SpellCrafting: Spells & Rituals

Blessing Seeds

Merry meet!

One of the things I like to do on Imbolc is bless the seeds I will plant in the spring. The seeds represent what I wish to sow in the coming months – both figuratively and literally. For me, they help mark the turning of the wheel.

At Imbolc, they are blessed, at Ostara some are planted indoors in pots to be put outside at Beltane. Others are planted in the garden as the soil warms and the weather allows. They will grow and bear fruit to be harvested at Lughnasadh and continuing into Mabon; their seeds are then saved from Mabon to Samhain.

While most of the varieties of vegetables and flowers I put in my community plot are plants – because I generally want three or four of something, not 25 – I use seeds for some crops that are easily started on the windowsill or directly in the ground.

Brigid is about planting seeds for the future. Just as a seed grows, flowers and produces a crop, so do thoughts need to be planted and nurtured so they will grow and produce results. That’s why I infuse one intention into the sunflower seeds and another into the miniature pumpkins.

Seeds can be blessed by singing, chanting or directing energy in some way such as dancing, or passing over a flame. Hold them in your hands and charge them with energy and your intentions.

If you are looking for inspiration, here is a prayer adopted from Llewellyn’s “Spell A Day” by Rev. Raven Rin:

Blessed Goddess, mother of us all

Make these plants grow strong and tall.

A bountiful harvest is in sight,

With flowers sweet and bright,

Blessed by the sun and the pale moonlight.

In addition to seeds I collected from tiny pumpkins I grew from seed in my garden, I have collected seeds from two of the tomatoes that came from seeds my grandmother grew each year since leaving Sicily in the 1920s when she was still a teenage wife to a widow with four children. The seeds will sit on my altar until conditions are right for planting, at which time I’ll water them with rain or melted snow collected on full moons, dark moons and sabbats throughout the winter.

Because spring signals new beginnings, this ritual is also fitting for Ostara. Please share how you adopted this for your celebration.

Merry part.

And merry meet again.