Greetings, dear Sunny Optimists,
I hope you are enjoying the freshness of each new spring day. I so appreciate going outside to experience the gentle warmth of the sun on my face. To feel the air temperature rising and sense into all that is getting ready to burst forth is such a delight. I see that:
The trees are beginning to bud.
The dawn chorus seems louder.
The lambs are arriving.
The wild garlic is here.
Below is a picture of Gore Glen, where David and I walk regularly. See the juxtaposition of the blanket of vivid green wild garlic on one side of the stream. Then on the other bank are the autumn colours of fallen leaves from last year. So evocative of the interplay of the seasons.
This image brings me ever so sweetly into the flow of this week’s newsletter. As you know, in the northern hemisphere, the Spring Equinox is next Tuesday, when day and night are of equal length. Not only is it a reflection of celestial balance, but it is also a time of transition. From now on, the days get longer, and the weather slowly improves. We move from the quieter reflective time of Winter to the stirring into activation that Spring heralds.
I love exploring the annual seasonal cycle with you. It is such a wonderful metaphor to guide us in tending to the garden of our consciousness. We are part of the natural world! We, too, have an annual rhythm within us that, when we pay attention to it, can support our wellbeing in a myriad of magical ways.
Before I move on to the rest of this post, below is a Cycle of Growth Wheel which lays the ground for our ongoing exploration.
(As some of you know from earlier posts, I love eight-partitioned wheels.! They offer a simple way to hold information and flow that we are evolutionarily attuned to. Also, they awaken a deep and innate sense of remembering when we contemplate them.)
Typically we would begin in the East of the wheel and go clockwise, but today, let's start counter-intuitively and begin with fruiting in the NorthEast of the Wheel.
Fruiting
This stage completes the cycle and flows into the start of the next one. I love the derivation of fruiting into the word fruition. All that has happened over the growth cycle comes to its fullness. And as we move to the completion of the cycle, we need to decide what to do with all the bounty.
Some of you may remember that I offered a Winter Dreaming series of contemplations in December last year. (If you were not a subscriber at that time, here is a link to the invitation.) During this time, we completed the 'Two Baskets' process. First, we placed all the aspects of the year we wished to leave behind in one basket. In the second, we placed elements of the year that still have energy for us. These were aspects of our 2022 'fruiting' that we wished to carry forward into 2023.
Wishing
The East of the Wheel relates to our time in our Dreaming Cave. The cave is a metaphor for an inner place of stillness, spaciousness, and silence. It is where we revealed the wishes for 2023 that were stirring within us.
I love the verb 'wishing'. It captures the intensity of connecting with our deepest heart's desire: with Divine inspiration! But, it also reminds us of the gentleness needed to nurture such wishes into preparing for Spring planting.
After we emerged from the cave, we took time to marry these wishes with the aspects of 2022 we were bringing forward into 2023. We created a bundle to hold the seeds readying for the arrival of Spring.
Below is my 2023 seed bundle, which has been marinating on my altar since December. The anticipation is building :)
Sowing
As the Spring Equinox arrives, we move to prepare for ‘sowing’ our seeds of intentions in our garden of consciousness. On Tuesday, I will write more about celebrating the Spring Equinox and sensing the right timing for planting. For now, here are my questions for you today;
How prepared is your garden to receive the seeds to be sown?
What do you eagerly await to arise in the new season?
Is there beauty that needs to be attended to for the welcoming?
As always, I would love to hear from you.
Ann
Tending our Garden of Consciousness
Thank you, thank you for all this glorious beauty in your offering today. The seasons so ground us into the wheel of life itself...so rich and soul-stirring. You are a treasure, a light shining on the cycles that sing of our Mother Earth with great joy! Much love—and do enjoy, I know you are!!! 🙏🏼♥️🙏🏼♥️