Let’s Talk Witch – Sensing the Energies of the Seasons

Sensing the Energies of the Seasons

Have you ever tuned in to your intuition and noticed what different psychic energies are available to you during each of the four quarters of the year? Or are you too busy cursing at the weather and finding the whole thing a general inconvenience to your daily schedule? Yes, it is certainly easier to rhapsodize over a gorgeous spring day or a lovely autumn evening. But the seasons and their cycles each bring their own magick.

For example, this past winter was a gloomy one. It was on the dry side, and we didn’t get very much snow. We did, however, get more than our fair share of days when it was overcast, windy, and cold. Occasionally we would get a tease of spring, where milder temperatures prevailed. But the sporadic mild winter weather did make me appreciate the break in the temperatures. One late winter afternoon, I took advantage of the break and managed to sneak in some winter gardening. As the temperatures had hovered in the forties for a few days with a bit of rain, the ground was soft, and I was even able to get that last renegade bag of pink tulip bulbs planted.

It was muddy and chilly outside, and the gardens did not look especially pretty while I dug around. But the scent of the fresh-turned earth and the fragrance of last year’s fallen leaves were bracing. That day, I simply ignored the mud and felt my spirits lift. As I pulled back fallen leaves to dig the holes for my tulip bulbs, I discovered the earliest of the bright green shoots of my daffodils just breaking the ground. As I carefully dug around my other sleeping perennials, I made sure to cover back up those tender spears as I planted my tulip bulbs.

My husband walked outside to find me gently reminding the daffodils that we still had a ways to go before spring and to not be fooled by a midwinter thaw. When he asked what I was doing, I pulled back the leaves to show him the hints of spring green. His reaction was the same as mine had been— a big smile.

The halfway point between winter and spring, Imbolc, was only days away, and here was a physical reminder for both of us that the Wheel of the Year was indeed turning. And the two of us stayed there for a while, hunkered down next to the winter-dormant perennial beds, making sure the fallen autumn leaves were patted snugly back down to protect those shoots.

It was an excellent reminder for me that while that particular time of the year may not be especially pretty in the garden, there is still magick happening and plenty of natural energies to sense. Just remembering what it felt like to get in a bit of unexpected winter gardening cheered me right up. Plus knowing that the daffodils were waiting— not too patiently— to pop up and to welcome back the spring in another six weeks didn’t hurt either.

The trees and plants were still dormant, but change was coming. You could feel it in the air and sense it when you placed your hands on that water-logged garden soil. There had been a sleepy sort of vibe to nature at that time. But I was reminded on that midwinter afternoon that underneath those fallen leaves and brown grass, nature was just beginning to stir— and that was a creative type of energy that I could certainly put to good use in my magick.

—Ellen Dugan, Natural Witchery: Intuitive, Personal & Practical Magick