Spring is my favourite season. Since working consciously with the Wheel of the Year, I’ve learned to love the special qualities of all the seasons, but Spring remains the best for me.
My absolute favourite time of year is the lush fertility of May. To me, there is nowhere on Earth more beautiful than the Tamar Valley in May - but this early spring brings the exciting gift of emerging growth and the promise of things to come.
On Wednesday evening, a small group of us meditated together to mark Spring Equinox and the Full Moon. Because the Equinox was in the week, we had decided to hold a Spring Ceremony at the weekend and following the absolutely lovely Children’s Ceremony we held at Winter Solstice we decided to invite the young ones in our community once more. What a delight it was!
We gathered in the Crystal Barn to open our circle. The altar had been created that morning and the children had been invited to bring two items – one that holds the energy of spring and one personal item. I love the joy of these altars. We had teddies and dolls and dragons and all manner of precious treasure joining daisies, bluebells, bulbs and seeds. We passed the talking stick, sang, drummed and rattled.
It is so very special to see children who, only a short time ago were too shy to speak in the circle, now confidently holding the talking stick and sharing their thoughts. Two girls, one of whom was just two when she first came to ceremony with her mother, are now among the older ones and they took responsibility for smudging everyone before we began.
In the winds last month, the lovely bunting that was made last year by Linda, Annie and myself blew away. Instead of making more bunting, I’d had the idea of painting prayer flags and so invited the children to do this. Each time we have had a children’s event, we’ve worked with the Elements, and this was the theme of their creations. They also made a flag to take home, enabling the recently pruned willow to be put to good use.
I had thought that Spring Equinox would be the time we made felt for the Horse Drum bag, but clearly that wasn’t to be since events unfolded that prevented it happening. He was, however, insistent on being on the Altar along with his lovely drum bag strap.
At the New Moon ceremony on 6th May, dear Dee arrived with a Peruvian belt. She’d been going through some possessions and had had the strong feeling that she needed to bring it and give it to me. As yet I have no idea why the Horse Drum that is part of the work with our land should have a Peruvian belt . . .
From New to Full Moon I had been intent on making the drum bag. With Full Moon/Eclipse I realised that what we actually needed to do was more work with our new Ceremony Circle.
In 2017 my lovely vegetable and herb garden was completely destroyed as it was necessary to dig out the leat that runs by my house. 25 years ago the National Trust did a typical penny pinching botch job that had led to quite a serious problems, so although the mess and noise and disruption was pretty appalling in this normally peaceful spot, it was good that the situation was being addressed at last! And there has been something very cleansing and healing about opening the space/water flow ‘right down to the bottom’.
At the same time, a new, flat, south facing patch of land had become available to us – a much better spot for vegetable growing. Also, it had become clear that quite a few of our community members were finding it increasingly difficult to make the trek up to the sacred circle in the woods. So we decided that when the holes were filled and the grass growing once more, we’d create an additional, more easily accessible, ceremony circle.
The very first step came when I was offered the 4 Directions poles following a beautiful women’s moon gathering I attended. They were stored, with the intention of placing them to hold the Directions in our new circle.
From May to August they rested in the barn. In August we shared some very special and powerful ceremonies in Stonehenge and at the Hurlers, and I woke up the morning after the New Moon with the feeling that it was time for the next step!
Helen, Linda, Sheila, Marcus and I meditated together in the Crystal Barn to discern the way ahead. We chose 5 Preseli Bluestones from the crystal grids and altars we’d been working with, and an extra stone for Fire, Earth, Air, Water and Spirit. Marcus measured the circle and we planted the crystal seeds. Throughout this time we had been blessed to have the ‘loan’ of dear Paddy’s magnificent Preseli Bluestone bowl – a very special Being who has now been part of many ceremonies on the land. With seeds planted, we left the circle to ‘bed in’ through the autumn and winter.
As ‘my plans’ for creating the bag for Horse Drum faded, the thought came that it would be wonderful to take the next step of creating the Circle with the children – Spring energy and the beautiful energy of the children. I created small bags of crystals with each containing a Preseli Bluestone, a Rose Quartz and a tiny Herkimer Diamond. With a small fire in the middle of the Circle, the children planted their seed crystals in the ground. (They also got to choose one to keep!) Anwen started in the East – because she’d just had a birthday – and when the circle was complete, we joined hands and sang together.
It feels so special to be involving the young ones in community events. They bring such a beautiful, joyous, curious, playful energy. In the evening, a small group of adults sat in the Crystal Barn to connect with Spring energy in a quiet way. As we sat in silence, the whole place seemed to hold the echo of the bright energy from earlier.
We wish you a happy Spring and Summer to come, and hope your dreamseeds become manifest.
If you would like to see more ceremony photographs, including some from last summer’s events - mentioned above - please go to our Heaven & Earth Community Facebook page
