A Ready to Bloom Ritual to Welcome Spring
From a psychological perspective, ritual helps unite the hemispheres of our brain and creates more mind-body-soul-spirit unity. From a spiritual perspective, rituals help realign us energetically and enhance our connection to the Divine/Source/Universe/Earth's natural rhythms. Actively observing and participating in this cyclical way of being connects us more deeply to the world around us and also to our own spirit.
The fall (autumnal) and spring (vernal) equinoxes are the two days each year when day and night are at their most equal lengths, placing focus on balance and equal parts shadow and light / giving and receiving. Traditionally, springtime in the northern hemisphere has represented rebirth, renewal, new life, hope and a literal springing to life of activity in the world around us.
This Spring, I will be celebrating receptivity, newness and making space for the unknown. I feel as though I've spent the past few years cultivating really rich soil and I'm finally ready to bloom!
Your intention may be different. As always, please take anything you read here as inspiration and tailor it to your individual needs, taking what resonates with you in the moment you are experiencing now.
If you're not quite yet feeling fully in bloom, you can modify this ritual and plant seeds in soil or in a pot instead (hold each intention in your heart as described below as you place each seed).
For some other accessible spring ritual ideas, you can check out this post.
Full Bloom Ritual:
- Gather your supplies. You'll need a large bowl filled halfway with water, 4-12 de-stemmed blooms of your favorite flower(s), your favorite essential oils and any additional crystals, candles or herbs you'd like to work with. For this ritual, I recommend using crystals that work in harmony with the energies of love, joy, gratitude, abundance, balance, personal power and creativity such as rose quartz, emerald, jade, garnet, carnelian, flower agate, citrine, tiger eye, pink or green calcite, larimar and amazonite. Egg-shaped crystals will be particularly potent for this ritual as they represent rebirth, new beginnings and renewal. Make sure any crystals you use are cleansed and activated. Notes: Roses are said to have the highest vibration of any flower.
- Find a comfortable seat on the ground on a yoga mat, pillow or cushion - either inside in front of a window or outside if weather permits. You may want to place a rolled blanket underneath your sits bones to help support you and keep your pelvic bowl and spine in alignment. Arrange your supplies as desired around your space with the bowl of water directly in front of you. You can scatter your crystals around your legs, tuck them into your shirt so they're resting by your heart or just keep them close on your mat.
- Anoint your heart with your oils of choice - I love orange for abundance, vanilla for sweetness, lime for love of life, magnolia for its feminine, uplifting qualities, ylang ylang for playfulness and rose, geranium and gardenia for love (mix your blend in a bottle with grapeseed, jojoba or fractionated coconut oil or just apply directly). Using your fingers or a cotton ball, apply the oil mix in a clockwise direction over your heart.
- If working with candles, you can light them now (use white candles for fresh starts, yellow candles to enhance personal power, green candles for abundance, pink candles for love and harmony, and orange for joy & creativity).
- Choose an intention for the next three months & hold it in your heart.
- Take at least 5 deep, slow, clearing breaths - allowing each exhale to create space in the areas in which you observe tension being held. Savor the sensation of feeling grounded with every inhale and then expansive as each exhale lifts your heart and increases flow of your prana, or life force through the body. Feel free to close your eyes, or if you prefer not to - keep your gaze soft.
- Call to mind three things you're grateful for - you can pause here in meditation with hands at heart center or just lovingly remember them. Let this fill you up so that the feeling of gratitude and abundance is spilling into every cell of your body.
- Now call to mind your three favorite memories of the first three months of the year. Pause and reflect on these moments in vivid detail. Let these memories light up your heart! Find a gentle smile and notice that this smile brings a new lightness to your heart.
- Call into your heart three things that you love about yourself and take this time to send yourself some sacred self-love and appreciation. Marinate in these feelings for as long as you'd like.
- Envision an experience, project, goal or vision you'd like to create, attain or complete in the springtime months, paying special attention to how these experiences will feel in your body and in your environment and imagine them in specific detail as they occur to you. When you feel ready, place your first bloom into the water, holding this intention and vision in your mind's eye and heart. (Check out this instagram post for some ways to get extra clear about how this will feel and look in your life).
- Repeat these steps as needed for each intention or experience you're calling for the next three months. With each bloom placed, concentrate on creating more of these beautiful, inspired, harmonious and love-filled moments through experiences and relationships that bring you closer to who you want to be.
- Extinguish candles and close with an offering of gratitude for all that you've experienced and all that has led you to where you are now. Savor how far you've come and return often to the feeling of abundant expansiveness that you just created within yourself.
What's your favorite part of Spring? In what ways will you celebrate?
Leave a comment
Also in Self-Care Sunday Blog Posts
New Year Sweetness
- Gather your supplies. You'll need a large bowl filled halfway with water and 4-12 de-stemmed blooms of your favorite flower(s). Notes: Roses are said to have the highest vibration of any flower.
- Find a comfortable seat on the ground on a yoga mat or cushion - either inside or outside. You may want to place a rolled blanket underneath your sits bones to help support you and keep your pelvic bowl and spine in alignment. Arrange your supplies as desired around your space with the bowl of water directly in front of you.
The Energetics of Chasing
Whether it’s love, good health, a solid relationship, serenity, freedom, a title, respect, or a certain number in the bank or on the scale - anything you chase will always be outside of you.
Apart from you.
A Perpetual Separation.
The energy of chasing by nature keeps you in pursuit and the desired "thing" running away from you. This creates more resistance & frustration and actually widens the gap between you and what you want.
Andrea Pacini
Author