Springtime…is a state of mind

Spring is an undeniable astronomical event.  But where we live guides our perception of it!

When I was growing up in the North East, My Mother used to sing, “When it’s Springtime in the Rockies, you’ll be coming home to me…”

And, she used to plant crocus and daffodil, and forsythia, in her garden.  As you probably know,  crocus and daffodil are bulbs and so we all had a great time each year, waiting for the flowers to sprout each Spring, bulb hunting.  (I think that’s the origins of the Easter Egg hunt, if you ask me.)

This was of course after we had spent a long cold winter, ice skating or playing in the snow, and feeding birds at our bird feeder, and collecting bird feathers.  We longed for Spring, for the flowers to come, and the soft rains and the mud.  I actually enjoyed mud for a day or two until it would freeze or dry (or both) and then it was very hard to walk over those gnarly frozen muddy tracks.

But Spring would come each year and we would enjoy the influx of the flowers and birds and flowering shrubs and budding trees.

Budding Trees, (c) 2014 WhaleMaiden, All Rights Reserved

THIS is a totally different reality from the way we experience Spring in Southwest Florida.  We have flowering shrubs, already flowering:  This is Tri-colored Bougainvillea-

(c) 2013-2014 WhaleMaiden, All Rights Reserved

and of course, we have the Gulf.  It is beautiful.  (A little chilly for me to go swimming in.)

Gulf of Mexico at Dusk, March 2014. (c) 2014 WhaleMaiden, All Rights Reserved.

This is why I encourage you to synchronize your pagan observances with where you live.

Happy Spring!

 

 

 

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Happy Beltaine

It is Beltaine!

Time to enjoy the springtime flowers and youthful exuberence, where ever you are. 

Find a maypole and a bunch of ribbons and dance, dance, dance. 

Fall down in a heap with all your dancing partners and laugh and giggle and

get up and dance again.

(For my Pagan friends)

Happy Spring Equinox and Bees.

White Flower with buds, with purple stripes

Yesterday was the Spring Equinox.  I went out to a field and selected a spot and some of my friends joined me with Picnic foods, and afer we ate we focused our energies with burning sage on crystals and seashells and feathers.  It was a fairly simple meditation and we all felt very uplifted afterwards.  The sun was so bright as I was taking pictures of the flowers in the field.  I didn’t notice the buds, nor the purple stripes on the buds, until I got home.

I’ve been very concerned about the Bees since lots of the flowering trees and shrubs in Southwest Florida were frosted this January.  I am hopeful that the Bees and Birds and Butterflies will find enough nectar to keep them healthy.  We saw tons of Bees out in the field and many Birds and Butterflies.

The Spring Equinox fits right into Fire Season.  Fire Season in Southwest Florida, is all about this buildup of energy, bursting forth like the buds blooming everywhere.