( 20-21 March )
The Spring Equinox is the traditional celebration of the new life that bursts forth with spring. It has given us the modern celebration of Easter.
Spring Equinox, which usually falls on 20 or 21 March in the UK, is the exact midpoint between the winter and summer solstice. There is exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. This is a time of huge energy and immense forward motion. Nature is waking up after its long winter sleep and everywhere you look there is evidence of life\’s ability to regenerate: trees are in bud, seeds are germinating and animals are preparing to bear their young.
Spring Equinox: Easter in the World
The Easter festival we think of as a Christian celebration is the church\’s appropriation of this traditional Pagan festival. The resurrection is a tale of new life, but where do the Easter eggs and rabbits feature in the Bible?
Even the name, Easter, has Pagan roots – Eoestre is the goddess of light, who brings the spring. The root of the word comes from \”oestrus\” – the time in an animal\’s sexual cycle when it is fertile. Eoestre\’s festival was held on the Spring Equinox full moon; thus Easter is on the first Sunday after the first full Moon following the Spring Equinox.
The Spring Equinox is often represented by a Spring maiden carrying a basket of eggs, the symbol of rebirth. The maiden is accompanied by a hare or rabbit, representing abundant fertility, from which comes our modern symbol, the Easter Bunny.
Spring Clean Your Home
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In Springtime, gardeners clear away the debris of winter from the base of plants, allowing room for new growth. So we, too, can make space in our homes for fresh ideas and projects to emerge.
Renew your home
As the growing light shows up the accumulated dirt of winter, remove it. Go into those hidden places, under the sofa and behind the fridge, letting in the light and leaving everything fresh and new. Clear out any clothes you no longer wear from your wardrobe. Wear green to symbolise the shoots of spring; this will remind you of the new beginnings spring represents.
Special Spring Food and Drink
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Make a celebratory meal to share with your friends – perhaps a picnic outdoors, or inside, if the weather is bad. You can create the following dishes for a symbolic spring meal.
Nettle Tea – The first edible green leaves of spring, nettles are rich in minerals such as iron.
Quiche – The eggs in which are reminiscent of new life.
Hot Cross Bund – These are reminiscent of the Sacred Marriage. The arms of the cross are to equal length, which in some cosmologies represents the union of male and female.
Make Your Own Easter Egg
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Traditionally, eggs were painted bright colours to represent the sunlight of spring, or coloured scarlet to represent life\’s blood.
1. Decorate a hard-boiled egg with bright colours, symbols or affirmations.
2. Write about a new project on the shell. If you are with friends, you can take turns to talk about your egg symbolises. Passing the egg around the group will help to energise them and fill them with positive intent.
3. Absorb the energy you have invested in the egg by ceremonially shelling it and eating the contents.
4. Crush the painted eggshell and bury it – to sow your new hopes for the earth.
Spring Clean Your Body
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After you have spring cleaned your home and it is clear of the previous season\’s old, stale energies, you can then cleanse yourself. Spring clean your body\’s systems by drinking a purifying tea of dandelion leaves and nettle tops. You can cleanse your body by consuming the new life of spring, such as a quiche made with eggs, accompanied by young spring vegetables.
Then make a spring alter, preferably in your garden to fully benefit from the new air of the season. On it, place spring flowers and fresh greens. Prepare an incense of purification herbs and spices, such as hyssop and juniper. As these offerings burn, meditate on the new projects you are ready to start – the seeds of new plans you wish to sow.
