The season of Spring-time is approaching and new life is abundant. We see this in the rituals and tales of the traditions of Mother Nature. This year, the first day of spring reaches us on Tuesday, March 20, 2012. This day is one of only two days of the year, in which our day light and night time is the same length of time. In the pagan path, this holiday is named Ostara, for the Goddess Ostara. It is the celebration of the returning light, warmth, time for planting and the rebirth of nature, after the long cycle of winter. Easter eggs have been a symbol of this season to signify fertility and the birthing of new life. We also see that Christianity, in it's effort to bring paganism into 'it's accord', celebrates Easter (or Eostre in the Germanic language) to symbolize the rising of Christ 3 days after his crucifixion on the cross.
In all of life's cycles, we witness, birth, life and death. Plants grow, give their fruit, and return to the earth, reviving the soil for the following cycle of life. Nothing really is born or dies, there is just a change of form. Seasons change bringing us the Spring of new life, the Summer of sustenance, the fading of Fall, and the death and hibernation of Winter. Day and night cycle light and dark, sun and moon, wakefulness and sleep.
Even our man-made structures, over time begin to crumble to the ground, experiencing the pull of gravity back to the earth. (Of course, there are man-made objects that unfortunately defy this cycle, and as we know create difficulty within our material world. There is something to be learned here, and yet, someone else is much more equipped for that conversation.)
If we are a part of nature and her living order, what is it that leads us away from the harmonizing and balancing of her ways? If we pay attention, we can witness in ourselves the push and pulls of these larger cycles, as well as the minute ones within our being.
On the grand cycle, we are born into Spring. We relish the blossoming into the sun of Summer, which is a lengthy season of our life. Eventually, we feel our inner Fall approaching, and inward dance attempts to catch our attention. And finally, for everyone, Winter will arrive to bring us into our core Self and the body will return to the Earth.
And what happens on the smaller scale of our internal/external cycles? I will venture to say that the majority of us are put off by the onset of the Fall and Winter of our existence on the grand scale of things. So, I have to wonder, does that anxiety or fear of the 'big Winter', carry over to the smaller cycles which attempt to call us within? And do we understand the importance of the life's cycles and rhythms that bring us in from fun in the sun?
Technically we are still in Winter. If we haven't yet, we still have an opportunity to explore the gifts of what Winter can share. When we hear a call from within, a call that is asking us for rest, inner quiet and reflection, can we respond to it, instead of getting a cup of coffee, a 5-Hour energy drink, or going for a run, in order to soften into that gentle inner voice. Find a quite nook with a warm cup of (non-caffinated) tea and a lovely window to simply sit and watch nature. Here in Los Angeles it can feel like Summer most of the time. However, when my mind just doesn't feel like working, I do my best to honor that cycle my body is expressing. I take a blanket out into the yard, stretch out with the warmth of the sun bathing me, and listen to the birds and watch the breeze through the trees. Even if you feel like taking a relaxing hike along a trail, at some point - STOP, find a place to sit and be. There are times that even the tiniest thing we 'do', interferes with the magic, beauty and power of BEING.
It is in these moments of allowing the nurturing of 'down time' that without 'doing' anything, the Soul has an opportunity to communicate with us. As our body slows, the breath slows, stress is released, and the heart begins to open and a sweet song sings forth. This is a song that we have to become still and quiet enough to hear. It is a song of Soul, that connects us to what is true for our being. However, if we are to hear it's message and tune, we must stop. We must become still ~ consciously and with wakefulness.
We are always dying to things.
We're always shedding everything
in order to be fully alive
& resurrected at every moment.
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Healing come to us on all levels with this kind of practice. It reminds us of our wholeness that is always present in spite of our doing to become whole, productive, and proving our existence. This healing softens our beliefs and ideas, it brings us close to our fears so we can be freed of them. Too often, too many of us move through our days like a kinked hose or a knotted rope, without realizing this. Illness happens here, blocking the organic flow that heals. The mind becomes rigid with too much information because we don't give it an opportunity to unload what is really not necessary. Emotions become convoluted and confused without the stillness and consciousness to be present to what we are experiencing.
This is the healing that the cycles of Fall and Winter bring. It is an internal time when what is no longer needed dies away, what is needed has time to integrate into our heart. Our lessons are digested. We are revitalized and prepared for a re-birth, for Spring, to not only dance in the light but become the Light!
We can not always live in the light of Spring and Summer, without the balance of Fall and Winter. And just as night and day are alive and well in all seasons, in all days, this is an invitation to listen inwardly to the cycles of nature balance within you. Treat yourself to the nourishment of those times of peace and quite. Relish in the full spectrum of emotions and let them flow through and cleanse you! This may last for a day or only an hour. It may show up once a week or once a month. Let go of the fight of the mind to 'keep going', become conscious of the stories you hold and allow those realizations to bring healing as well!
Prepare for the full light and birth of Spring, by surrendering and softening into the last days of Winter! Gift yourself with the aliveness of your inner world, your Souls call, the process of integration, maturation and rejuvenation! Experience the "Ahhh" of emptiness. You will blossom in all realms of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual as you tune into this new dance.
Spring Blessings ~
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