Patreon Topic 88: On Spring Equinox

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From Maleck comes this topic:

“Spring Equinox in your particular practice. Significance, rituals, mythology, etc?”

Because of my night job, getting the holidays off can be tricky, if not impossible. In my particular practice holidays are less of an important feature than the ongoing relationships I hold. The turning of the Wheel of the Year featured more prominently in my life when I was co-priest of an Aquarian Tabernacle Church affiliate, Crossroads Tabernacle Church. Still, Spring Equinox in general is a marking of the oncoming Summer, as in Old Norse culture there were just two major seasons, and I carry this into my modern Heathen understanding: Sumar and Vetr, Summer and Winter respectively. This Equinox I will be celebrating a Druid ritual of the holiday with Crossing Hedgerows Sanctuary and Farm.

Dísting or Dísirblót is the closest Heathen Holiday to it. Likewise, modern Sigrblót. While the Dísir feature heavily in my regular Ancestor cultus, this holy tide would be one where They would be a primary focus. Dísir are powerful women Ancestors, and this number can include Goddesses, both those familiar to us such as Frigg, Freyja, Skaði, or Angrböða, or less well-known Goddesses our ancient Ancestors knew but Whose names are lost to us. In this liminal time it is good to honor Them. For overviews from The Troth of Dísting, look here and Sigrblót look here. For overview of the Sigrblót from The Longship look here.

For my part, even those holidays I manage to celebrate on the day of, the ritual itself tends to follow many of my other rituals. It begins with a cleansing, then grounding, centering, and shielding. The centering phrase is usually something simple like “Celebrating the Equinox” or “Celebrating Dísting”. I open the ritual with the Fire Prayer, cleanse and consecrate the area to Them, and invite in the Dísir. I thank Them for Their blessings, make what offerings I have to make, and then cleanse the space once more with Sacred Fire, and thank Them for being part of the ritual. While the ritual itself is simple, sometimes after They are settled in They have things to say, and I either get my Runes or sit in sacred space with Them for awhile and listen. As with many of my holidays, when I get to celebrate them, they tend to be touchstones for communication and appreciation of the various Ginnreginn in my life.