Week 9 : The Quickening
Breaking Dormancy; Springing to Life
Reflection
Roused from its slumber
Streaks yellow across the sky
Buds quiet; unfurl
Evidence & Ecology
It begins the return journey north at the apex of the winter solstice, but its increased presence is not truly felt until after the passing of Imbolc - the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.
Its rays are long and oblique as they bathe the earth’s surface.
For those of us on the west coast of Canada the sun is a welcome sight after a winter of cloudy curtains draped between us.
This yellow glow, not yet warm, but warming, has a noticeable effect on everything illuminated in its radiance.
The sacred signal of the solar return initiates profound changes in the landscape. Migrating species return. Plants begin to draw their life force out of the soil and into the branches for leaf production. The world is full of potential. Waiting to burst forth.
What sensations do you notice in your body as the sun makes a northerly return? How does your body respond to the lengthening days? Where do you feel your rise of “sap”?
With latent energy coming to life as the landscape emerges from its winter slumber become curious as to where your body and the land mirror each other.
Where are we holding our potential? How will we tend to our own inner fire to ensure that the sacred intentions we set during the ceremonial time of winter have the solar energy required to bloom?
The Practices
Embodied Nature Meditation
Embody Sunshine
If possible begin this practice standing, to allow your sacral chakra to be open and expanded throughout. If that is not possible, find a comfortable seated or resting position with your abdominal area open.
Allow yourself to become present through noticing your breath for a few cycles.
Once your awareness is with your body and breath, begin to connect with your inhales, through your nostrils, drawing your breath into your sacral chakra. Just above your belly button.
Envision a glowing yellow orb at this chakra. With each inhalation the orb grows in size and warmth. With each exhale the warmth radiates from this orb into the rest of your body.
Inhale warmth. Exhale expansion…..
Somatic Witnessing
The Internal Sap Rise
This practice helps you mirror the Earth’s movement by shifting energy from your "winter roots" to your "spring crown".
Begin by grounding yourself with the earth by finding a comfortable position standing or seated - ensure you are connected to the earth.
Close your eyes and visualize your energy or "sap" pulled deep into the soles of your feet or sit-bones, mirroring the dormant roots of a tree.
Imagine the warmth of the returning sun on your face or shoulders. Acknowledge this light as the signal that initiates movement of the sap.
On an inhale, imagine a viscous, golden light slowly rising from your feet, through your legs, and up your spine……
Story of Place
A Conversation with the Season
The land begins to awaken. As do all of us inhabiting it.
A profound spiritual and biological force is unfolding around us; a powerful signal that initiates the sap to rise from deep within roots where it has rested during the dark months; a signal that calls birds, wintering elsewhere, to begin their journey northwards.
This sacred signal evokes change in all that feel its song. An alarm ringing through waves of energy, silent and unseen, yet felt palapably by all in its radius. That moment you “know” that spring is on its way. A smile expanding cheek to cheek. A lightness in your step. A fresh vibration in the world around us, with new bird song, the first flying insects and rays of sunshine that, at certain times of day, blind you with a joy that shouts “I have returned, so happy to see you again”.
This increase in daylight hours powerfully resets our circadian rhythms, breaking the cycle of seasonal melancholy for many.
In many Indigenous traditions this lengthening solar power represents a transition from the winter aspect of inner reflection to that of outer preparation. Energy that was pulled inwards during the dark months is now encouraged to radiate outwards. A season of quiet is now coming to a close. Preparations for planting and sowing life for abundant harvests are now beginning.
Giving yourself permission to engage with the returning sun allows each of us to become an active participant in the Earth’s seasonal rebirth. This simple act reweaves threads of awe in our soul that gently pull us outwards in reconnection with the natural world. This awe binds us to our natural place as part of nature, not outward observers passively viewing. Indigneous knowledge keepers place emphasis on this shift as not a biological event; instead it is a part of the Natural Law with humans being reminded that we possess a sacred responsibility for reciprocity as beings woven into the ecosystem, not existing without…..
The Invitation
Nature Kinship
Weekly nature connection practices aligned seasonally to engage with your locale. Encouraging immersion, appreciation and spiritual attunement with the more than human world around you.
Always remember to enjoy these practices within the bounds of your physical and ecological limits (do not sit outside when it’s -40, or walk on slippery surfaces), practice “leave no trace” and mindful reciprocity (take only what you need, ask permission from the earth, and only leave what is naturally biodegradable)
The Journaling Practice
Sap as a Sacred Conduit
During winter, a time of quiet reflection and dreaming, the “spirit” of the land is tucked deeply within roots.
As the sun returns the sap becomes a “bridge” between the earth and the sky as the tree takes the minerals from the earth and lifts them towards the sky and the outermost branches.
The tree produces leaves from the sun’s warmth, which eventually fall back to the earth, feeding the soil. A solar return in this gift cycle.
Begin this journaling practice outdoors if possible. Ideally in or near budding plants, such as salal, pussywillows or salmonberry……
A Final Note
Closing Invocation
“Daylight, full of small dancing particles
and the one great turning, our souls
are dancing with you, without feet, they dance.
Can you see them when I whisper in your ear? ”
Singing the Earth
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Nature. Connected.
