What’s up, swimmers?! As March is gifting us an extra Friday, I’m going to honor my low energy vibe this week and take a lil break from the yearning this week.
The Divine Mother, whose lap we’ve been laying in this month, straddles and blurs and tends to the thin veil between life and death (and rebirth). This makes her the perfect teacher and friend as next Tuesday the 19th, we’ll meet the Spring Equinox and a brand-new zodiacal year.
Her message to us, Keep up the good work, feels like a good opportunity to reflect on all that we’ve been exploring so far this year, as well as continue to craft spells for the coming year.
So, here’s what’s coming atcha this week:
A recap of the first two and a half months of writings here on SITS
Information and ritual ideas for the Spring Equinox
An exciting announcement of a new, online shop that I’m psyched to both hype up and be a patron of
As always, thank you for being here. Thank you for reading. Happy Spring!
Previously on The Year of Yearning:
Wow! Seeing it all laid out like this is really exciting! We’ve covered a lot of ground already. Remember that integration is just as important, if not more important, than knowledge or awareness. Revisit sections or lessons that are calling to you now, and see where you can bring that information further into your bdy, brain, and behaviors. Decide how you want to start this new year, and don’t wait for Tuesday. DO IT NOW!
January 2024: BURN (OUT) BABY, BURN (OUT)
Week One: What can the Fool and the Nine of Wands teach us about burn-out?
Week Two: LOVE LETTER #1: Making a Joyful Effort
Week Three: Six Ways to Banish Burn-Out (Or at least get a good start)
Bonus Podcast: On Disrupting our Habits with Kevin Munhall
February 2024: CHANGING OUR GOD(DAMN) MINDS
Week One: How do we change our god(damn) minds?!
Week Two: LOVE LETTER #3: When Brains Get Bratty
Week Three: Synchromantics, in nugget form
Week Four: LOVE LETTER #4: On Courting (and Offending) the Goddess
March 2024: LAYING IN THE LAP OF THE DIVINE MOTHER
Week One: Laying in the Lap of the Divine Mother
Week Two: LOVE LETTER #5: When Rituals Don't Go According to Plan
The Spring Equinox
Known to some pagan practitioners as Ostara, the Spring Equinox is a multi-day festival that honors Hathor, Ishtar, Demeter, Perspehone, and other goddesses of renewal throughout history and across cultures. No matter who or how you celebrate, all of these festivals mark the coming of the light of spring, and celebrate themes of fertility, resurrection, and rebirth.
This year, the Equinox lands on an overall 21 day in numerology (3+1+9+2+0+2+4 = 21). The World! A successful ending! Or at least an ending—an opportunity to both acknowledge and bless the journey that has come to completion, and to shirk off whatever shroud of suffering you do not want to take with you into this new year. Of course, 21’s root number is 3, the number of magic and storytelling, and our ruling number for March’s YOY card: The Empress. Work with her to cast spells of release and renewal, and rewrite narratives of hardship and doubt.
Ritual items to work with include: flowers (fresh or dried), citrus fruits, honey, wine, honey wine, clear or rutilated quartz, carnelian, and citrine.
Depending on the weather where you live, perhaps you’d like to take your spellwork outdoors in the sunlight, or shirk all sense of precision and simply commune with nature. Touch the bark of a tree, feel the wind on your skin, bury your toes in the dirt or sand. Witness the growth of plants and animal kin around you, noticing how much they’ve bloomed since the withering of winter. Drink water, feeling it rush from your lips, to your throat, and down into your belly to rejoin the rest of the living waters in your body.
Remember that you, too, are nature.
For more information on the Wheel of the Year, and creating your own rituals to acknowledge the passing of time and season, please consider my book, The Witch’s Book of Numbers: Enhance Your Magic with Numerology.
Announcing: Lore Books & Supplies!
You may know Siri Vincent Plouff from their course Radical Runes or their book with Cassandra Snow, Lessons from the Empress: A Tarot Workbook for Self-Care and Creative Growth, and it is now my express honor and pleasure to help spread the word about their latest offering: Lore Books & Supplies.
Lore is a pagan/folk magic business based in the Twin Cities and online. Eventually Lore will be a third space with a bookshop, cafe, academy, and a workshop where Siri will make all of the ritually crafted magical supplies. Lore’s focus is on helping people understand the intersection of culture and magic: whether that is through traditional folk culture or contemporary culture.
To patron Lore right away, please consider: