Spring has arrived and Demeter awaits you, just as She has waited for Her daughter Persephone since times immemorial. Let Her guide you in this season of equal light and dark, life and death, and joy and sorrow.
On the day of the Spring Equinox, settle yourself in a private place in your home where you won’t be disturbed. Open the window to let in the fresh spring air. Close your eyes and consciously use your breath to loosen and relax your body. When you are done, return your focus and breath to the center of your body, anchoring in your core and emptying your mind of any remaining thoughts or stress.
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From this anchored, supple place, imagine yourself at the portal where the Underworld opens into the landscape above. Spring has come and it is time to return to the sunlit world; you stand poised with one foot in the realm of darkness and death, and the other in the land of light and life. Sense the push and pull of these primal, opposing energies on your psyche, and any discomfort or excitement this elicits in you. Then take your next step and fully emerge from the Underworld into the life-giving powers of bright sunshine and warmth.
[p-quote2] Take in the immense symbolism and import of this moment. You are stepping out of your Underworld trials and sorrows, past the burdens and constraints of your old story, ancestral heritage and our human shadow-side, and stepping into the life-affirming energies of the Great Mother and sacred feminine. And in making this shift, you are part of a greater transformation that extends to all of humanity and our Earth home.[/p-quote2]
In whatever way this resonates with you, and where you are on your journey of soul, feel the power of this moment, inside of you, outside of you, and in the listening, waiting Cosmos.
Now imagine Demeter waiting for you, just as She has waited for Her daughter Persephone. See Her as Goddess and Earth Mother, in Her immense power, strength and queenly beauty. Let Her enfold you in a motherly embrace, knowing that you are Her beloved child, returned to Her side after your long journey of trials and sorrows. Draw in Her living-earth scents, life-affirming energies and Her infinite love. Share whatever words of connection and reunion arise between you.
[p-quote2] Demeter has come to guide your transition to the other side of your story. Like Persephone, you need to become powerful and wise enough to bridge and balance the complexities and polarities of your nature and life story. You can only learn this equanimity through experience. At the Spring Equinox, Mother Nature can be your greatest teacher as She balances the immense energies of darkness, death, light and life in service of renewal and rebirth.[/p-quote2]
Clasp Demeter’s hand and join your consciousness with Hers as She takes you far, far upward — past the swaying treetops and the deep-blue sky — beyond the outer limits of our atmosphere — into the cosmic dance of Earth, moon and sun. Witness this wondrous dance, with its perfect balance of night and day, and dark and light, taking just a tiny drop of its vastness inside of you.
Ride these mighty influences back down to the Earth’s surface, where the kiss of sunlight coaxes seedlings to cast off their winter rest and send out their tender shoots of new growth. Dive into the dark underside of the soil, where beetles, worms and microbes mix the compost of decomposing matter that nourishes the living land. Sense the lingering clutch of Winter in the deep digging roots of the trees. Again, take a tiny drop of this vast complexity inside of you.
Then follow Demeter’s awareness as it enters your inner landscape, revealing these same mysteries and complexities within you.
Sense the energetic tug of Earth, moon and sun on your flesh. Feel the equal presence of day and night, and light and dark on your psyche and core body patterns. Take in the quickening pulse of Spring coursing through your veins, enticing you with the thrill of new possibilities. Open to your own dark underside that holds your losses and suffering, and imagine it as rich compost that nourishes and guides the new growth emerging from within you. Feel the cold, wounded places inside of you that don’t want to let go and seek to cleave you to their long winter of soul.
[p-quote2] Meld with Demeter’s bigness of being that can contain and balance all of these energies and impulses, and open to this same bigness within you. Like Demeter, like Persephone, like Nature, you are equally woven of darkness, death, light and life, and also your human experiences of stagnation, growth, beauty, wounding, sorrow and joy.[/p-quote2]
This bigness of being is equanimity in motion. And it is this state that can take you to the other side of your story and the spiritual evolution that awaits you there.
Breathe this experience of equanimity and balance into the core of your being. Let it shift and rearrange your current state of mind to help you feel more self-acceptance and peace with the complexities and polarities of your own life story and pathwork at this moment on your journey of soul. Take your time, and lots of deep breaths, until you find your inner state of equanimity and balance.
Then gently separate your consciousness from Demeter’s. Use your breath to sink back into your personal center and field of awareness.
Demeter turns to face you. Gaze into each other’s eyes. See yourself through Her loving heart and presence. Know that She bears witness to your struggles, your strength and the hard work you have faced to come to this transformative moment. Drink in Her trust and belief in you. Take all of this mother love inside of you, and trust and believe in yourself. Express your deep gratitude for Her guidance and say goodbye. And then, in a heartbeat, She is gone.
[p-quote2] Though you stand alone at this portal, with the spring landscape before you and the Underworld at your back, you are also not alone. Demeter’s wisdom, love and belief in you, Her beloved child and a child of the Great Mother, shine bright in your living body.[/p-quote2]
It is time to return to the waking world, bringing this vast experience of equanimity and balance with you. Use your breath to anchor your awareness in your physical body. When you feel yourself fully returned to the sunlit reality of your everyday life, settle inside yourself and notice that something has changed. You are on the other side of your own story, with the powers of life compelling you forward into the spring of a wondrous new beginning.
Celebrate the Spring Equinox
with the Path of She Book of Sabbats
Artist: Unknown