Getting Ready for Spring

Back in December I did a post on getting ready for winter. You can read that here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/12/getting-ready-for-winter.html

Now that spring is coming (in the Northern Hemisphere, those in the Southern might like the winter post), it's time to do one on preparing for spring. Well, you could say spring is already here because like with winter (see linked post), there are two days considered to be the official start of spring- "meteorological spring" which is 1st March and "astronomical spring" which is on 20th March. The 2nd one is also the date of Oestara aka the Spring Equinox, which is always around this date. You can read more about it here: https://www.kentlive.news/whats-on/whats-on-news/first-day-spring-2018-1239047

My birthday is actually on 1st March and I like to think that it's in spring, but it's only really the very beginning of spring and technically the end of winter. I was born in Swaziland in Southern Africa though, and their seasons are different, so I was born towards the end of summer there!

Right now I'm ready for winter to be over, lol. I'm more of a summer/warm weather person and don't like the cold. However, since we don't get snow very often it is nice to get it for a change and we've just had a lot of snow in the UK. When I started this it was the coldest week in February in 5 years and it seemed ironic to be writing about spring! Some days it was around -2C (around 28F) and colder at night. Now it's warming up a bit with daytime temperatures around 7C. So it's starting to feel more like spring!

Here's a post on preparing for spring (by Leandra, the same woman who wrote the one on preparing for winter which I  included in the Getting Ready for Winter post): http://themagickkitchen.com/preparing-spring/

As with the winter one it's from a spiritual/magical perspective but has some tips that anyone can use, regardless of their beliefs. :)

No. 1 is about cleaning. This is the time of year for spring cleaning, when people tend to feel inspired to get the house in order and refresh things after the winter. In particular I need to concentrate on my bedroom and the kitchen. I'll share some spring cleaning links later in this post. :)

No. 2. (Cleansing Energy and Implementing Change) is another good one. As well as physical cleaning and clearing you can do some internal work on yourself. Leandra shares a visualisation at the end of the post (I might try this). A great book for magical tips for your home is Magical Housekeeping by Tess Whitehurst.

Next up here is a post from The Seasonal Soul on manifesting an abundant spring: http://www.theseasonalsoul.com/manifest-an-abundant-spring/

It's written in relation to the full moon which we've just had, but you can still try the ideas. If you want to follow the moon cycles this site has them listed at the side of their homepage (UK times): http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/the_wheel_of_the_year/

And this website has moon phases for worldwide locations: http://www.moongiant.com/moonphases/


The next new moon is 17th March (UTC) so you might like this post on a spring New Moon ritual for new beginnings: http://www.theseasonalsoul.com/new-moon-ritual-new-beginnings/

The first suggestion in the Manifest an Abundant Spring article is Do Something That Scares You. This is hard for me, especially with having anxiety, I struggle with change. New experiences can be fun though. I would say that if you can't cope with doing something really scary right now, just try something that's a bit different, take baby steps. I just finished a Food and Mood course at a local mental health resource centre. That was quite difficult for me at first, going to a new place and meeting new people but I enjoyed it and learnt some new things. I'm glad I did it. I'm due to start a Stress and Anxiety course this week.

So you could do something like try a new food, restaurant or course/class. I went out for a meal with my belly dance group to a Turkish restaurant on Saturday and although we've been out for meals before, I was nervous because we hadn't done it for ages. I had fun though. I'm also going to a Bollywood dance workshop at the end of the week in a place I've never been to before. So just smaller things like that can make a difference and then you can work up to the bigger things. :)

I like No. 3 as well, writing yourself a letter to let go of the old parts of yourself. I'm going to try that.


Tess Whitehurst writes about 5 magical activities you can do for spring here: https://tesswhitehurst.com/5-simple-magical-activities-for-spring/

Update 24/2/22: This seems to redirect to a different article now,  the one about spring cleaning listed below. Not sure why!

No.1 is about clearing and organising your bookshelf. I actually need a new bookshelf because the shelves on mine broke and can't hold too many books, so a lot of them are in carrier bags! I went through some of my books last month (inspired by an exercise in Michelle Martin Dobbins' Be Magic in 2018 course) where I chose a theme to focus on each month, and the home was the February theme) but I need to carry on with it. And I was just thinking earlier about looking for a new bookshelf.

No 2 is choosing intentions and planting seeds. If you're into setting intentions it's a good time of year to set some new ones, or go over your old ones and see if you need to let them go. Tess suggests physically planting seeds to grow your intentions symbolically. I wrote a bit about intentions in this post on my other blog: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/12/letting-go-of-2017.html


And then I also like this article  which is about self care ideas for spring: http://wholeheartedlylaura.com/2017/02/self-care-ideas-spring.html

My fave tips are Declutter + Clean, and Consciously increase your fresh veggies. I'm trying to eat more healthily since doing the Food and Mood course and it gave me an opportunity to try new foods such as Whole Earth peanut butter (which I'd been meaning to try for ages but never got round to), sauerkraut, almond butter and sourdough bread. I used to eat more apples but got out of the habit of it, so I plan to start eating more again and also try new vegetables.



Spring Cleaning

If you feel like doing some spring cleaning you might find these posts useful:

 https://honestmum.com/spring-cleaning-tips/

https://youngwifesguide.com/spring-cleaning-101-planning-out-the-basics/

A magical twist on spring cleaning: https://tesswhitehurst.com/10-ways-to-make-spring-cleaning-more-magical/

All about tidying up your digital files: http://apinchoffaith.com/digital-spring-cleaning/*

Finally this one's about spring cleaning your life in general: http://www.lifestyleinspire.com/5-ways-to-spring-clean-your-life/


I especially like No. 4 in the last post (Get Rid of Negativity). That's an important one to do.


Notice signs of spring

This is something I mentioned in my Imbolg Celebration Ideas post in late January. I noticed some daffodils in Jan, which was early and there were some in Hove Park later on but I think they've died with the recent cold! The photo above was taken towards the end of February.

Here is a picture from Hove Park when the snow was melting last week:

Still quite a wintry looking scene but we probably won't get any more snow here in Sussex now. The trees aren't budding yet but hopefully it won't be long till some of them start.


Since the nights are still chilly and probably will be for a while yet, you may want to try out some of these winter drinks as you transition into spring: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/01/winter-drinks.html

And for more spring inspiration check out my Pinterest boards.

Seasonal: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/moonsparkle84/seasonal/

Various Seasons (Spring section): https://www.pinterest.co.uk/moonsparkle84/various-seasons/spring/


Hope this has given you some ideas on getting ready for spring. Have a great start to spring (or autumn depending where you live)! :)

*3/2/20: Site now gone.