SPRING
Date: March 21
Direction: East
Element: Air
Season: Ostara
Sabbat: Beltaine
Related Motifs:
Easter
Noruz
Purim
St. Valentine's Day
St. Patrick's Day
Holi
Nawruz
Kawoni
Bacchunalia
Mardi Gras
April Fool’s Day
Arbor Day
Earth Day
Mother's Day
Passover
May Day
Thunder Ceremony
Ute Bear Dance
Lupercalia
Hanami
Haru
Shunbun no Hi
Spring: Vernal Equinox
Summer: Estival Solstice
Fall:
Autumnal Equinox
Winter: Hibernal Solstice
Description:
Day and night are
of equal length
Zodiac:
Aries the Ram
Taurus the Bull
Gemini the Twins
Symbols:
Rain, Rainbow, Flowers, Shamrock, Seeds, Eggs,
Birds, Butterflies,
Rabbits (Hares)
Themes:
Creation,
Creativity,
Fertility,
Renewal, Regeneration, Rebirth
Deities/Personas:
Ostara, Gaia, Pan, Cupid, Venus, Aphrodite, Isis,
Osiris, Leprechaun,
Green Man, Bacchus, Dionysus,
Demeter,
Brigid, Jarylo,
Virgin Mary,
Buddha
Science of Seasons
Seasons Explained
Four Seasons
What Causes the Seasons
Seasons of Life
Nat Geo: The Seasons
EarthSky:
Summer Solstice
Cultural/Ethnic Motifs:
Celtic, Irish, French,
Japanese
Beverages/Drinks:
Irish Cream,
White Wine,
Mint Julep,
Herbal Teas
Foods:
Salads, Leafy Vegetables, Carrots, Peas, Asparagus,
Rice, Pasta, Grapes, Honey
Spices/Scents:
Mint, Lavender, Chamomile
Flowers:
Crocus, Tulip, Daffodil, Iris, Hyacinth, Azalea,
Daisy, Dogwood, Rose, Carnation, Lilac, Cherry
Blossoms
Stones:
Aquamarine, Diamond, Emerald
Music:
Celtic Folk Music, Irish Jigs, Irish Reels,
French Cafe,
New
Orleans Jazz
Venue:
Garden, Naked
Seasons Dates & Times
Year on Planet Earth
EarthSky: Vernal Equinox
Transformation & Change
One Year in Nature
Equinox Explained
Seasons of the Year
School of the
Seasons
“The spring equinox is one of
the four great solar festivals of the year. Day and
night are equal, poised and balanced, but about to
tip over on the side of light. The spring equinox is
sacred to dawn, youth, the morning star and the
east. The Saxon goddess, Eostre (from whose name we
get the direction East and the holiday Easter) is a
dawn goddess, like Aurora and Eos. Just as the dawn
is the time of new light, so the vernal equinox is
the time of new life.
In many traditions, this is the start of the new
year. The Roman year began on the ides of March
(15th). The astrological year begins on the equinox
when the moon moves into the first sign of the
Zodiac, Aries, the Ram. The Greek God Ares is
equivalent to the Roman Mars for whom the month of
March is named.
The festival of Nawruz, Persian New Year, falls on
the spring equinox.
Although we saw the first promise of spring at
Candlemas in the swelling buds, there were still
nights of frost and darkness ahead. Now spring is
manifest. Demeter is reunited with her daughter,
Kore (the essence of spring), who has been in the
Underworld for six months and the earth once again
teems with life. The month of March contains
holidays dedicated to all the great mother
goddesses: Astarte, Isis, Aprhrodite, Cybele and the
Virgin Mary. The goddess shows herself in the
blossoms, the leaves on the trees, the sprouting of
the crops, the mating of birds, the birth of young
animals. In the agricultural cycle, it is time for
planting. We are assured that life will continue.
(School of the Seasons)
Beautiful Nature: Seasons
EarthSky: Autumnal Equinox
Seasons of Change
Solstice Explained
Celebrating the Seasons
Animation: Four Seasons
EarthSky: Winter Solstice
True Spring
Spring Equinox, or Ostara, marks the first day of
true spring. The Goddess blankets the Earth with
fertility, bursting forth from Her sleep, as the God
stretches and grows to maturity. He walks the
greening fields and delights in the abundance of
Nature. This is a time of beginnings, of action, of
planting spells for future gains, and of tending
ritual gardens. Eggs are colored and placed on the
altar as magickal talismans. The familiar Easter
Bunny is a Pagan derivative, as are baskets of
flowers. The colors light green, lemon yellow and
pale pink are traditional for this holiday.
(Wheel of the Year)
Beltane
Beltane, or
Mayday, celebrates the union of the Goddess and God,
and thus is also a fertility festival. Also
celebrates the returning sun (or Sun God). The
traditional colors for Mayday are red and white.
Flower petals can be strewn about the circle and
later swept into a pole and distributed around the
perimeter of the house for protection.
(Wheel of the Year)
Seasons & Sabbats
Auld Lang Syne
Seasonal Traditions
Months and Weeks
Astronomical
Perspective
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Spring: Vernal Equinox
Summer: Estival Solstice
Fall:
Autumnal Equinox
Winter: Hibernal Solstice
“The sun does arise,
And
make happy the skies;
The merry bells ring
To welcome the spring.”
WILLIAM BLAKE
“I rise today through the
strength of heaven, light of sun, radiance of moon,
splendor of fire, speed of lightning, swiftness of
wind, depth of sea, stability of earth, firmness of
rock.”
(St. Patrick)
“Just as Spring is celebrated as the point of
fertility, as a time when nature displays its beauty
to bring about the conception of new life, so too
our own life has its birthing season.”
(Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon)
“When daffodils begin to peer, With heigh the doxy
over the dale, Why, then comes in the sweet o' the
year, For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.
The white sheet bleaching on the hedge, With heigh
the sweet birds, O how they sing!”
(William Shakespeare / The Winter's Tale)
“Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun. And I say
it's alright... Little darling, it's been a long
cold lonely winter. Little darling, it feels like
years since it's been here. Little darling, the
smiles are returning to their faces... Here comes
the sun. Here comes the sun. And I say it's
alright... Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.”
(George Harrison)
“Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the
singing of birds is come, and the voice of the
turtle is heard in our land. The desert shall
rejoice, and blossom as the rose.”
(Isaiah 35:1)
“Spring (or Vernal) Equinox happens about March 21,
and I pass from one time into the other, yet am
between one time and another. I completely shed
winter's sleep. As a time of passing, transition, it
is powerful - a time of balance - equal day and
equal night - so a time of magic. I am poised
between being bound, and the movement of Spring.
Bound like sleeping beauty who is released by love's
kiss into the violent passion of Spring. Bound as in
the cosmic egg, which exploded when the cosmos was
hatched. Explosive moment of creation - moving
dynamically chaotically.”
(Francesca De Grandis)
“May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.”
(John O’Donohue)
Seasons: Meteorological & Astronomical
Wikipedia: Seasons Explained
Autumn Winter Spring Summer
Live Science: What Causes the Seasons
Seasons of Life
National Geographic: The Seasons
Earth & Sky:
Summer Solstice
Fertility Deities of Beltane
WELCOME SPRINGTIME
“The sun entered Aries, the first sign of the
zodiac, initiating an astrological new year and the
Vernal Equinox. Aries is the beginning, and we can
allow this new beginning to be personally
significant by aligning with the energies of Nature
at this time.
Equinox is a time of year when day and night are
equal and light and dark are balanced; the sun rises
and sets due east and west and crosses the Celestial
Equator. This is the perfect time to honor and
invoke and implement balance as a practice in life.
We can reflect on the ways we spend our time and
energy and whether they are in alignment with what
we truly value. We can then renew our commitment to
make changes when needed, to seek the midline of
life when we feel uncertain or uninspired. Balancing
effort and ease is a valuable practice to remember.
Vernal Equinox is also Ostara, a holy day in the
Celtic Pagan Wheel of the Year named for the Goddess
Ostara (Eostre), the Spring Goddess, whose sacred
attendant is the magical hare. It is a time to bless
spring seeds and place them in your heart and into
the ground. Signs of spring announce that the Light
will now begin to reign. The sky pours rain to soak
the earth, to resurrect nature from the frozen sleep
of winter. The Cosmic Egg of Nature hatches and life
emerges enthusiastically from within.
The hare, long associated with the moon, is the
embodiment of fertility and an ancient symbol of
magic, sacred to Ostara and the Faerie Queen. The
egg is the primordial symbol of birth and
beginnings. The Aries sun calls us to feel a renewed
energy, new inner fire and spark, an awakening of
dormant creativity or slumbering passion. May we
break out of our shells with ignited inspiration and
exclaim with lives lived artfully that we align with
a radical and wild Nature.”
(K.K. Ledford)
Vivaldi Four Seasons: Spring1
Felix Mendelssohn: Spring Song
Vivaldi Four Seasons: Spring2
Chopin: Spring Waltz
Farmer's Almanac: Seasons Dates & Times
A Year on Planet Earth: Four Seasons
Earth & Sky: Vernal Equinox
Seasons: Transformation & Change
One Year in Nature
Wikipedia: Equinox Explained
Celebrating the Seasons of the Year
Celebrating May Day
SPIRIT OF THE EAST
“Oh Great Spirit of the East, we turn to you where
the sun comes up, from where the power of light and
refreshment come. Everything that is born comes up
in this direction -- the birth of babies, the birth
of puppies, the birth of ideas, the birth of
friendship. Let there be light. Oh Spirit of the
East, let the color of fresh rising in our life be
glory to you.”
(Diann Neu)
“Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For
lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the
singing of birds is come, and the voice of the
turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth
forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender
grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair
one, and come away.”
(The Song of Solomon' 2:10-13)
“We've plodded through a weird and weary time called
winter by the calendar alone. We have beheld an
earth pool-deep in slime. Image a heaven of stone.
We've found life hid between the folds of mire,
sensed life in every place, heard life in tune. The
earth shell cracks with underneath desire. Spring
crawls from the cocoon. Her puny wings vibrate with
will to grow. She clings, expanding like an opening
eye, more large, more able, more developed. Lo, the
perfect butterfly.”
(E.E. Cummings)
“Singing liquid notes in the green bud tree, a
willow warbler welcomes the sun on the old wall. Its
song melts away the long grey winter. Sing of sweet
hope. Let no late frost stop its trilling throat.”
(Author Unknown)
“O Great Spirit of the East, Radiance of the rising
Sun, Spirit of new beginnings, O Grandfather Fire,
great nuclear fire -- of the Sun. Power of life
energy, vital spark, Power to see far, and to
imagine with boldness. Power to purify our senses,
Our hearts and our minds. We pray that we may be
aligned with you, So that your powers may flow
through us, And be expressed by us, For the good of
the Earth, And all living beings upon it.”
(Ralph Metzner)
Spring: Vernal Equinox
Summer: Estival Solstice
Fall:
Autumnal Equinox
Winter: Hibernal Solstice
“Sun, moon, stars, and all that move in the heavens,
I bid you hear me! Into your midst has come a new
life! Make smooth its path that it may reach the
brow of the first hill! Wind, clouds, rain, mist,
and all that move in the air, I bid you hear me!
Into your midst has come a new life! Make smooth its
path that it may reach the brow of the second hill!
Hills, valleys, rivers, lakes, trees, grasses, and
all that is of the earth, I bid you hear me! Into
your midst has come a new life! Make smooth its path
that it may reach the brow of the third hill! Birds
great and small that fly in the air, animals great
and small that dwell in the forest, and insects that
creep among the grasses and burrow in the ground, I
bid you hear me! Into your midst has come a new
life! Make smooth its path that it may reach the
brow of the fourth hill! All ye of the heavens, all
ye of the air, and all ye of the earth, I bid you
all to hear me! Into your midst has come a new life!
Make smooth its path, then it shall travel beyond
the four hills!”
(Omaha Tribe)
“Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring, in
triumph to the world, the youthful spring.”
(Thomas Nashe)
“Spring is like a perhaps hand, which comes
carefully out of nowhere, arranging a window into
which people look, while people stare, arranging and
changing, placing carefully there a strange thing,
and a known thing here, and changing everything
carefully. Spring is like a perhaps hand in a
window, carefully to and fro, moving new and old
things, while people stare carefully, moving a
perhaps fraction of a flower here, placing an inch
of air there, and without breaking anything.”
(E.E. Cummings)
“May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind blow
at your back. May the sun shine warmly on your face.
May the rains fall softly on your fields. And until
we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his
hand.”
(Traditional Irish Blessing)
Vivaldi Four Seasons: Spring1
Felix Mendelssohn: Spring Song
Vivaldi Four Seasons: Spring2
Chopin: Spring Waltz
“Thank you for this precious day, these gifts you
give to me. My heart's so full of love for you,
sings praise for all I see... If I could have one
wish on earth, of all I can conceive, T'would be to
see another spring and bless the falling leaves.”
(John Denver)
“My heart warms under snow; flowers with forsythia,
japonica blooms, flowering quince, bridal wreath,
bloodroot and violet; yellow running jasmine vine,
cape jessamine and saucer magnolias; tulip-shaped,
scenting lemon musk upon the air... My spring... My
warm loving heart afire with early greening leaves,
dogwood branches laced against the sky; wild forest
nature paths heralding resurrection over and over
again... Easter morning of our living... Every
spring.”
(Margaret Walker)
“O sweet spontaneous earth, how often have the
doting fingers of prurient philosophers pinched and
poked thee, how has the naughty thumb of science
prodded thy beauty, how often have religions taken
thee upon their scraggy knees squeezing and
buffeting thee that thou mightiest conceive gods.
But true to the incomparable couch of death, thy
rhythmic lover, thou answerest them only with
spring.”
(E.E. Cummings)
“Chrysalis crushed, the veil is rent, the long cold
lonely winter spent. Emerging from the torn cocoon,
the butterfly unfolds its wings. Like renaissance
after a Van Winkle sleep, the liberated heart then
sings. Cracked is the egg, shed are the shackles,
flung open is the dusty door. Like breaking free and
taking flight, sprung, released, alive once more.
Fertile ground, seeds gestate, new beginnings,
recreate. Easter sunrise, brand new day,
resurrection, morning dew. Phoenix rises from the
ash, upward looming, born anew.”
(Michael Lebeau)
“The festival of Spring has come. The birds salute
it with cheerful song, and the streams caressed by
zephyr's breath flow swiftly with sweet murmuring.
But now the sky is cloaked in black, announced by
lightning and thunder. Then when the storms are
silent, the little birds begin again their joyous
song. On the pleasant wildflower meadow, to the
gentle rustle of the leaves and branches, the
goatherd rests, his faithful dog at his side. To the
pastoral bagpipe's festive sound, nymph and shepherd
dance beneath the bright Spring sky they love.”
(Antonio Vivaldi)
“Time to welcome spring and the recovery of the
Goddess after giving birth to the God. A festival of
light and of fertility. A good time for
self-dedication rituals (performed or renewed).
Represents new beginnings and spiritual growth, and
the sweeping out of the old."
(Wheel of the Year)
“In just spring, when the world is mudluscious, the
little lame balloon man whistles far and wee, and
eddie and bill come running from marbles and
piracies, and it's spring. When the world is puddle
wonderful, the queer old balloon man whistles far
and wee, and betty and isbel come dancing from
hopscotch and jumprope, and it's spring. And the
goat footed balloon man whistles far and wee.”
(E.E. Cummings)
Beautiful Nature: Four Seasons
Earth & Sky: Autumnal Equinox
Seasons of Change: Transition Map
Wikipedia: Solstice Explained
Circle Sanctuary: Celebrating the Seasons
Animation: Four Seasons
Earth & Sky: Winter Solstice
SPRING FESTIVAL
“At this time of lengthening light, I give thanks
for Spring's new life: snow melting, icy lakes
unlocking, rising rivers and rivulets running, rainy
days, and days of sunshine, soil warming, soil
softening, animal life awakening, returning birds
and birdsong, buds bursting forth, sprouting seeds
and bulbs, the greening, quickening earth. And as it
is in the wide, green world, so may it be for all of
us: vital, potent, vivacious Life!”
(Tanina Renee)
“Come and awaken me, Spirit of the New, who makes
all things supple and life giving, and grace me with
the gift of elasticity. For high are the walls that
guard the old, the tired and secure ways of
yesterday that protect me from the dreaded plague,
the feared heresy of change.”
(Edward Hays)
“Daughter of light! thy fairy step
Steals softly over vale and plain,
And with thy bright and joyous smile,
Beauty and life awake again.”
(Mary Ann H. Dodd Shutts, Spring)
“Now every field is clothed with grass, and every
tree with leaves; now the woods put forth their
blossoms, and the year assumes its gay attire.”
(Virgil)
“Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the
sun and winter in the shade.”
(Charles Dickens, Great Expectations)
“How can an everlastingly new covenant retain its
freshness and vitality without injections of the
new, the daring and the untried? O come you who are
ever-new, wrap my heart in new skin, ever flexible
to be reformed by your spirit.”
(Edward Hays)
Spring: Vernal Equinox
Summer: Estival Solstice
Fall:
Autumnal Equinox
Winter: Hibernal Solstice
“Come O god of endless creativity, and teach us to
dance with delight whenever you send a new melody my
way.”
(Edward Hays)
“For winter's rains and ruins are over, And all the
season of snows and sins; The days dividing lover
and lover, The light that loses, the night that
wins; And time remembered is grief forgotten, And
frosts are slain and flowers begotten, And in green
underwood and cover, Blossom by blossom the spring
begins.”
(Algernon Charles Swinburne)
“And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”
(Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Sensitive Plant)
“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”
(William Shakespeare)
“Awake, thou wintry earth,
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!”
(Thomas Blackburn, An Easter Hymn)
“April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of
the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring
dull roots with spring rain.”
(T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land)
“However March manifests, it’s one of my favorite
months of the year. The Earth feels like she is
taking a long, languid stretch after the cold
winter. Life begins to stir. It’s time to till the
soil, to plant seeds, to make ready for the growing
season.”
(Susan Harper)
“May the blessing of light be on you. May the
blessed sunshine shine on you and warm your heart
till it glows like a great fire. May the blessings
of rain be on you. May the soft sweet rain fall upon
your spirit so that flowers may spring up and shed
their sweetness on the air. May the blessings of the
rain be on you that they may beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean. May the blessings of the
earth be on you. May the earth be soft under you
when you rest upon it.”
(Traditional Irish Blessing)
“Here, in this moment of
balance, I honor and recognize the sacred mystery of
existence. I am a part of a cosmic dance. A holy and
blessed music fills the world. The light and the
darkness shift from this moment onward. As it is on
the land, so it is in my being. I follow the
movement of the Mother, and She works a
transformation in me. Be it new beginnings or
resolution, the Equinox is a point of transition; of
change. I embrace the change.”
(Teo Bishop)
“Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual
astonishment.”
(Ellis Peters)
“When all the world appears to be in a tumult, and
nature itself is feeling the assault of climate
change, the seasons retain their essential rhythm.
Yes, fall gives us a premonition of winter, but
then, winter, will be forced to relent, once again,
to the new beginnings of soft greens, longer light,
and the sweet air of spring.”
(Madeleine M. Kunin)
Vivaldi Four Seasons: Spring1
Felix Mendelssohn: Spring Song
Vivaldi Four Seasons: Spring2
Chopin: Spring Waltz
SEASON OF REBIRTH
“Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that
knows poems.”
(Rainer Maria Rilke)
“Earth, teach me regeneration, as the seed which
rises in the Spring.”
(Modern Ute Prayer)
“A little breath. A green shoot
thrusting through the snow. Ice-crusted,
part-crushed. But astonishing green. From crouching,
dark desolation. Incarcerated. Secret root
resistance crept. Radiant defiance. At slightest
thaw springs. A forgiveness of melting. One
trickling drop of icicle rolls down the prisoner's
grey face. Now he will clamor with the dawn chorus
and dare to shout out, Reprieve! Reprieve!”
(Author Unknown)
“The month of May has come, when every lusty heart
begins to blossom.”
(Sir Thomas Mallory)
“Ostara is the Goddess of Spring and the Dawn, whose
worship goes back to ancient Pagan Teutonic/Saxon
cultures. Contemporary Pagans of many paths honor
Her at Spring Equinox time. Also known as Eostre,
the Christian festival of Easter was named for Her,
and the Easter Bunny, baskets, and colored eggs that
are part of Springtime and Easter celebrations in
America, Europe, and other parts of the world are
rooted in Her lore and symbology.”
(Selena Fox)
"Come, gentle Spring! Ethereal Mildness! Come."
(James Thomson)
“The festival of the spring equinox speaks of
freshness and youth, of excitement and endless
possibilities. Nature begins to quicken and early
flowers open to the warmth of the strengthening sun,
bringing the colours of lemon and yellow into our
lives on the wings of a March wind.”
(Carole Carl)
“In Chinese thought, spring is associated with the
color green, the sound of shouting, the wood
element, the climate of wind, things sprouting, your
eyes, your liver, your anger, patience and altruism.
And a green dragon. Not surprisingly, spring is also
associated with the direction east, the sunrise
direction as Earth spins us toward the beginning of
each new day.”
(Deborah Byrd)
Spring: Vernal Equinox
Summer: Estival Solstice
Fall:
Autumnal Equinox
Winter: Hibernal Solstice
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