Journey To The Soul

Blooming Where You're Planted: A Seasonal Guide to Spring

• Jacenda Villa

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The world around us is awakening, and with it comes an invitation to align our lives with spring's natural rhythm of renewal. After winter's necessary hibernation, we're now entering a season brimming with fresh energy and possibilities. Unlike the somewhat forced productivity push of January, spring offers a more organic time to set intentions and embark on new beginnings.

This episode explores the rich cultural traditions celebrating the spring equinox around the world. From the ancient Pagan goddess Ostara, honored with communal feasts and bonfires to commemorate increasing light and fertility, to Japan's national holiday Shunbun no Hi that kicks off the magical but fleeting cherry blossom season. These celebrations remind us that humans have always marked this seasonal transition as significant—a time when the natural world shifts from dormancy to vibrant growth.

When we recognize ourselves as cyclical beings, constantly changing like the seasons, we can work with nature's energy rather than against it. Winter's quiet introspection prepares us for spring's surge of creativity and inspiration. Discover practical ways to honor this seasonal transition: taking nature walks, bringing flowers indoors, creating a spring altar, eating seasonal foods, setting fresh intentions, or planting seeds both literally and metaphorically. By tuning into spring's natural rhythms, we reconnect with the world around us and tap into our own innate capacity for renewal and growth. What seeds will you plant this season?

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Speaker 1:

Hello, my loves, welcome to this week's episode. I hope you are all enjoying the first few weeks of spring so far. Isn't it so amazing to see how the world around us is constantly changing? Springs is one of my favorite seasons. I have a hard time choosing between spring and fall. They're like right next to each other. But spring is one of my favorite times of the year and I wanted to share with you all some of the ways that you can celebrate spring and welcome spring in and really get the most out of this beautiful season.

Speaker 1:

The spring equinox was on April 20th, actually, and it's a time when the day and night are the same length, and before this the night was longer, which is something categorized of us being in winter. But April 20th was the first time in weeks, months, where the day and the night are the same length, and it's also from this moment forward until the summer solstice that every day, our days slowly get longer. We have more sunlight. We have those later sunsets, so spring is this time where we are more in the light, and the spring equinox is also sometimes known as Ostara. For anyone that's listening, that may follow the wheel of the year. It's the official first day of spring in the wheel of the year, and Ostara is also a pagan holiday. Ostara is actually a goddess. She is the goddess of fertility and spring and she is celebrated during the spring equinox. That's why they have the same name and in the old times what they would do during this celebration, during the celebration of Ostara, is they would have a seasonal feast of some sort and a fire, like a bonfire, and everyone would be there, everyone that was in the village. It was like a communal thing and it would be to commemorate her, the goddess Ostara, for increasing light and the fertility that comes with spring, which was also more food. Right Back in the day, you know, winter was a time when it would be a time of just deep hibernation for everyone. There was only so much food that you can eat right, there was rations, things like that. People would only venture out during the daylight hours. So Ostara was the initiation of them, for this new light, for possibility, for more food, and it's still celebrated in many parts all over the world. And it's still celebrated in many parts all over the world. It's something that you can see still more traditional celebrations in what's now Ireland or Scotland or the UK, but different cultures from all over celebrate this change in the season as well, celebrate this change in the season as well. And I was in Japan just a few days ago and we happened to be there for the spring equinox, and I didn't know until that day actually, when our guide was mentioning to us that it was a national holiday and that everyone has this holiday and it's called the vernal equinox and in Japanese it's called shunbun no hi. I believe I'm pronouncing that correct and again, it's another celebration for this beautiful changing of the season, and for them it marks the beginning of many things Of course, the changing of the new season, but also the initiation of sakura season, which is the Japanese cherry blossom season in Japan. And this is something that people all over Japan look forward to and anticipate as it gets closer and closer to spring.

Speaker 1:

The cherry blossoms in Japan. They actually only are in bloom for a couple weeks at a time throughout the whole year, which is mostly typically April, but most cherry blossoms will bloom for two weeks and that's it basically. They won't bloom again till next year, and there's cherry blossoms and plum trees all over Japan. Japan's such a beautiful country, full of so much nature and mountains and flowers. So during the spring, during April, typically, you can just see the cherry blossoms in full bloom all over Japan, which is a beautiful way to celebrate and enjoy the first few days of this equinox and for this public holiday, what the Japanese do, it's really just a time to celebrate their love of nature. So most people will spend the day outside or in a garden, somewhere immersed in nature. They will also enjoy some cherry blossom treats, some plum treats, treats that are only seasonal as well, because now the cherry blossoms aren't seasonal.

Speaker 1:

In Japan, you can find a lot of cherry blossom flavored sweets like mochi or ice cream or cookies, just about everything. But right now you can really get the most of it, and on this day, while we were there, it was just so amazing to see because everyone is just sitting outside in gardens or just walking about in shrines and enjoying the sun and the first little inklings of spring being there, the trees blooming, and I feel like this time of year, this change where we're slowly getting into the warmer months, I feel like for a lot of people throughout the world, this could feel more like the initiation of a new year, and for people who do follow the wheel of the year. This would be the start of a new year for them, but I feel like for most of us it can be where we naturally have, or begin to have, more energy after the winter, because the winter is such a different feeling to this. It has such a different energy, and I feel like we're all kind of just waking up after our own slumber the last couple of months, the last couple of weeks, and for me this feels most aligned. Actually, I take the first few weeks of the year quite easy, kind of dipping my toes into the energy of the year, feeling it out, recuperating after the holidays. Just like the world around us, right Like half of the animals are in hibernation, the trees are still sleeping, you know, everything around us is so quiet and still and asleep, and I think a lot of us feel that way too, and with very good reason. There's a lot of reasons for that. The decreased sunlight during the winter plays a big role in that, but it's also just our natural rhythms if we actually pay attention to them.

Speaker 1:

And I wanted to share with you some of the benefits of aligning with the energy of the seasons, because right now we're getting ready to welcome spring, and soon summer will come, and then autumn and then winter, and each one of these seasons has something different to offer us. It has something different to teach us, to share with us, and I feel like if we really enjoyed each season for what it brought, we would naturally feel like we are more in flow with the world around us. It's about working with the energy of the world around us and not fighting it, because sometimes it's like at the beginning of the new year we might have feel the need whether that comes from our mind or the outside world to start the year off super strong and to do all of these things and to hit the ground running, and that might not feel natural for many of us. And if we look at the seasons and align ourselves with the seasons, we can see that that's not exactly what's going on in the world around us. And if we could learn to work with every season, that might actually be more beneficial to us, because when we are in spring or summer or fall, we are making the most out of those seasons. And this also allows you to see that you are a cyclical being. You are constantly changing and evolving, just as the seasons do, just as the world around us is constantly changing and evolving, you will also just naturally become more in tune with nature, which is never a bad thing. Nature has so much that it could teach us. It's something that we should honestly pay attention more to.

Speaker 1:

I think that we have lost touch with being more in tune with the natural world and, like I was mentioning this transition from winter to spring, if we look at it, winter is more inward focused energy, and this is perfect. After the holidays, after all the socializing, the partying, the going out and doing this and doing that, there's so much going on from after Thanksgiving, basically, to right up to the new year we're just going, going, going, and after the holidays, I feel like everyone just wants to stop, slow down, just be at home a little bit more, not do as much. And this is exactly what the world around us is doing, what nature is doing, what the animals are doing. They are getting ready to go into a deep breath, to prepare themselves for hibernation, and that is something that we naturally want to do as well during the winter months, and winter is perfect for us to just be for a while, to just rest, to recuperate. This is really a time for stillness, to release and to contemplate. It's a time for you to think about everything that's happened in the year so far and to kind of gather yourself for whatever it is that you want for the year to come.

Speaker 1:

So it's a very different energy that we're walking into now with spring, because spring has this fresh and vibrant energy. It's a time when we're building back up after our deep rest. To me it kind of actually feels like a Monday, and I love Mondays for some reason. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that I was born on a Monday, but I love the start of a new beginning, like starting fresh. And spring to me feels like that, and it's a time for us to begin again. It's a time for new growth, for opportunity for renewal. And if you pay attention again to the natural world just like we can see it during the winter, of the little animals getting ready to hibernate, the trees losing all of their leaves they're getting ready for a deep sleep too we can also see the changes in the natural world for spring. The flowers are slowly starting to bloom, the trees are beginning to gain color again. They're becoming vibrant, more green. We're being gifted with more light in our day. It's a change that just happens right, and this energy that spring brings it manifests within us during this time as inspiration, a time for transformation or rejuvenation.

Speaker 1:

This is an incredible time for you to set new intentions, to begin a new project, to water something that you have been wanting to work on. It's a time for you to plant new seeds, some ways that you can celebrate spring while it's here, because it's going, gonna keep going and eventually summer will come. But while spring is here, you could go out for nature, walks, just being outside as much as possible, and I feel like we just want to do that anyways, especially if you live in places with a colder winter where, after the winter, all you want to do is feel the sun on your skin, or to just go outside. If you haven't been able to go outside as much, it's just something that we want to do. So on the days where it's warmer, wherever you are, just go outside, be with nature, listen to the leaves rustling, go, look at the bees buzzing or the flowers blooming. It's just a time for you to be able to deeply connect with the world around you.

Speaker 1:

You could also bring spring inside. There's lots of ways that you can do this, but you could pick some flowers and make your own flower arrangement, or just buy some flowers and have some flowers laying out around the house. Have some flowers laying out around the house. You could also create a spring altar with some spring flowers, crystals, herbs. The spring altar could also work if you want to celebrate Ostara, which I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, which is the goddess of fertility. She's the one being celebrated during the spring equinox and you can celebrate Ostara by creating a spring altar. You could also celebrate it by sharing a seasonal meal with someone by lighting a candle.

Speaker 1:

It's a new light, new initiation right, new energy that we're welcoming in and just giving thanks for the spring and all that is to come, this beautiful season. It's really a time to just be eternally grateful for, you know, the dark winter that was here and the light that is upon us once again. It's also a perfect time for you to detox in all aspects of life. This is about making space for a new energy, and you can do this in so many different ways. It can be physically, like doing a sauna or lymphatic drainage, to literally something like spring cleaning. That's why it's something that we hear a lot. It's tied to spring because it's about removing clutter, removing stagnant energy to welcome in new things. So think about all the different areas of your life that you can detox. What aspect of your life could you perhaps do a little detox on? Maybe it's mentally or spiritually or literally cleaning out some aspect of your space, your home. Now is the perfect time to do that.

Speaker 1:

You could also eat some seasonal foods. Look at what is in season where you live right now. In spring, it's going to be lighter foods that are going to be coming back into the markets, like asparagus, peas, fennel, lemon greens, and play with spring flavors in the kitchen. Bake a lemon loaf, make a beautiful salad with all the beautiful lighter foods that you can eat right now.

Speaker 1:

Like I mentioned before, setting new intentions for the year this seems more natural to me than doing it at the start of the year. This is actually when I feel more inclined to set goals for the year or intentions. If I'm going to do it, and if you set goals at the start of the year, this is a great time to revisit them. But, like I mentioned, this is kind of where we naturally feel like we start having more energy. The first couple weeks of the year, the first couple of months, really, we don't feel as energized as we do throughout other parts of the year, and it's because most of us need to take a little bit of time after the year has started. So, if setting goals at the beginning of the year has never really felt right for you, you should play around with maybe setting some intentions during the spring, because, again, this is all about celebrating the new possibilities, the opportunity, so I would encourage you to give it a try.

Speaker 1:

If you never have, you could also start a new project, and this could be a home project, maybe cleaning out a closet or organizing something that you wanted to do, or a passion project that you've been wanting to try or put your energy into. This is a perfect time to start focusing on that. If you've been wanting to start a photography business, thinking about all the ways that you can bring that into life right now. It's about making most out of this inspiration and rejuvenating energy that's coming through. You could also plant some flowers or a tree to celebrate the spring, and a beautiful way that you can do this, if you choose to do this, is to actually think about the intentions or the project or just anything that you are planting for this year or this season. While you plant the flowers and you can put some seeds in the soil and then you could water them and think about how you can water those new seeds that you have planted, not just literally but also symbolically, using this ritual of planting the seeds for you to also plant any other seeds of intention for any other aspect of life that you want to plant this season.

Speaker 1:

I hope you guys enjoyed this little episode celebrating the start of this beautiful season. I would love to know if you have your own rituals, that perhaps you do things that you love to do when spring comes about. Please share them with me if you do. I hope that this inspires you to make the most out of the wonderful energy that is here for us to lean into if we want to, because it really is such a beautiful time to start again, to finally get some energy, some rigor. If you feel like maybe the beginning of the year you were kind of just not full of energy, maybe leaning into this energy a little bit more and just enjoying it and enjoying what the season brings the food, the flowers, the light, the warmth, the laughs, making the most of it, because it really is such a beautiful time of the year and I am sending you all so much love and light.