I awoke this morning invigorated with the dawning of Spring. Although our day here in the Northeast has started off with fog, as I write this, it is burning off with each inch the Sun creeps higher into the sky. Everything in my yard is covered in a dewy film and the Robins are pecking at the moist dirt for worms. Goldfinches, cardinals, purple finches and sparrows are chirping away as they fly to and from the birdfeeders. My lilac bush is heavy with green slowly unfolding buds, some cradling the first of the sweet purple flowers. The forsythia is all aglow with yellow flowers, some branches showing the first of its brilliant green leaves. The honeysuckle vines, creeping their way across the back fence, are becoming heavy with leaves. The trees around my house are dotted with buds. The air is earthy, full of grass, fertile soil, and sweet pollen. It is Ostara. Spring has sprung!
I have spent the past two weeks in heavy preparation for this day, for Spring’s arrival. Many hours were spent cleaning garden beds, pruning bushes, thinning out patches of tiger lilies, aerating soil, digging up plants to make room for our upcoming vegetable garden, and washing out bird baths and feeders. Several trips to our local garden center and hardware stores were made purchasing soil, bird food, seeds, seedlings and even a compost bin. Plans were loosely sketched out and gardeners consulted for the construction of the raised vegetable garden. The garden beds now await the Spring plantings of favorite flowers, assorted vegetables, healing herbs, and new acquired butterfly bushes and holly.
The altar has been cleaned, physically and psychically, and is adorned in Spring. Newly planted pots of English Lavender and daisies, freshly cut forsythia, daffodils, tendrils of honeysuckle and Burkwood’s broom bring the life of my garden to the heart of our home. Candles of pale yellow, pink and green await lighting this evening. Packets of seeds are there charging and will be blessed and planted this morning. A few antique bunnies and colored eggs are tucked in among the ivy and flower garland around the outer edges of the altar. This morning, the energy of Spring is pulsing from the altar and radiating throughout my home.
This first day of Spring will be busy for me, as I plant seeds and set cuttings of lilac to root. The butterfly bushes and holly that a friend gave me yesterday, for which in exchange I gave her some of the over-abundance of my tiger lilies, will be transplanted. I’ll spend the later part of the afternoon preparing our Spring dinner, the Ostara Bake, a quiche of sorts with many eggs, ham, spinach and Gruyere cheese. A small Spring Equinox ritual is planned, to be held after tonight’s Home & School meeting. (I try to clear my calendar for sabbats but I’m Vice-President of the Home & School association at my son’s school and must attend.)
Through the many things on today’s To-Do list, I will spend much of the time in contemplation of Spring and what the next three months will hold. I will revel in daydreams of sweet blooming flowers and shrubs and heavily-scented herbs. The various birdsongs will set my mind into early mornings in the garden watering and weeding. The warmer air will remind me of Spring and Summer nights with friends and family gathered around the fire pit, telling stories and singing songs, drinking wine and snacking on fruits and cheese. The planting of seeds will set my hopes for herbal remedies to come, cut Summer flowers in vases, and an abundant harvest in late Summer and through the Autumn. As life unfurls all around me, I will rejoice in Spring.
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