribbons and spring flowers at the spring Equinox (Easter bonnets).
Make all kinds of things to fly in the wind, using basket makers willow, streamers of crepe paper, wool and ribbons and run with them in the wind. Make prayer flags and prayer sticks, writing positive affirmations on to the material and ribbons and attaching them to sticks to stand in the wind, sending your prayers and messages out into the world. Fly dragon flags, dragon kites, make dragon masks, which can be attached to long sticks with streamers to fly from the mask.
Have a dragon procession with a dragon you have made.
Dance to celebrate the first day of Spring.
Begin by imagining yourself curled up inside an egg or seed. You are your egg or seed space. This is your world in the dark; growing life; incubating your plans; waiting. Feel the life force growing within you. Feel the new you who is waiting to be born into the light, into action, who will become manifest. As you begin to move outwards and break out of your shell or seed case, take with you your most positive intent. Breathe new life into yourself as you break through into a new phase of your life. Celebrate and dance this power and energy. Celebrate being alive. Celebrate the balance of the world within and the world without.
