Celebrating Mother Earth with the Seasons

REMINDER from Mano:

The elementals love when Barbara does seasonal celebrations. They join together: the fairies of Air, the gnomes of the Earth, the salamanders of Fire come with the fire of the candle, and the Water sprites join with the water Barbara collects when she serves Puer tea Gong Fu style.

REMARKS from Barbara:

A special way I like to honor and relate with Mother Earth is to walk through the Garden greeting the plants coming in bloom each season. Another very special thing I enjoyed each season, while in Europe, was to find the exact time the solstice or equinox would happen. I then planned to meditate starting 5 minutes early and feel into my body to feel when the shift actually happened.

REMEMBERING Mary Jane:

Mary Jane enjoyed some special activities she and her Grandson did together in the garden to celebrate Mother Earth.

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Celebrating Mother Earth with the Seasons

Blog #143

The year that Jim and I lived at Findhorn and traveled through Europe I discovered that European women were more aware of Mother Earth’s seasons than I knew anything about. As I celebrated the seasons with my friends, I found it added meaning to my daily life and I enjoyed sharing the celebrations with my friends.

Returning home from Europe, I found the daily Tarot often asked me to honor Mother Earth by honoring her Seasons. I do a three card Tarot reading every morning asking my Council to guide my life. Today I am sharing with you the information about the seasons that I have gathered to support my celebration. 

The Eightfold Year

SPRING February 1 – May 1

• SPRING WAXING – February 1 to March 21
  • Imbolc to Spring Equinox 
  • Personal: Opening into the light. Inspiration. Relationship. Coming alive from who you were to who you are becoming.
  • Activity: Smell blossoms on the trees.
  • Nature: Return of the light.
  • Color: Green
• SPRING WANING – March 21 to May 1
  • Spring Equinox to Beltane, May Day
  • Personal: Ceremony. What we want to bring into our lives.
  • Activity: Spring cleaning.
  • Nature: Pussywillows, tulips, narcissus.
  • Color: Green

SUMMER May 1 – August 1

• SUMMER WAXING – May 1 to June 21
  • Beltane to Summer Solstice 
  • Personal: Our capacity for birth, children, creativity. Preparing, building. Birth to a new way to know ourselves. What do we want to come alive to within ourselves, within our worlds?
  • Activity: Sketching in nature.
  • Nature: Yellow flowers to celebrate the live-giving sun, strawberries.
  • Color: Yellow
• SUMMER WANING – June 21 to August 1
  • Summer Solstice to Lamas     
  • Personal: Heart’s desire. To name and claim what I love, to engage the heart. Assignment.
  • Activity: Relating with the nature spirits as I weed.
  • Nature: Shasta Daisys arrive in my yard July 4.
  • Color: Yellow
  • Lamas to Autumn Equinox

AUTUMN August 1 – November 1

• AUTUMN WAXING – August 1 to September 21
  • Lamas to Autumn Equinox 
  • Personal: First harvest. Understanding our gift. Awakening to gratitude. Forgiveness.
  • Activity: Canning fruit, making jam.
  • Nature: Watermelon, fresh tomatoes.
  • Color: Rose
• AUTUMN WANING – September 21 to November 1
  • Autumn Equinox to Samhain  
  • Personal: Decent into darkness. Balance the 3 powers: stabilization, cataclysm, and synergy. What no longer serves, what needs to go.
  • Activity: Preparing for rainy season, cleaning gutters.
  • Nature: Falling leaves. Pumpkins, persimmons, apples, pomegranates.
  • Color: Rose

WINTER November 1 – February 1

• WINTER WAXING – November 1 to December 21
  • Samhain, Day of the Dead to Winter Solstice 
  • Personal: Celebrate Ancestors.  Death within ourselves.  Enter the Mystery.
  • Activity: Slow down, power and dream. Bring closure to completed actives of the year.
  • Nature: Fall leaves, dark, dead. Poinsettias, Christmas tree.
  • Color: Lavender
• WINTER WANING – December 21 to February 1
  • Winter Solstice to Imbolc, Candlemas, Bridget’s Day 
  • Personal: We carry the light in the darkness. Turn Attention to what impassions us. This lights the way to a fertile future. 
  • Activity: Sipping chocolate.
  • Nature: Lighting candles, fire in the hearth.
  • Color: Lavender