Traveling the Wheel: Aries Season and The Spring Equinox
On choosing a starting place and nourishing our seeds
Where does one begin a circular journey? It’s a question that can stop you before you ever start, worrying over where to begin counting your steps, the seasons, or the days. As Evelyn Eaton writes in her memoir The Shaman and the Medicine Wheel, “Journeys start from where we are. Everything starts from where we are. Where we are is where we’re supposed to be.” So it is here that I will begin.
As I’ve let myself slow down over the last year to feel the Earth under my feet, watch the Moon cycle overhead, and learn the changing patterns of the trees, I have found myself paying closer attention to where I am situated on any number of great wheels. My body and mind shift along with the rest of Nature through seasons of growth, abundance, retraction, and renewal. The astrological calendar allows me to consider different aspects of my own psyche as they rise and fall in prominence. Seasonal rituals provide opportunities to celebrate joys, grieve losses, and plant seeds for future bounty.
I am beginning Traveling the Wheel: a monthly series of writings and art exploring seasonal, astrological, and mythical correspondences today because it is the first day of Aries season, the beginning-again of the wheel of the Western zodiac. It is also the Spring Equinox, when we hover at the threshold of lengthening days and the warming sun. Where I live in the Hudson Valley, the first blooms of spring have started to burst forth: Violet, Crocus, and Narcissus in startling eruptions of purple, yellow, and white. The first crocus to emerge in my backyard managed to grow straight through a maple leaf that stood between it and the warm light of the sun. Now that’s what I call Aries energy.
It’s nearly the end of maple sugaring season here, where the changing pressure of freezing nights and warming days sends sap coursing down the trunk of the Sugar Maple. While delivering a delicious treat, this also reminds us that transitions don’t always happen smoothly. They can feel jarring and uncomfortable, and come in stops and starts, but they get things flowing. The sun’s warmth wakes the dormant, frozen, parts of us and says, “Grow!”
Now is a good time to clear away old dead matter, refreshing the homes we make in the world and in our hearts. Take a moment to think of the germ of an idea, a wish, a hope, or a prayer. No matter how big or small, this seed is ready to wake up inside you. Feel the warmth of the sun flooding you and reaching all the way down to the hidden places where you bury your deepest desires. It is time now. Consider what stands in the way of that yearning shoot: doubts, fears, other people’s words, old ideas that no longer serve you? Imagine yourself gently brushing them away. You’ll find it doesn’t take much force. You’re ready. Feel the gratitude of your prayer, your hope, your dream as it drinks in more of the sun’s nourishing warmth. Welcome its eventual blooming.
Aries is a cardinal fire sign ruled by Mars, described by Britten LaRue in her book Living Astrology as “a fervent impulse desiring direction and release.” Think of the ram charging forth, the sap surging through the maple, the crocus bursting through the leaf. I’ve chosen to direct some of my vernal Aries energy towards this project, and I hope it will carry me through the harder and slower parts of the year. Wherever you choose to direct this energy, there are herbal allies waking up right now that can sustain us and help us stay the course.
Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) grows wild in early spring, one of the first edible and medicinal plants to emerge in my area. The genus name, Urtica, is derived from the Latin “uro”, meaning “I burn”. The sharp needle-like crystals dotting the plant give it its famous sting, and establish its association with warlike Mars and aggressive Aries. But Stinging Nettle isn’t all bite. It is extremely nourishing and is a good source of calcium, iron, protein, and especially vitamin A. That needle-sharpness can help us sharpen our vision, both externally and internally. Nettle loses its sting when cooked and can be incorporated into salads and soups, dried and drunk as a tea, or left to steep overnight to create a fortifying infusion. Consider letting it support you this season and throughout the year as you tend to the seeds of your dreams.
As I come to the end of this entry, I am reminded of a seed that was planted in me a few days after my 28th birthday in September of 2017. I was confronting the dissolution of my engagement and facing a major turning point in my life. I had flown to Las Vegas to rent a car and planned to drive to meet my parents at Lake Powell. On the way I stopped at the Valley of Fire State Park to take in some local sights. There were few other people around as I drove slowly through the park, stopping to examine petroglyphs and mounds of red rock. As I made my way towards the Seven Sisters natural formation I was stunned to see a magnificent bighorn sheep standing just off the road ahead. It stood so still that I almost thought it was a statue, but as we regarded each other I knew that something deep and unknown in me had been recognized.
When I reached the Seven Sisters formation I looked out into the canyons below and knew, suddenly and surely, that all life was connected and that I was part of something much bigger than myself. The soil of my soul was not rich enough then for this knowing to take root, but the seed waited patiently for the conditions of my heart to change. Now as I enrich myself with the wisdom and love of spiritual allies both human and non-human, that seed has finally begun to sprout. Thank you for bearing witness to its flowering. I hope that you might find something in these words and images to awaken your own dormant seedlings or strengthen your already mighty blooms.
Each entry in the Traveling the Wheel series will conclude with a collage that encapsulates some of the themes I have explored. The first piece is below.
Further reading:
Urtica dioica – The Stinging Nettle, “Weed of Mars” Or The Fire In The Garden: https://www.theoldcraft.com/2018/04/03/urtica-dioica-stinging-nettle-weed-mars-fire-garden/
What a powerful image of the flower emerging through the dying/dead leaf. Proof that nothing can stop new life!
Thank you for sharing this with us… the world.
Beautiful 😍