Welcome to The Nudge | Spring Equinox 2022

This seasonal care package has been prepared by The Trailblazery team.

“The Spring Equinox opens the veil between the physical and thespiritual so that a resurrection in our lives can be inaugurated. The keynote of this season is creation. It is the drive to move our lives upward, like a seed pushing forth out of the earth into theair. The Spring is the time when the creative powers we have been nurturing through the winter can be expressed to initiate a new world of opportunities for ourselves.”

Ted Andrews, Nature Speak

Dear Friends,

We are delighted to be preparing our care package, The Nudge, for you as we approach the Spring or Vernal Equinox on March 20, one of four solar festivals on the Medicine Wheel of the Year. On this day, the sun rises in the east, travels across the sky for twelve hours and sets in the west. At this special time, day and night are equal, hence the name “Equinox” which means equal night, while “Vernal” comes from the Latin word for bloom.

We are seasonal beings that live within a great pattern of wild rhythms and cycles. TheSpring Equinox marks a time when what was concealed now begins to be revealed. What was hidden potential now becomes a promise. The vibratory hum and creative force of life makes itself manifest before our very eyes.

In the past…

Our ancestors lived in alignment with the natural cycles and honoured this time with ritual and ceremony. There is great wisdom and well-being available when we track theseasons and sense into the creative life force of nature around us and inside us.

In Ireland, the megalithic site Loughcrew (also known as Sliabh na Callighe, meaning the Hill of the Witch) is located at the northernmost point of Co. Meath. Humans have wandered this sacred spot for at least 5,000 years and somehow managed to record astronomical knowledge by building monuments capable of transmitting this intelligence to a culture thousands of years into the future. In 1980 a back stone was discovered, positioned so that on The Spring and Autumn equinoxes, the rising sun casts light onto intricate designs carved on the walls of the passage tomb. Full moons, which fall on or near the equinoxes, also illuminate the back stone. This is the Sliabh na Caillí Equinox Stone, where the imagination of our ancestors are preserved in an ancient time capsule. Image below created by Anthony Murphy.

The Dance of the Opposites

Spring Equinox heralds a time of new beginnings, where we venture out from our hibernation in the cave (womb) back out into the Light. It is an opportunity for rebirth and we bring our Winter Dreaming with us, from the Darkness to be illuminated. When we look into nature we see fresh new buds sprouting growth, the wildflowers start to blossom and bloom, new baby birds hatch and all becomes sparkly with new life.

The Equinoxes invite us to meditate on the dance between the seemingly opposing forces that guide our lives. In The Northern Hemisphere, the Spring Equinox leads to thesovereignty of the active masculine element for the summer months. In the Southern Hemisphere the Autumn Equinox brings us closer to the sovereignty of the receptive, feminine element of the winter months. Every individual has a feminine aspect and a masculine one - we are being invited to unite these polarities within us.

This day of equilibrium is a good time for us to consider the harmony of our lives in work, play and relationships and to dive deep into the mystery of polarity. Marion Woodman,the late great Canadian mythopoetic author, Jungian analyst and women's movement figure, writes in Holding the Tension of the Opposites:

“Holding an inner or outer conflict quietly, instead of attempting to resolve it quickly, is a difficult idea to entertain. It is even more challenging to experience. However, as Carl Jung believed, if we held the tension between the two opposing forces, there would emerge a third way, which would unite and transcend the two. Indeed, he believed that this transcendent force was crucial to individuation. Whatever the third way is, it usually comes as a surprise, because it has not penetrated our defences until now. A hasty move to resolve tension can abort growth of the new. If we can hold conflict in psychic utero long enough, we can give birth to something new in ourselves.”

Marion Woodman

On this day…

This is a time for courage and action. We recommit to our life purpose and rededicate ourselves to our unique calling in life. We align with our agency and refine our commitment.

So, perhaps for you March 20 will be a day of quiet reflection and contemplation. You could create a Spring Equinox ritual by taking a meditative walk or pilgrimage to a special place. This could be a sacred site, chapel, monument or simply a place in nature which is calling to you. Another seasonal ritual could involve a good dose of joyful Spring Cleaning. You can learn a lot about tidying up from Japanese decluttering diva, Marie Kondo.

Some Journal Prompts to inspire you, as we approach Spring Equinox:

At the threshold of this new cycle, what is emerging from within you?

What areas of your life feel unbalanced or out of kilter?

What needs to be completed?

What feels alive?

What seeds are ready to push forth?

How can you tend to your 'neart' or creative life fore?

Can you harness the agency available in nature to support you?

How can you enrich your commitment to your life’s purpose?

Who are your allies and expanders as you prepare to cross this threshold?

What’s coming up over the next

6 weeks at The Trailblazery:

We are excited to let you know what the future holds for our community here at The Trailblazery.

Scoil Scairte

We have been having an incredible experience at Scoil Scairte. We celebrated Lá Fhéile Pádraig last week in style with a host of guides, guests, musicians and Gaeilgeoirí joining from all corners of the world.
We have been shooting short films all over the country, with a special one on theway with Manchán agus Liam Ó Maonlaí.

Is maith dúinn ár bhfréamhaca do dhul fé thalamh anseo - it serves us well to root ourselves in the soil of this place. If you would like to be part of our next spiral please join our waitlist below.

Moon Medicine

We launched our much loved Moon Medicine Circle in 2018 and have gathered a global community of inspirational women along the way.

Our monthly gatherings, which moved online in 2020, align with the lunar cycle. We meet around every Full Moon and welcome inspiring guest luminaries to share her story, experience and wisdom with us. We also invite extraordinary musicians and performers to play at our gatherings. This is an opportunity to illuminate and celebrate our creative life force and sovereignty.

You can sign up to our Moon Medicine mailing list here to be informed of all upcoming events. Our next one will take place on Mon April 11 at 7pm Irish.

Cost is €25 and we offer a limited number of free spots each month for those who need it.

Spring Equinox is the time of year where we are invited to align with the cues of thewild world and step into our neart - creative life force.

EnJOY these days - may the brightening light be yours.

Thank you for walking this path with us,

Beannachtaí agus Beir Bua

Kathy and all at The Trailblazery

Highlights of our gatherings

Put on the kettle, make a cuppa and watch some golden moments from the musicians and performers who have joined us here at The Trailblazery.

Áine Tyrrell & Auntie Delta Kay
"In Conversation"
Imbolc 2022

We are adding the Go Fund Me link to assist our beautiful friend Áine Tyrrell and her family (three children) to secure housing while they recover from severe flood damages and assist with alleviating financial pressures as they find their feet during an uncertain time.

GO FUND ME

Recommended Resources

Here are a few reading, watching and listening pieces to nourish your senses in the days ahead:

♪ Listen: For your ears

Vintage Spring | Youtube
Song s For Spring | Spotify
Vivaldi – The Four Seasons | Recomposed by Max Richter

✦ Smell: For your Nose

To brighten the senses, citrus and mint oils can aid in a shift from sluggish to energizing. Lemon (Citrus limon), grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) and orange(Citrus sinensis) essential oils are great for use in the diffuser to disperse into theroom. The essential oils of peppermint (Mentha piperita) and bergamot mint (Mentha citrata) may be used as a drop for palm inhalation. Note: Be sure to wash hands well after using mint oils.

Clarifying herbaceous oils to harken our Spring nature include essential oils containing more spicy and camphorous notes such as basil (Ocimum basilicum ct. linalol), black pepper (Piper nigrum), clary sage (Salvia sclarea), and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis). It may be used in a carrier oil and used in a massage.

Floral notes that may also elicit states of happiness and new beginnings are theessential oils of rose, geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), lavender(Lavandula angustifolia), laurel (Laurus nobilis) which may be used in a mister to spray around the face, body and our energetic field.

✯ Watch:For your eyes

The Rites of Spring by Igor Stravinsky
Vivaldi Four Seasons | Spring
The Sound of Music (1965)
Eat Pray Love
You've Got Mail
Pride and Prejudice

Read: For your heart

Following in the steps of nature’s blueprint, we observe that early spring after theground thaws is ripe for unearthing liver-cleansing roots like dandelion and burdock, anti-inflammatory barks like wild cherry and birch, and delicate, tonifying buds like roses and calendula.

While some of these plant parts are available to us all year round, paying attention to their growth cycles and picking them during the appropriate season ensures that their beneficial Phyto-compounds will be at their peak.

Later in the spring, the plant’s energies or medicinal properties travel up from thedeep roots all the way to their unfurling new growth. Picking leaves, buds, and flowers during this time maximizes the aromatic volatile oils, phytosterols, and other chemicals in the plant, which translates into stronger acting and more effective herbal medicine when we ingest these plants or use them topically.

Ancient harvesting techniques in herbal medicine call for using the moon as a guide for when to harvest what parts of the plant. Harvesting roots, leaves, buds, and seeds with this kind of careful attention and intention results in making medicine potent and charged with healing energy how we make our medicine matters.

Touch: For your pleasure

'Breacadh an Lae' is artist Eimear Alice's scarf collection inspired by the break of dawn through the roof box at Newgrange. For more visit eimearalice.bigcartel.com

The Nudge | Dispatch 3