March is a Time for Renewal
By Lorri Amsden
“Life on Earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings.” ~Rachel Carson
When early man settled an area that allowed plant life to flourish, agricultural societies prospered allowing for the pursuit of higher ideas. In areas where grain could thrive, civilizations grew, cultivating religion with man’s evolving ability to sense the changing seasons and note the motions of the celestial bodies.
To the ancients, bountiful grain fields were a sign of health and harmony. A Sumerian tablet from 260 B.C. lists the crops as rice, soy, wheat, barley and millet and from the cultivation of these five sacred grains, a rich culture was established as deities of local power sprang up with symbols central to the agricultural cycles.
The agriculture year falls into four quarters based on the movements of the sun at the solstices and equinoxes. The ancients marked these days heralding the seasons beginning with feast days naming them: Imbolc or Candlemas, the return of light in the longer days and lactating ewes. Beltane or May Day, coinciding with the sprouting of the first crops and the birth of farm animals. Lammas the first fruits festival and Samhain or Summers end the final harvest of the crops before the time of cold and want. Under the growing pressures of the Catholic Church, the old feast days became Ember Days; or days for fasting and self-denial but paganism persisted until many of the old gods were canonized into Saints and the pagan symbols and rituals over-laid the new celebrations especially apparent in Christmas, Easter and Halloween.
Easter or Ostara is a celebration of the arrival of spring or Vernal Equinox on March 21. This is the time when light and darkness are in balance, yet the light is growing stronger by the day. This is a time of renewal. A time to celebrate fertility as life re-awakens. Also known as Oestara or Eostre’s Day, Rite of Eostre, Alban Eilir, Festival of the Trees and Lady Day, this ancient holiday precedes the Christian holiday Easter. The name for this Sabbat actually comes from that of the Teutonic lunar Goddess, Eostre and her chief symbols are the bunny and the egg.
This is a time of renewal, a time when life reawakens and all is new. This month is the perfect time for you to become an all new, better and improved, you. Look in the mirror and decide what is important to you. Write your goals for this year down and post it where you can see it every day. Take time to sort out what is important to you and put your energy toward its realization.
