From Hibernation Emerges Exploration

Winter into Spring, from hibernation emerges exploration. As we approach the Vernal Equinox, birds are building nests and seedlings reach out their tiny green leaves to the sunshine. If you've embraced Winter's invitation to slow down, and turn inward, now is the time for reemergence. One of many natural cycles of death and re-birth.

During this annual cycle of reemergence, we are first invited to release and let go of what no longer serves. With letting go, space is created for renewal. What would you like to leave behind as you emerge into this new season of growth? What does your being crave to offer to the world around you? What does the world around you, crave to offer you?

Creating seasonal rituals is a helpful way to honor the cycles of nature within and without. As misguided humans living in this modern world, we have become increasingly detached from the macrocosm around us and the impacts of the elemental energy of the seasons on our daily lives. I sit here writing today, on a very windy day in the desert, and I myself feel windy. The mind is blowing about, thoughts moving in many directions. I feel a little stuffy in the head, and I look outside to see the air is hazy with desert dust.

These days of emerging light have assisted me in rising earlier, with a bit more energy. The air is slightly less cold in the morning, inviting birds to sing as I rise with more ease from a warm, cozy bed. I feel routines shifting naturally, and I allow the shift to be however it wants to. Can I remain flexible, can I flow like water in the direction that mother nature offers?

I am wanting different foods, different tea, different spices. Spring greens begin to appear, and delight my senses as I continue to also want warm, cooked food. The changes are slight at this point, and the land is telling me to prepare. To slowly begin the transition from Winter into Spring.

Transition upon transition, I move through the seasons ever becoming. As soon as I think I know, something shifts. As soon as there is a settling, something stirs the water. Moving from Winter, a more stable and consistent season, Spring brings the wonder of movement and the intrigue of growth. As I shed some built-up stagnation from Winter, I feel some clarity and the freshness of new breath.

In this human existence, I experience joy and wonder, trauma and grief, and everything else. Our world offers an endless supply of miracles and disasters, and I ponder daily, how to exist within all of it. I feel the weight of the world acutely, and at times I feel buried alive. I also see the miraculous gifts of nature and grace of the human spirit, which often brings me to my knees in awe. I am bolstered daily and seasonally by the practices and my willingness to show up for myself, and therefore be available to others. Each cycle, each year, brings a deepening. I am learning every day how to embrace the seasonal offerings and allow the elemental energy to guide and teach me.

I have very few answers, and the ones I have, become obsolete just as I begin to understand. I am learning to be in the constant transition, rather than to seek to be settled. I will embrace this season of Winter into Spring, and emerge anew along with the seedlings, baby birds, and warmth of the sun. I will not do it perfectly, but I will continue to practice and welcome grace when it flows. I will be forgiving in the moments when I am not at my best, and use those moments as teachers to move forward. Today, I open my arms to Spring with wonder and humility, allowing more to be revealed.

Please continue onto the next posting for suggestions of seasonal rituals to honor the Vernal Equinox and the coming of Spring.