Lady Day

Spring is springing, even though here in Iowa we are in the ugliest time of the entire year. 

I got stuck behind a street sweeper yesterday, and could not believe the amount of dirt, salt, grime and blech it was throwing into the air. Winter sure looks pretty with it’s pristine white blankie, but underneath it’s like somebody swept an abandoned zoo under there and left it to compost.

It’s not easy to feel this celebration of life and flowers and such when everywhere you look is mud. But somebody’s gotta turn the Wheel around here, so come on, let’s see what’s to be done. As always, my number one go-to resource for all things Sabbat is Mike Nichols, either his lovely book The Witches Sabbats, or his lovely website. Here’s how Mike encapsulates this holiday in a (hazel)nut shell:

Now comes the vernal equinox, and the season of spring reaches its apex, halfway through its journey from Candlemas to Beltane. Once again, night and day stand in perfect balance, with the powers of light on the ascendancy. The God of Light now wins a victory over his twin, the God of Darkness. In The Mabinogion myth reconstruction that I have proposed, this is the day on which the restored Llew takes his vengeance on Goronwy by piercing him with the sunlight spear. For Llew was restored/reborn at the winter solstice and is now well/old enough to vanquish his rival/twin and mate with his lover/ mother. And the Great Mother Goddess, who has returned to her Virgin aspect at Candlemas, welcomes the young Sun God’s embraces and conceives a child. The child will be born nine months from now, at the next winter solstice. And so the cycle closes at last.

The Wheel gets a powerful spin here by our friend Llew, the Lord of Light, the young Sun God.

And okay, okay, ewww, lover/mother. Think of it this way: It’s a spiral, and every twist of time is a little different, so the role that the Great Mother/Maiden plays stays the same, but the actual women in the role are new generations. Sun God is also a role, as is God of Darkness.

If you are interested in learning more, head on over to Mike’s website, or order the book – after you finish reading this post, of course! Because I really want to get to the burning question:

What the hell does all of this mythic stuff have to do with me and how I live my life?

We’ve crossed into the Growing Time of the year, we’re finally out of the long, dark tunnel of the Sleeping Time, and it’s a time of new beginnings. The stuff we left behind in the Long Dark has turned to compost, and now is the time to plant the seeds of what we want to accomplish in the new season.

But it’s all about balance now, and being conscious of how we spend our energies. Days are light much later (although it’s freakin’ dark until nearly 8am, but hey, nobody complains about that), so people are getting a walk in after supper, or doing a little garden prep, cleaning up the winter debris from the yard, or just getting out to enjoy a little sun. There’s an upsurge in energy as all of this happens, and some of us feel like we’re getting so much done–but if we aren’t balancing work with play, or expenditure of energy with replenishment of reserves, there will be a reckoning. Our bodies may not be able to cash the checks our intentions have written, and combined with the, yes, onslaught of Daylight Saving Time, the overdraft charges can be brutal.

(If you haven’t noticed, I’m not a fan of DST. At. All. It doesn’t save anybody any money, because the electricity we use lighting our houses or businesses in the evening is just moved to the morning because we’re all up before the sun is now. And I swear they bumped the beginning and ending weekends around recently just to screw with Halloween. But that’s not why you called . . .)

Good self-care at this time of year is no less important than when the Dark Time is coming on, because we’re most vulnerable to illness and injury during these transitions. Look both ways before you exit that long dark tunnel! Let your eyes adjust to the light before you leap out there, because all kinds of hungry things are coming out of hibernation looking for lunch. Don’t let it be you.

That being said, you have to muck about in the mud in order to get your garden ready for seeds, and we have mud in spades here in Iowa right now. Michael added a big load of compost to our garden plots right before it got seriously cold, and the dirt looks so soft and rich and ready that I almost wanna eat it. It crumbles and smells so . . . dirty. Yeah, good dirt is precious.

We’ve had all winter to dream and plan, and now is the time to start getting ready for growth. We can’t push too hard all at once. We have to wait until the ground temperature is steady before we can get seedlings to survive. If you plant too early, stuff won’t make it. So again, it’s all about balance.

And patience may be the biggest lesson of all.

Llew bided his time, recovering and growing strong so he could easily defeat his rival. He didn’t run off one minute before he was ready. Everything in good time. Take care of the body, take time to prepare and grow strong so you can take on the darkness with all your heart and win the day.

From history to healing to music and magic, this blog’s got it all. Hang out with us, we’ll keep things interesting!