Celtic Spring (February 1st) Dear Body
Nature's inhale begins to deepen this time of year.
A time of year that many cultures have celebrated as the beginning of spring.
For the Celtic tradition, the name of the holiday refers to the lambs giving birth.
On a physiological level, we can see this moment as the first half of the inhale.
The belly begins to show with this inhale.
At midwinter, what we call the beginning of winter in the United States, the winter solstice, we praised the exhausted Earth.
We praise the depths and darkness of a deep well.
We image an orchard without leaves, snow on the ground, at night.
At Celtic spring, early blossoms emerge.
We hear soft stirrings among the low rumble of the hibernators breathing in their winter shelters.
They stir, catching the faint scent of the early blossoms as some part of their intelligence registers that a new year of growth and outwardness is quietly beginning to call.
This is still the first half of our inhale.
This is still a season of collecting ourselves.
Collecting and connecting internally and externally- as we look towards the projects of growth and cultivation.
These projects rest on the wisdom and substance of our past efforts.
We are sustained by fruits from prior years, and this is what we have to share during the season.
In order to add to those fruits, we need to honor that this is the time of giving to ourselves and preparing ourselves.
The wisdom of the seasons helps us track the time we have for collecting and cultivating, and growing.
And to track when it will be time to harvest and give and share and remember and release again.
Celtic fall begins August 1st. We turn towards harvesting then.
Maybe we've been distracted by practices and culture that do not remind us of the hour and time of the season.
Maybe we didn't start thinking about harvest and fall until November.
For the Celts, this was already the time to begin honoring and surrendering to Winter.
Surrendering to Winter on November 1st, we may be ready to quietly and gently begin to open our hearts and minds to a New Year of new fruits, wisdom, and care.
We may be ready on February 1st.
You do not need to be in permanent bloom or permanent fruiting.
Rest in the work you've done in the past and all the wisdom and work that others have done.
Rest in the relationships you have already cultivated, honored, and articulated.
Let them be a nest from which to honor this moment of quietly waking up.
Let them be a nest from which to harvest the fruits of our winter sleep, our dreams, and begin consulting our trusted practices and guides regarding what needs to be cultivated this year.
Let this be the morning of the year.
Take care to remember and recollect all our relations and wisdom, all our gratitude and love.
Let the great projects and wonderful harvests begin with a song
A song sung to the belly-
To the babies in the bellies.
Invite the still sleeping babes into a world that honors their cycles and spirals.
A world that knows rest and quiet as much as action and symphony.
Savor the still, long, dark, and cool early spring mornings.
That will soon enough give way to longer, brighter, warmer days.
This moment has come soon enough.
The year will come soon enough.
The bright revelations will come soon enough.
The harvest moons and winter silence of sharing and letting go and surrendering again will come soon enough.
