"The moon was created for the counting of days." - Hebrew midrash
"March has tumbled on the scene, / Exits mild, but enters mean. / Winter waves a fierce goodbye, / While robins promise Spring is nigh." - Joyce P. Hale
As we come into March, Winter is fading away. The sun is growing ever stronger, and the warming sky rubs against the chilled earth. Pressure and moisture and temperature are all thrown off-kilter.
The energy of world is rising - and energy seldom rises smoothly. It comes in fits and starts, off-center and unpredictable - more here and less there, faster there and slower here. When the energy of Spring rises, it rises in chaos. It rises as a storm.
And so, this month, we stand under the light of the Storm Moon.
Read on . . .
“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” - Frederick Douglass
Storms are the children of an
imbalance. Temperature differentials. The complex, ethereal topography of moisture and pressure. Opposing armies of charged particles, holding their respective lines in the air.
Storms are born of imbalance, because they are how nature restores balance. Fire cleanses an overgrown forest. Rain relieves an oversaturated atmosphere. Wind evens out pressure variances. Earthquakes relieve seismic stress. Wherever you have too much - or not enough - of anything, you will eventually have a storm that sets things right.
It's easy to see only the destruction in that, but storms serve a purpose. When the strengthening sun starts to power up the world in Spring, it is the storms born in that fitful reawakening that get things moving. The winds prune the trees, carry seeds to the four corners. The rains wash away the old flesh of the earth and expose its fresh, young skin. The storms of Spring disburse and even out the rising energy of a world just firing back up after sitting idle through the cold of Winter.
"There is a muscular energy in sunlight corresponding to the spiritual energy of wind." - Annie Dillard
But it's not just the world - this is a time for new energy for
us, as well. Spring brings new life,and new motivation. Our bodies react to the lengthening days - longer daylight boosts our serotonin, the neurotransmitter associated with feelings of happiness and well-being, and with more social behavior. The days are getting longer and brighter, and we're hyped.
And just as with everything else, that rising energy can throw us off balance. This time of year is a natural stimulant, and sometimes we want to go in several directions at once. Spring brings a storm in our spirits, as well as the world - and if we're not careful, it's easy to be overwhelmed.
"The real essence of work is concentrated energy." - Walter Bagehot
So the point is to make good use of all that energy. Raw energy without some kind of focus is just . .. well, just chaos raging until it eventually peters out. We need to
channel the storm into something that lasts. That's part of the reason behind "Spring cleaning", the bursts of productive activity we all seem to fall into this time of year.
But this is a time for more than just a few manic spells. We have work ahead, the work of a new year that we planned out in the Winter months. We have goals, and that requires a sustained and focused effort. So we need to center ourselves, if we're going find a way to give the storm's energy purpose.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain
My coven takes this moon as a time to work on that focus, to ground ourselves in the storm so we can take this rising tide of energy without being washed away by it. We anchor ourselves with a meditation, like this one:
Sit. Close your eyes. Breathe in, breathe out. Feel a great calm come over you. Feel yourself sink, relaxing down into the earth. Feel all the tension and frenzy of life loosen and drop away.
At your abdomen, at the solar plexus, see a golden ball of light. Brilliant. Warm. This is the energy of your will, the energy new life, the energy of Spring. See it extend downward now, flowing down your hips, your legs, your feet. You are rooted. Now see the light extend upward, moving from your middle up through your heart, your throat, your head. There is now a single line of warm golden light, running from the top of your head deep into the earth.
Above you now, see a ball of silver light, just above your head. Its light is bright but cool. This is the energy of your higher mind, your spirit, of the forces that guide and groom you on your path. See this light reach down, pouring onto and into the top of your head. It intertwines with the golden light, weaving together with it as it too descends through you, through your heart, your center, your legs, winding with the gold light deep into the earth. Feel yourself now, anchored to the earth, tethered to sky, the energy moving through you in a steady flow. There is no chaos, no disorder, no tumult. Your energy – from your highest self to your most primal will – is focused, balanced, grounded. You are anchored.
"Remember, the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show their strength and their stability." - Ho Chi Minh
Spring is a season of boundless energy and possibility, both within and without. The world settles itself out - that's what storms are for - but we desire more than just regaining balance. We want
progress.
Our challenge is to turn the chaos of rising energy into productive work, to use it to move further down our path. Our challenge is to tame the tempest - and if we can, it can carry us where we want to go.
Blessed be.