Honouring the Waning: The Sense of Loss at Summer’s Peak

Since the summer solstice, I’ve noticed a quiet pull inside me, what could be called a kind of seasonal sadness. If we were in the depths of winter, I might have called this Seasonal Affective Disorder but I realise, this isn’t a ‘disorder’ at all. To feel a sense of sadness or even what you might call a subtle grief, at the turning of the wheel of the year, feels right, appropriate and perfectly natural. If we tune in closely enough, remembering we are the Earth, the elements and the seasons, we might feel as if part of us is turning with the Earth, waning like the Sun, pulling away, already slowly letting go.

The Spring Equinox – Balance and Renewal

We can use the energy of this time of pause, balance, reset and renewal in ceremony and ritual. The Spring or Vernal Equinox is also now known as Ostara. When considering what 'seeds' we wanted to nurture in ourselves the coming year, we were clear that this doesn’t have to be about external goals or be achievement-based, in can be about nurturing a new way of 'being'. We considered what qualities we wished to embody and how we might bring them into being.