Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times

Spring Equinox

Here comes Vernal Equinox! Thankfully!

I don’t know about you folks, but I am dog tired of wintertime.

This winter has been especially trying because I am struggling with an illness. I begin this months article on the day I saw a specialist it took me over six months to get in to see, and who is finally taking the steps needed to initiate my healing. New life and growth are certainly on my mind right now!

The illness started just after Beltaine, and although it was the warm season when I first began struggling with this, the wintertime has made it all the more difficult. I do not handle cold or weak sunlight well to begin with.

However, I realize how much more difficult this would have been if I lived before electric heat, insulation, and cars and grocery stores.

So, you can imagine that on this particular Spring Equinox, I will be in a VERY good mood at Sabbat and will give LOTS of thanks to the gods.

According to The Old Farmers Almanac, this year The Vernal, or Spring Equinox happens at exactly 6:45 P.M. EDT on March 20. About halfway between Imbolc and Beltaine.

Day and night are equal on equinoxes. The other equinox is Falltime. Falltime, we count increasing night, and at Spring, we count increase of daylight.

That means, combined with the increased heat that comes as the season changes, also increased light, and the growing season taking off! Some of us count down the days to Spring. As I begin this article, there are 37 days till Equinox! Less once the article is published!

As always, we will explore what folks did in days of yore at this time of year, and have a suggested working.

History and Lore

According to The Veneral Bede, Eostre was a Germanic goddess. It was said the people put offerings of colored eggs on graves as an offering for the goddess. Her companion is a rabbit. She is goddess of Spring, fertility, and new life.

They say the practices were absorbed by the Catholic Church to try and make the pagans comfortable converting. Indeed, the feast of St. Patrick is right at Vernal Equinox time, three days prior.

We know that even 5,000 plus years ago in Ireland the equinox was observed. The sunrise travels down a tunnel and strikes a wall in a monument at Loughcrew called Cairn T.

Knowth.com provides videotaped footage of the sunrise in that chamber on the equinox.

It has been said the site was built as it was for the very purpose of calculating when the Equinox would be. So far, thirty cairns, or passage graves have been discovered on the hill.

We are not sure what all the festivities surrounding equinox were. It is said the livestock were not brought to the summer grazing sites until Beltaine. Equinox was one step closer to summer. Warmth and growing things were closer.

Today, most of the agriculture of Ireland is products from cows, pigs, and sheep. Cattle herding historically took on the most importance in days when the cairns were built and social standing was oft decided by who owned the most cattle. Wheat, barley, rye, and the famous oats were grown in Ireland and equinox was the indication that planting could soon commence!

They were like us, they took advantage of longer days and stronger light, and opened windows and curtains on days when snow was less likely. Looking out my window as I write this, it has snowed for three hours straight and the snowflakes are getting bigger. I can only imagine the sinking feeling people must have felt without salt for the walks or snowplows.

I can only imagine they were much happier than I am when the days equaled night…and knowing the days would get longer and warmer.

It was also an excellent time to do a cleaning from top to bottom of the whole house. Taking advantage of warming weather and longer days, in old days,people got busy. It was a good time to open windows for dusting and bugs were not out and about yet. Indeed, at our house, you find windows open 24/7 some weeks.

In observance of what our ancestors did, I suggest a Spring Cleaning both materially and spiritually of your whole house.

Suggested Working

This one is absolutely booooring!!!!!!!

But of all the workings I have suggested, I feel this is the most crucial.

Space clearing.

I am sure you have all kept up with vaccuming, dusting, dishes, and laundry. Because we have nice cleaning chemicals from the store and whatnot, it is not as crucial these days to get rid of deep down grime and layers of dust like in days of yore. Their winter months were spent keeping warm. Today, we have thermostats that help us with that. We have sidewalks and paved streets. Folks in past times had dirt streets and in their homes, dirt floors in many cases. We don’t have all the dirt to clean like they did.

That aside, what about energy cleansing? We don’t believe in “eeeeeevil spiiiirts” lurking beneath the rafters like people used to…well…SOME don’t…some of us sort of do…

Some banish regularly and smudge or simply do a heavy duty dusting of the house and open windows to get fresh air in.

Come Springtime, though, once the earth is warming, and people are out and about more, you might realize there is energy stored up in the house that you had not noticed before.

Wintertime energies in the house include a lot of things the warm months do not. Emotional grunge from the holidays. Everybody has good and bad memories and good and bad family gatherings holiday time. We might be Pagan, and Xmas is not our holiday, specifically, but we have family who celebrate it, so we celebrate it along with them. We see family we do not have to put up with other times of the year, and that’s not always pretty. We may be dealing with stress of paying for the holidays and disappointment when we cannot buy our kids all we would like to. The cold months also bring longer times at home. People kind of hibernate, or at least stay indoors more. Bacterial and viral infections LOVE that! More bodies to contaminate! Stress from cabin fever sets in as well.

All the energies from all of this get trapped within the walls of your home and create almost an entity of their own. You can walk into a room and FEEL emotions and energy, and sometimes, you can tell what went on some time ago even though you were not there when it happened. This is called imprinting. We typically think of Civil War battlefields and old prisons as “haunted” places with a lot of imprinting, but not our own homes.

Imprinting can be good as well as bad, but it never hurts to cleanse the home thoroughly at least every Spring.

How imprinting works

It is simple. Residue of energy is left over after events. Sometimes energy moves on by itself and no clearing is needed. Besides, if we cleansed EVERYTHING, we would do nothing BUT cleansing. Other times, energy just gets trapped and we have to move it along is all.

In modern America, a lot of energy is bundled up in THINGS. The imprinting can be happy energy on things we love, or sad energy bundled up in things that recall hurt. I think that is why we, as people are so drawn to keepsakes. An example of a keepsake at our house is an afghan a dear friend crocheted for me. David has crossed the veil, but we still call it David’s blanket. I have spent a lot of time under that blanket, this winter especially, because I can feel all the love he put into it. It gives comfort and that scientifically has been proven to stimulate the immune system, which promotes healing. So the imprinting in David’s blanket, for me, is healing.

On the other hand, many years ago, my mother gave me a ring that had belonged to her. Then mom regretted letting it go and picked fights over the ring. She tried to tell me when I was allowed to wear it and when I was not for example. After a couple of months, I got angry and I took the ring off and put it in the jewelry box. Mom was aghast the next time she saw me that I was not wearing HER ring. She demanded the ring back. I told her no. I withheld the ring from her out of spite for the next ten years.

I tried banishing. I tried cleansing. Yet every single time I saw that ring, I got upset all over again.

So one day, I simply took the ring to her, handed it over, and walked out. Strangely enough, it felt like a heavy weight was lifted from my heart.

I physically banished the item that had caused me all that grief. Technically, a human beings words had caused the hurt, but that hurt was all over the ring.

I thought giving it back was the end of it.

Not so.

Years later, mom wound up in the hospital, and it became apparent she was not going to live forever. She said she would will the ring to me upon her death. I thought I’d never wear it, but I am not evil enough to argue with a sick person discussing their last wishes. Besides that, I could sell the damn thing if necessary. Why not?

However, while she was in the hospital, mom claimed my brother took the ring it out of her jewelry box and that he refused to give it back. I told her to let him keep it. I still don’t know if I believe that he stole it or if mom GAVE him the ring, and then demanded it back, just like she did with me. I felt the yucky energy on the ring from her behavior was permanently on there and nothing good could come about from that ring.

I was told by family that my brother’s wife was seen walking around, wearing said ring…and that soon after, they were divorced.

Coincidence or not, the imprinting of the so-called theft and the fight with my brother and mom that ensued is now on that ring. As well as whatever fights he had with his wife while she wore it prior to the divorce. As well as the fights I had with mom over the ring.

The ring was actually bought by mom many years ago when she had a fight with her then third husband. They had a fight and he threatened to leave her. So she swapped her wedding rings out for the diamond cluster. When they got back together, she made him buy back her wedding rings, but she kept the ring as well.

The yucky imprinting started the day she got the ring, actually. And who knows, maybe there was some imprinting on it before mom even took it home.

This all reminds me of the famous movie, The Red Violin where everybody who plays a violin painted with blood meets unspeakable tragedy!

Fictional films aside, that is how imprinting works.

I am not saying items are cursed for life and you must destroy said evil items!!!!!!!

What I am saying is that as popular as mass consumerism is in America, I know many of us have things we ought to part with, simply because unhappy energies or memories are attached to the items. This does not benefit us.

We may have boxes and boxes stuffed to the brim of things we have acquired and need to “sort through” but just cannot “find the time”. So instead, we fill more and more boxes full of things that we put in a basement or a spare room that we never touch again, but just cannot bear to part with because they are our things. We buy larger houses to make more room for our things. We rent storage units. We tell ourselves when we can “find the time” we can finally sort through decades of stuff. We don’t want to just throw things out because they may be worth money. But we never get around to sorting, and things never get sold.

How many of us have had to liquidate housefuls of things elderly family members left behind…and that consisted of filling up a dumpster with nearly everything they owned? Or worse, not having “the time” to sort through their things, and just dragging everything over to our homes and adding to the pile we already started?

Have you ever started sorting through years and years or maybe generations worth of things, and it became some grand year long project and you gave up and packed it all back up to do another time?

There is a way out and there is a way to avoid getting to that point to begin with.

Don’t let it accumulate. If it already has, budget time to get rid of it. Nobody ever has time to spare in their busy lives. You have to MAKE time.

How can I say that, some may be thinking? Am I some sort of unfeeling, unsentimental bitch who does not appreciate gifts or is eager to upset the people who spent their hard earned money on me?

Of course not. I’m simply much less materialistic than many of the people I know. I realize I can live without much, and I simply do.

It saves time, space, and yes, money.

It was not my idea, though.

Years ago, I read some famous interior decorator said she cleaned things out of her house often. She wrote she did not even keep a lot of gifts from her kids because it clutters up the house.

It made me think. If she can do it, then I can do it.

I have found that when my cabinets are stuffed to the capacity with things I “might use” but just never seem to, I feel suffocated. Even though I have them closed and organized neatly. Maybe I am more sensitive to energy flow than some people, but I just cannot stand to have things lying about that I have no use for.

I know from cleaning out mom’s house when she crossed the veil what the heavy weight of carrying things around is like. She saved everything she could.

She even still had tax returns from the 1970’s and had saved hair from haircuts I’d had as a child. Although she had been divorced from my father for over thirty years, she had copies of his retirement papers from the military, and clothing she had not worn in over a decade. She remained bitter about my father leaving her and her lifelong struggle with finances until the day she died. Perhaps if she had parted with the relics of said sorrows, she would have been able to forgive the past and move on unfettered into a happier future. The throbbing suffering was still fresh on the items, and I wept uncontrollably for days as I destroyed and threw things out.

I think of negative imprinting as a kind of germ or parasite that can be removed or dissolved. Sometimes banishing or blessing is enough to take away unwanted imprinting, but in cases like with mom’s ring, getting rid of said items works best.

And that is where Spring Cleaning comes in for my working.

Saoirse’s Boring Spring Cleaning Ceremony!!!!

1. Identify clutter in the home. Be it one object or many. This will be items that do not serve you and perhaps never have. Maybe it was a baseball glove you saved from a game you lost and it always upsets you. Maybe it is your dress from your first wedding and you are now divorced and have no daughters to pass it onto. Or maybe, there are no upsetting things stashed in corners, and you just have a bunch of crap you have no use for.
2. Then get rid of it. Yes, you can do this. I swear! It does not matter how long you have had the things. It provides no security, and good memories will not magically disappear once items are gone. Stuff that does not serve a beneficial purpose in your life is using your space and it is counterproductive to keep it. So get rid of it!

Put it in the trash.

Donate it to a cause.

Rent a booth at a flea market to sell it.

Give it away.

Shred it or burn it.

3)Then cleanse the house. What do you prefer? Smudging with incense? Do you prefer resin, or herbal, or stick incense? Or candles and prayers? Do you prefer to put a bowl of water in the corners to draw in energy? Do you prefer to chant and let the sunlight into the room? Most recommend smudging with sage bundles, but that’s not the only way.

Laughter is a surprisingly easy way to banish.

Establishing your home as your sanctuary means controlling things that are in it, both physical and spiritual. You can place crystals everyplace and smudge and do prayers daily, but if you have items imprinted with super bad memories, the sorrow lingers.

Here are a few benefits of having as little as possible and only things that are useful in the house.

1. It makes more room for what DOES serve you. Say you have always wanted a sewing room but have one extra room and it is for storage. If you clean out that room, you can set up your sewing room.
2. It allows more free flow of light, and healing energies. A lot of people are buying Feng Shui books and buying Asian accessories and thinking it is great decor. But the concept of arranging things so energy moves successfully is a focus as opposed to making things pretty. One principal I had read many years ago was to never store things under the bed because energy needs to move freely all around you while you are sleeping. Free flow of energy in the household of somebody sensitive to energy is crucial. Dead mass, aka junk clutters and blocks all of that. Getting rid of that opens up space.
3. It is less expensive to own less. If you are used to having a lot of things, you have established spending habits. The more you buy the more you spend. As you get used to living with less, you start buying less, and thus save more money in the long run. If money is not an issue, you can reroute the money you are saving to a savings account, make more investments for long term security, or use it for charitable causes close to your heart. You have less risk of becoming broke and take on less debt the less you spend.
4. It is better for your health. There will be less things to collect dust, which is bad for you. Less things to clean mean you get to clean more often and it does not take nearly as long. You will have less things to move out of the way for cleaning. There will be less germs, and you might just get sick less often.
5. Less really is more. I love a well decorated room. The less things you have, the more space you have to move around in and the more appreciation you will have for the pieces you do own.
6. Visual noise impedes concentration. Straighten up and organize your home and it can help you focus on tasks at hand, as opposed to a hundred things competing for your attention.
7. There is a great freedom in being unfettered by THINGS. The consumerist lifestyle is like trying to fill a bottomless hole that never gets filled. Ever.

If you decide to use metaphysical items for cleansing, you really can use whatever you prefer. Sage, sandalwood, frankincense, and water are things classically used due to belief these have natural cleansing properties.

But you can also charge your intentions into anything you like. I use rose incense a lot because I prefer the aroma. The popular Nag Champa is also a favorite of mine. Anytime I have a wood fire in my firepit, I pray over it and I let the smoke into the house to cleanse. I open my blinds every day and let the light in to drive away the darkness, and I allow fresh air in the house anytime possible, especially when it is raining. I find fresh air when it is raining to be very cleansing.

I go through the house four to six times a year and thin things out and I do some form or another of banishing or cleansing weekly. It does not take very long. Maybe a total of ten minutes tops per week. It is easy because I control how much comes into my home, let alone what stays.

I am also very choosy about WHO comes into my home, because I wasn’t always choosy and I suffered consequences of that bad decision. Sometimes, I light incense before company arrives, and sometimes, I light it when they leave. Sometimes, I don’t because I want the energy from good times permanently imprinted into my walls.

There have been times I have had my heart broken. Who hasn’t? A very few times, it has been decided the relationship is broken beyond repair. I have a special kind of banishing to clear the sorrow from the house before it is out of my heart.

I go through the house and get rid of every last item the individual had given me. I can immediately feel the difference upon coming back to the house after dropping items off at a thrift store. It is actually easier for me to breathe!

Relationships as well as material items can outlive their purpose and I see no point in them outstaying their welcome.

So whatever it is you’d like to clear from your life, be it some things, or some people, Spring is a good time to do so.

If you are like me, you are really looking forward to warm weather and longer days. May your gods smile upon you and the ever strengthing sun make you grow like the beautiful flowers we will see in a month or two.

Blessed Spring Equinox, and Blessed Be