The shift from winter can now be felt as the streams thaw, life reawakens, and the buds emerge. Since the Spring Equinox in March, when the day and night were of equal time, the light has been gaining momentum. We can feel the effect in our own restlessness as the seeds and buds make their way to the surface. 

Historically, there are many myths and archetypes of reawakened life. Here are a few examples:

• The return of Persephone from the underworld
• Flora, the Roman goddess of Spring and flowers
• Cerunnos, the Celtic god of nature and fertility
• Ashanti the fertility goddess and Nyame the sky god in Ghana

The return to life has so many qualities that we experience in our own lives when we live seasonally. ​Renewal takes strength, endurance, and eagerness in order to amount to an abundant harvest. Just look at how hard yet how calm that seed has to work to reach up through the mud to the surface. Like those seeds, we need to root around in the dark, make mistakes, and clarify our boundaries. With the heightened energies abounding, fears and doubts also emerge as a barometer for change, exposing opportunities and processes to bring you us closer to peace, or expose an area in our journey that is being called to grow. Renewal also requires discernment around what to keep and what to release, to make room for the new - it's the perfect time for Spring cleaning, both inside and out. 

Developing confidence in your innate ability to shed and rise up will both strengthen your connection to yourself as well as your ability to trust and surrender to your soul's yearnings. To help you on this road this season here are some personal reflections to consider:

1. Spring is a great time for asking Who Am I? Who WAS I? What makes me happy? What do I want to nurture? Let the questions pour out of you, paying attention to the guidance that you encounter in your daily life. This is the time to redefine and realign - what comes up for you?
2. What animals are crossing your path these days, and what do they have to tell you about what you're working through right now? You might check out Steven Farmer's "Animal Spirit Guides" book, or do some searches online for the metaphysical meaning of the animal that has crossed your path.
3. Allow the inspiration and creativity that is sparked within you at this time, to nourish your soul. What are you being inspired to do this year? Tune into the rhythm of your soul and trust the pace that your inspiration requires to express itself. While clarity will help you make a plan, remember that you can't rush the river, or a hurry a seed to bear fruit. 
   
4. Do a chakra cleansing, and an energetic cleansing for your home. This will allow you to become more receptive, intuitive, and aligned with your core essence and how it is manifest in the temple of your body, mind, heart, and home. 
5. Make a mind map of the following key words for Spring, how they are taking shape, and notice which are qualities stand out as priorities, areas to nurture, what needs to be cleared away, and what are the areas to heal:  

Blessings of Growth, Healing and Renewal, 
​Melanie-Dawn

Imagery of the Earth's seasons and cycles surround us every day, poking and prodding us to pay attention to the messages that each season has to offer. Seasonal Living is about listening to those messages. But with all that's going on in life, it's easy to pass these messages by, and it gets harder and harder to even see why listening to the signs of the seasons and living seasonally is so important.

Each season has it's own unique attributes, purpose, mythos and medicine. When we shift our inner world so that it aligns with the natural world, we open up to a power that is deep, real, and empowering. As a divination arts practitioner, reading the signs and symbols in the world around me has become a very natural part of each day. But I remember when I didn't have this connection - it was a lonely, overwhelming, and confusing time. If we open up to listening to the messages in the seasons and cycles of nature, we will find some real gems to help us cope with our human experiences. Here are a few that come to mind:

1. We are not and never will be, truly alone. When we open up to the life that surrounds us in all things, we see how interconnected we are with it. Like trees sharing a communication system beneath a forest floor, we are not separate from nature but a part of it. Separation is illusion.

Our Members are offering opportunities to tune in, nourish your soul, and keep connected to yourself and the world around you. All within the comfort of your home, while we work through this time of social distancing.