Saturday, March 20, 2010

It’s Spring! Let’s Get Seedy

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

Spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere on March 20 this year. We call it Spring Equinox, because it’s a time of equal light and darkness. From here on out, we have longer hours of light until the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. Spring is the natural New Year, the time to plant both literal and figurative seeds for growth.

The parallels between the cycles of human and plant growth abound and can be seen clearly in the cycle of the 12 astrological signs. (See the series, High Signs: Living on the Upside of the Zodiac.) Spring begins with Aries, the sign that “goes for it” with abandon and wants to run out and do new things in a hurry. Nature simply bursts forth as winter turns spring. It’s almost like fireworks in buds and birds and streaming sunshine.


Best Time for Your New Year’s Resolutions

We write our New Year’s Resolutions at the wrong time of year—the beginning of the calendar year. Our Gregorian calendars are off-cycle with the natural world. Winter is for rest and recuperation, not for big ideas that require a lot of energy. Take it from the bears. In winter, we’re supposed to be hibernating. No wonder so many of our resolutions die on the vine. Have you ever tried to plant something in the cold of winter in a frosty climate?

Spring is the “natural” New Year. If you write your resolutions in spring instead, they have the full support of nature and the Aries oomph to bloom where they are planted. Each resolution is a seed of manifestation. Some plants will be ready to harvest by autumn; some will need more cycles to come to full fruition. But to harvest, you’ve got to plant. Take time to identify and plant your metaphorical seeds.


Seed Meditation

To help you craft your resolutions or seeds of manifestation, here’s a guided meditation to help you focus your inner gardening. Play some soothing music in the background. George Winston's Winter into Spring would be ideal! Stop between each bullet to reflect and write:


• Scan your life for what’s important to you. Don’t think too hard. Write what’s on the top of your head.

• Considering what matters to you, which areas of life could use improvement? Choose the three most important. Write them down.

• Now that you have the Top Three, start with #1. What do you want to change in this area of your life? What does it look like? Imagine you have already created it. What does it feel like? Now, write an affirmation as though you have already planted, grown, and harvested this seed in your life. Example: I have a happy, playful, and amiable relationship with my partner—one of shared responsibilities and joy. Or: I have more than enough money to meet my needs—plenty to cover most of my wants and to share my wealth.


• Continue your affirmations in Area 1. It’s OK to write a lot, but remember you may not harvest everything this year.

• Write your affirmations in Area 2.

• Write your affirmations in Area 3.

• Continue to write in additional areas, if wanted.


To take maximum advantage of the power of its threshold, I recommend doing this exercise and writing your resolution seeds as close to the actual equinox as possible. That’s 10:32 AM on March 20 from the perspective of my US Pacific time zone; adjust for yours, if different.


After the Meditation

Write your “seed” affirmations somewhere you can refer to them—and say them, either aloud or to yourself—often. Write a reminder in your calendar or computer to revisit your “seeds” at least once a month. Watch how they grow with the seasons through summer. Do you need to thin them out? Water or tend to them more? Keep only the ones that are rooting? At autumn, which ones are ready for harvest? Which ones have you manifested? You can “move” the seeds to next year’s Seed List for 2011 if it needs more time.


The Importance of Visualization, Affirmation

Seeds contain the complete DNA of the flower they bloom, just like an embryo is coded with the fullness of our unique humanity.


When we’re working with mental substance, we have to create the equivalent of DNA. We need to think, see, and feel the pattern from idea to manifestation in order to “code” it so it comes out the way we have in mind. That’s why visualization is so important. Affirmation is part of the process of growth. In the human body, the magnificence of Creator and creation is reflected in the amazing growth code in our bodies that works on autopilot. When we work with invisible substance, we have to create a growth mechanism, too. Returning to the vision and supporting it with booster shots of the same thought forms that created it—that provides the mechanism for growth.


This Spring, the Cardinal T-Square

Much will be written on these and other pages in the coming months and years about the Cardinal T-Square in the sky through 2012. It’s in orb this Spring Equinox, even if Uranus hasn’t quite made it to the 1 Aries Cardinal threshold: Uranus (26 Pisces), Pluto (5 Capricorn), and Saturn (1 Libra). In a two-word nutshell, the consensus, so far, is big changes. With Uranus just a few degrees from the Aries cusp, we’ll feel these energies beginning to build as a cultural and personal influence. Uranus is likely to bring upheavals and breakthroughs. We’re already seeing Pluto transform our global economy, and for many, the ride has been scary; others know resurrection is the light at the end of the dark tunnel. Saturn in its current sign offers us the opportunity to change how we relate, not just to each other, but to those Libran issues of equality, justice, and peace.

Use your spring meditation to let ideas bubble up from your subconscious about what you can do in your life to make the most out of this build-up of Cardinal energy. All seasons start with a Cardinal sign: Aries (Spring), Cancer (Summer), Libra (Autumn) and Capricorn (Winter). I’ve never heard the description of a Cardinal sign stated better and more simply on Ken Ward’s Astrology Pages: Cardinal comes from the French word “cardo,” meaning hinge on which something turns.

Every spring is a turning-point. This spring is a big one. Seed accordingly. The quality of your life hinges on it.

~~~

Photo credit: FINANCIAL PLANTING © Summerrobi... Dreamstime.com

A Note to My Soul:  This beautiful poem on one of my favorite blogs, Joy Frequencies, is a perfect prayer for the Spring Equinox--for going out and seeding good things for ourselves and others.  Thanks to author Susannah who shares her joyous take on life to our collective benefit.





CELEBRATE! Spring Equinox marks the 1st birthday of The Radical Virgo blog. The first full-length launch post and birth data of this blog: March 21, 2009 at 8:58:40 PDT, Rocklin, CA – USA. (See chart.) Thank you for your continuing, heartening support! The Radical Virgo regularly ranks in the top 20 (sometimes the top 10!) of the 100 astrology blogs followed on PostRank.

3 comments:

Susannah said...

Wow, a year already! Happy birthday to the Radical Virgo - and congratulations and a very happy Spring Equinox to you Joyce. x

Thanks for this great post - I remember you saying a while ago about this is a more 'natural' time for new years resolutions etc. to work in tune with the natural rhythms and to use the springtime energy - it makes so much sense! I have been spreading your wisdom to friends and family. :-)

Here's to another year! May this next cycle bring you good things!

Susannah x

Lana said...

Thank you Joyce for your joyful and heartwarming posts over the last year! You first "got" me when you asked us to think of who would play our planets, which must have been quite early on. That gave me food for thought for weeks. I look forward to your future posts.
Love
Lana

Joyce Mason said...

Thanks, Susannah--yes, it feels both like a few months and a decade since I started The Radical Virgo. That's the timeless feeling of something that has become a part of you. So glad my "seedy" advice is being spread on two continents. The seeds of friendship sewn on this blog have been the best part! So happy to have gotten to know you, thanks to this adventure. It's the best of all the benefits.

Hi, Lana! Same sentiment. I have loved getting to know you. You also let me know I've met one of my goals--to leave people thinking. (Even better when I can sometimes leave them laughing!) "Who Would Play Your Planets?" was posted on 20-Jul-09, just four months into The Radical Virgo adventure. I still chuckle to myself when I imagine my chart come to life with some of my favorite celebrities ... and the casting changes over time. Now you've given me another image that leaves me chuckling. Similar to Renee Zellweiger in "Jerry Maguire," I hear you saying, "You had me at Who Would Play Your Planets." Wait, you've left ME laughing! That's the best!

Thank you both for your warm anniversary wishes!