Each January 1, most of the world celebrates the dawn of a new calendar year and a fresh new beginning. We are encouraged to set resolutions and then do our best to achieve them with an iron will. It begins with a countdown to midnight on December 31, and then we are told we must be ready and set to go the very next day.
But for those of us in the northern hemisphere, it is a rather odd time to declare the start of something new. After all, it is the middle of winter when all is cold and dark. It is a time when many farmers choose to leave the fields fallow so they will be more fertile come spring. And if you’ve ever set New Year’s resolutions, you know from experience that they often are quickly abandoned – sometimes before the month is out – despite our very best efforts.
That’s why on the divine feminine path, we choose to do things differently. When we embody the wild woman archetype, we choose to begin again at the spring equinox instead because it represents the cusp of the season of resurrection and growth. Celebrated on March 20 or 21 and marking the beginning of the astrological year, the equinox is when Mother Nature gets her fresh start, therefore so do we.
Instead of making resolutions that we plan to achieve through our own efforts, we set intentions in connection with the divine, and then we co-create in flow with the universe. We also don’t limit ourselves to only one annual ritual. Instead we have four seasonal ceremonies in addition to a new moon ritual each month. In the blog posts to come, we also will delve into the practice of setting weekly and daily intentions.
For seasonal rituals, our time horizon is three months, which means that in March, we set intentions for April, May and most of June. Our second seasonal intention-setting opportunity is the summer solstice on June 21 when we set intentions through the month of September. By the time the fall equinox rolls around on September 22 or 23, it’s time to celebrate our harvest from spring and summer while planting even more seeds of manifestation.
At the winter solstice in December, when the rest of the world is gearing up for New Year’s resolutions, we can consciously choose to pause our manifestation practices and focus instead on leaving our fields fallow. Rather than engaging in deliberate creation, we can write gratitudes for the calendar year. It’s also a perfect time to create a burn list with everything that we choose not to take into the year ahead.
Since each season has its own unique flavor, the rituals themselves vary. Yet because nature has her predictable patterns, there are repeating themes to our ceremonies as well. For example, at each equinox in the spring and the fall, we celebrate balance as the days and nights reach equal lengths. The solstices, on the other hand, always occur on either the longest or shortest day of the year and we mark the occasion accordingly. Here are a few ideas on how you can begin acknowledging the turning of the wheel of life in ways that reflect and honor nature’s sacred cycles and your own.
Spring Equinox
In many parts of the northern hemisphere, nature is just getting ready to bloom again on March 21. The first buds have started appearing on trees and green blades of grass are sprouting among the dry vestiges of winter lawns. For this and so many other reasons, the spring equinox is one of my favorite intention-setting moments of the year. Beginning the new year in March instead of January aligns us with the earth’s rhythms and allows us to witness the birth of our manifestations right along with nature’s bounty.
As with all the rituals outlined in this blog, we begin by creating a sacred space — outdoors if at all possible. We then select special objects to create an altar that connect us with the divine. We begin by choosing objects that reflect the four elements: a candle for fire, sage for air, minerals or soil for earth, and water that you can make holy by blessing it yourself. Once the scene is set, we add seasonal elements.
For spring, we can pick wildflowers and choose vibrantly colored crystals for our altar. I also choose to write my spring equinox intentions on seed paper that I then plant under my backyard angel tree. It happens to be magnolia tree that we planted in honor of our son Patrick, and as if on cue, it produces gorgeous white blooms around Mother’s Day and on May 15, his birthday. Scattering actual seed packets in spring is also a beautiful practice because we can later witness the blooming of flowers (or whatever we have chosen to plant) right along with our desires.
Summer Solstice
For the summer solstice, which marks the longest day of the year, we can create mandalas using flowers, shells, leaves and other earthly treasures that represent the season. Mandalas are geometric and colorful configurations of sacred symbols that we can use to meditate on our desires. It’s also fun to create flower crowns with ribbons that stream from our crown chakra when we wear them. We can use any leftover ribbons to write intentions and then tie them to our designated “angel tree.” Golden ribbons are especially beautiful for this purpose and will glitter in the sunlight until we are ready to untie them as part of a gratitude ritual.
Fall Equinox
In fall, cornucopias are apropos for the equinox with fruits, nuts, pumpkins, squash and autumn leaves creating a beautiful centerpiece for a ritual altar. It’s a time to celebrate what we have created in spring and summer and acknowledge the abundance of the universe. At the same time, we know there is more to come before winter appears.
Winter Solstice
When the wheel of the year spins to its final winter season, we gather evergreen branches, cranberries, mistletoe, holly and other decorative objects traditionally associated with Christmas to mark the year’s shortest day in the northern hemisphere. These familiar markers of the season were actually adopted by Christians from ancient goddess practices that date back many thousands of years, and we now reclaim them for the purposes they were intended.
Our ancestors marked the darkest day of the year by burning yule logs as a symbol of brighter days ahead. We still use the phrase yuletide blessings to harken back to those earlier times. Whether we opt to light a fire or just a few candles, winter solstice rituals are yet another reminder that all new life is created out of the darkness.
By doing seasonal rituals and combining them with new moon intention setting each month, we have at least 16 different opportunities each year to co-create with the universe in a sacred and meaningful way. And each one will bring its own unique bounty.
Which season is your favorite and what do you do to mark its arrival? Share your ideas in the comment section below.
Sacred Circle Retreats 