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Happy Spring, my friends! Are you as excited as I am to be out of the house and into the dirt?
Since Enchanted Botanicals is all about working with the gifts offered up from the Earth, I follow what's called the "Wheel of the Year." The calendar is divided into eight seasonal festivals -- the winter and summer solstices, the spring and autumnal equinoxes, and four "cross-quarter" days, which fall precisely between an equinox and solstice. We've just passed the Spring Equinox, where the length of day and night was "equal." We are now moving toward Beltane, which will occur May 1.
In pre-Christian communities, life revolved around agriculture, which in turn revolved around the changing of the seasons. Seeds that would support life were planted in the Spring, usually according to the phase of the moon. Crops that would bear fruit above ground were planted during the New Moon phase, and root crops were planted during the Full Moon. There are scientific reasons for these practices, having to do with the gravitational pull between the Moon and the Earth, but that's a story for another time.
Plantings and harvests were always accompanied by much gratitude for the land into which those seeds were sown. Gods and goddesses were honored and celebrated for the "gifts" and good fortune they bestowed upon communities. They were gifted in advance (rather like our "paying it forward") to help ensure an abundant and profitable growing season and harvest.
People ask me (and probably more people WANT to ask me) if I'm a "witch." No. I don't think so. To me that's a "label" that doesn't feel quite accurate. Am I "witchy" then? Now THAT feels right. I come from a long line of women who, because of societal and religious rules, were unable to step into the light as the healers they were. I feel so blessed to be able to blend, in my own way, my Catholic upbringing with my devotion to the Earth.
So is what I do "magic"? It might be. It certainly is MY magic. But we are ALL magic-makers of one kind or another. Some people work "magic" in the kitchen (not my forte at all). Some work magic in a classroom. Imagine how it felt as a child (...or an adult) to walk into a home where fresh cookies had just been pulled from the oven. Magic. How does it feel when we give or receive a loving hug just when we need it most? Magical.
Magic is the re-weaving of fate.
Magic happens when we transform the ordinary into something else. When we use our intuition, creativity, prayer to affect change.
Magic is what I look for. What I live for. Those magical moments when we look at the sky and see rays streaming through the clouds. When surprise turns to gratitude.
Magic is gratitude being paid forward.
Now comes the best part... My gratitude for you. My friends, my followers, those of you whom I've met and those I know I will meet one day.
To celebrate Spring and gratitude and magic and you -- I'm offering 10% off every self-care product in my shop. Because YOU ARE MAGIC. Use code HOP. But hop to it. Because quick as a bunny, this code will be gone. Make sure you use it before April 30, 2019.
Wishing you the warmest blessings of the Spring season. I'll be thinking of you as I dig.
xo
Deb