Rituals to embrace this Spring
Ostara, otherwise known as the Vernal Equinox or Spring Equinox, stirred to life last Friday, bringing with her the beginnings of bountiful hedgerows, sunshine yellow daffodils, and the turn towards more daylight and longer evenings. This transitional time between the beautiful (yet bleak) Winter and the unfurling of nature into Spring - a time of rebirth and awakening - calls for celebration. And what is celebration, if not ritual?
In a time where the balance of light and dark is at the forefront, Spring is also a time to sit with and understand the way that we, as people, view ourselves. Do we accept and embrace that we are a balance of light and shadow, or do we repress or shun anything but the ‘good’ parts of ourselves? Spring is a time of awakening, blossoming outwards from our Winter hibernation, and the perfect time to observe around us that the flourish of new life can only happen after bare branches and the darkest days of the year. One cannot happen without the other, this never-ending cycle, and like the seasons, we cannot be the people we are without both the ‘light’ and the ‘dark’.
Embracing all parts of us - the embarrassment, insecurity, and jealousy as much as the confidence, empathy, and creativity - is not an easy thing to do, but wholly fulfilling. And even a step towards noticing times where we are perhaps unkind to ourselves, and try to hide away parts of us that we feel are less socially acceptable, is a step towards understanding and meeting ourselves on a much deeper and compassionate level. Spring is a time to reflect on this, to journal, to balance both the journey inwards and the movement outwards and forward into a new season.
As Spring is associated with a time of rebirth, it is a ripe time to re-discover long-forgotten things that you love, or revive an existing part of your life that had perhaps been placed to the side and deemed not as important in the busyness of the day to day. These are things that flesh out your existence and bring colour, make you smile or laugh or even just bring you a moment of peace. It can be as simple as a morning cup of tea before anyone else is awake, or as exciting as revisiting and signing up for adult evening learning classes for making pottery. Not only can these activities bring you joy, but they can also break up any feelings of stagnation within your life and daily routine, embracing the fresh and new feelings that surround this time of year.
I was lucky enough last weekend to celebrate the arrival of the Spring Equinox by attending a day retreat, a beautiful space where we came together with yoga, breath work and art, and it made me realise the real need for connection that comes and coincides with the lifting of Winter and ascendence towards Spring. After so long in ‘hibernation mode’ that comes with Winter, I cherished the ability to connect all the more.
This Spring, meaningful and authentic connection is high on my list of rituals to continue to incorporate into daily life. Whilst the importance was undoubtably highlighted for me during the retreat, I think as humans and a very social species, we all crave the chance to forge meaningful connections in a way that adds to our lives. Sharing space, whether by meeting friends, attending workshops or classes that you’ve always wanted to attend but perhaps have never felt ready for, or even by engaging in conversation with a stranger, helps to foster and build that connection that we can yearn for so much this time of year.
A ritual for Spring can be simply taking a moment to slow down and observe the world around you. Seeing the green of nature begin to unfold across fields and spread across hedgerows is a pick-me-up that feels all the more potent after Winter. This is the time where you can begin to hear sweet birdsong in the mornings, see the first butterflies and bees begin to sleepily bumble along, and watch the blackthorn flowers blossom like frilly lace on their spiky branches. A little sunshine and a little bit of seeing life return to the world can make all the difference to our mood!
Perhaps take a close look at the flowers that are beginning to appear on the banks, in the fields, in gardens and parks. The yellow primrose is one of the first flowers to appear after Winter, and is closely associated with the Spring Equinox. The name ‘primrose’ comes from the Latin Prima Rosa, or ‘first rose’. And whilst the primrose is no rose, its appearance first within the carpets of the woodland floor have long been associated with renewal and optimism (which sound rather Spring-esque, if one had to associate with a season!). Symbolically tied with fairies in both Scottish and Irish folklore, and used on doorsteps to ward away evil in Welsh folklore, the presence of the primrose in Spring has been considered magical for centuries.
Spring is a time to reflect and redirect our energy and to appreciate the natural world around us. We can be proud that we have weathered and made it through the Winter - long associated with being the most arduous part of the year - and can begin to flourish like the flora and fauna around us. It is a time to let go and release things that no longer serve us (energetically, physically or mentally) and create space for new growth and beginning, those first few primroses, to sprout within our lives.
Each ritual we embark on, no matter how small or how significant, is self-care. By choosing to do something that we love, or making time for us to rest, we are embodying the energy of Spring and allowing us to take up the space as individuals that we deserve. I hope that by reading this, it inspires you to find a little ritual of ‘you’: something that makes you happy, or brings you peace, to encourage into your life the freshness and newness of Spring.
