Imbolc Woodpecker Moon
Spring. Whoa! A season that came and went on the day of its inauguration. A high of 79 here yesterday. 79!
Yes, that’s right, it’s the Spring Equinox again, we’ve reached that point halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Summer Solstice, the time when light begins to dominate in the division between night and day.
Bruce Watson and his son, local weather geeks, publish an annual meteorological calender with lots of nifty data. Just pulled it out for grins and looked up the Summer Solstice, that’s right, exactly three months from now–IN JUNE–and checked out the average 30 year high for June 20th. Yep. 79.5. Now wow.
However the season came and went this year, I’ll always remember spring as a spunky little season that used to hang around and tease with gentle breezes one minute and foot-high drifts the next. We don’t need to get all weepy, but those were good springs weren’t they? Hockey and blizzards, they just sort of go together.
Not this year. Nope, it’s a couple a rounds and a Bud at the 19th Hole. Outside.
Ostara in the pagan calendar, this holiday nods toward the fertility spring carries in its changeable weather. Nowhere more evident than just outside my study window where the grass greened up overnight, buds popped out on the dogwood and those spring ephemerals have already lost their slot in the seasonal unfolding.
It’s through Ostara that Easter got conflated with the easter egg and the easter bunny, both pagan symbols of fertility. Just as holiday lights, Christmas trees, yule logs and all that egg nog have nothing to do with the celebration of the incarnation, neither do marshmallow rabbits and egg hunts have anything to with the celebration of the resurrection. But, hey, who said religion had to be rational. Non mois.
If you’re so inclined, take some time and ponder what’s greening in your life. What’s coming to the surface that needs attention and kindness to flourish over the next few months? It’s also apt to consider the possibility of resurrection. What in your life has been dead, but might return, full force this year?
Taking the cue from the Christian mythology around this time, you could also examine the suffering and the pain in your life. How might it transform into something miraculous? Or, considering Peter, how loyal are you to the ones you love? How willing are you to stand up, to be there, when things get hard?
As I heard early on when I moved to Minnesota, spring is a great season here if you happen to be around that weekend. I was around, how about you?
