THREE MONTHS. Three glorious months. After a long cold winter, it comes just when you need it most: Spring.

We may not realize it, but we spend 25% of our lifetime experiencing Spring. While many people mark the first day of Spring with ritual, Spring itself is a ritual; it is a celebration that lasts for three months. You already may be celebrating the season in more ways than you think.


The Ghost of Springtimes Past

Keep a journal? (Of course you do, even if it's in your head!) Page back through your memoirs of last Spring. What was going on in your life? What troubled you? What filled you with joy or kept you busy during those months? What was life like for you just a wheels turn ago? Now page back even further, back into the memories of Springs long ago sprung. How many Springtimes back does your journal go? Two, three, a dozen? Frolic through you own recollections of things that took place in late March, April, May and early June. Do you see a pattern? Do similar challenges keep springing into your life around this time of year? Look at how your situation has changed since then, and see the progress you've made over the seasons. Note both what has changed and what has stayed constant. Now, after looking back at your own life through your journal, look ahead at what you might expect for this coming Spring? Just as each new Spring fills our life with new things, it also empties our life from the things of the past. Each new beginning has a flipside, an other half, where something old is ending. Perhaps life is like our own private parking lot, where we store the relationships we have with the people, places and things we hold near. As one space becomes vacant, something new can pull in. But to make room for something new, we often need to cast out something old.

Divination

If Springtime looks ahead toward things to come, why not try doing a special form of divination tailored for Spring? How might divination methods vary with the seasons? What method fits best for you, and with Springtimes unique energy? In addition to the time-tested traditional tools of divination, you might try using a few objects naturally associated with Spring. Try using the seeds of seasonal fruit, ones that are abundant in your area come Spring. Maybe you could scry into a bowl of water collected from April showers? Or perhaps use petals from the May flowers? (She loves me; she loves me not, only a daisy knows for sure!)

Spring Rituals

Spring is a time of looking ahead; it is full of promise for the Summer to come. Its gentle warmth is just a tease of Summers heat. It's the time where we look ahead and plan the outdoor events we savor. Ever notice that first sunny Spring day when all the toys come out? People enjoy the outdoor fun that they waited for all Winter long: riding the motorcycle, washing the car, opening up the windows, walking barefoot and being free of sleeves and coats and gloves. Springtime is freedom! If you live in a place that springs its clocks ahead an hour, how do you spend that extra hour of daylight? See that hour as your own private celebration of the season!

In addition to play, Spring is often filled with its own unique work to prepare for the coming season. Whether caring for a simple garden, or tilling acres of farmland, Springtime is rooted in preparation for Summer growth.

Spring cleaning, a seasonal ritual in itself, can be a magical event. In addition to dusting out a year's worth of clutter, use your Spring cleaning to shed whatever emotional, physical or spiritual baggage you no longer need. Use this as a time to separate yourself from things you might not want to replant within your life this coming season. You might shed a bad habit, or a few people who hold you back. Don't be afraid to pull a few weeds this Spring¶

Spring as a Rebirth

Many cultures celebrate Spring as a rebirth, as a rejuvenation, where something or someone springs back to life: Ostara, Easter, and even wearing green on Saint Patricks Day (March 17th, near the first day of Spring when the Earth itself is about to start wearing green again too!) What do you look forward to rekindling this Spring?

While you can mark these formal holidays, you can also mark a few informal celebrations of Spring. Students have Spring Break; sports fans mark baseballs Opening Day. Even paying your income tax can be a celebration of Spring. Here in the US, once a year taxpayers square their debt with Uncle Sam on April 15th. See your taxes as a magical tool, channeling energy towards positive social change, funding our schools, libraries, hospitals, protecting religious freedom and fueling social progress. If you have a refund coming this year, celebrate it as one of Springs many gifts. (For numerologists, you might try listening for a little message hidden in the exact numbers you see when you do your taxes this Spring.)

Spring Activity Around Us

In the Spring, we re-open our windows after shutting out Winters chill. We take the fresh Spring air into our homes and lungs. Likewise, with these open windows, we take in the sounds of the season too. The birds singing, the children playing outside, the neighbors laughing. These are the sounds we missed when Winters windows were shut tight!

Look around. Springtime is a busy time. Nests are being rebuilt by those who flew south for the Winter and now have migrated home. Leaves are sprouting, flowers blooming. But remember, the growth we see above the Earth is a reflection of the less-visible growth that occurs beneath the Earth. Once the soil thaws, it allows roots to grow a tiny bit deeper and take in what they couldn't during Winter's deep freeze. Sometimes it's easier to understand what you can see by looking beneath the surface, acknowledging the things you cannot see.

We're not all that different from what we see out in the yard. In the Spring, we too change with the seasons. Where Winter keeps us indoors, looking inwardly, Spring takes us outside, out of our homes and out of ourselves. Look at the trees -- their sap begins to run again in the Spring. So do our own creative juices. But unlike trees, we are not physically, tangibly rooted. Much of our essence is less tangible. You can't see our roots but they are there none the less. We hibernate when its cold; we spring back to life when its warm. At the same time the Earth paints Herself with color and anoints Herself with fragrance we too are breaking out our Spring wardrobe! As reincarnated beings, our cycle of life is like the seasons. We too once sprang back to life, growing until we peak and bloom. We eventually wither and fall, to rest again for a Winter-like sleep, dreaming of things to come the next time around¶

But remember that the seasons are regional. Not everywhere in the world celebrates Spring when you do. When it's Spring in the southern hemisphere, it's Autumn in the northern hemisphere. Thus, the seasonal celebrations are often reversed as well, where most people celebrate the first day of Spring on September 21 and Beltane on October 31. Earth is an extremely diverse place!

However you celebrate the season, make this years Spring something special! ++