Spring Equinox Magic for Witches: Rituals, Folklore, and Seasonal Correspondences
What is Spring Equinox?
Spring equinox is a time of promise and potential. The first hardy flowers open, and it’s the time of equal day and equal night. The sun rises due east and sets due west. The magical powers of day and night, sun and moon are balanced.
As I’ve mentioned in other places, there are not as many references to the equinoxes in the lore that was written down by early Christian monks in Nordic and Celtic traditions. But we know the Iron and Bronze Age peoples marked it. Loughcrew Megalithic Complex, Cairn T, known as the "Hag's Cairn," marked the equinoxes, and probably other sites had alignments as well.
In many parts of the north, it was the start of planting season. In many monotheistic religions, major holidays are dated using lunar and spring equinox timing. And for many centuries, it was the start of the new year.
All this means that magically, it’s the perfect time to launch new projects. Our ideas and visions show their potential, and new possibilities emerge. This is a time to honor budding abundance. So I think of it as the opening of the time we can call on seasonal magic and the land to boost our abundance spells.
Spring Equinox Magical Correspondences
· Fertility
· Rebirth
· Renewal
· Abundance
· Potential
· Possibilities
Spells and charms using any of these themes can be created. I like using soft colors and pale sun-related colors for my altar cloths and candles. But use what feels right to you.
Physical altar objects include spring flowers, which carry strong resilience and protective energies as well as new growth magic. In more recent European folk magic, eggs for new life, rabbits and hares for prolific regeneration, and birds have become common.
Working with the Energy of the Spring Equinox
I think of the equinox as being represented by the first quarter or waxing half moon. I don’t work as much with those phases except during the equinoxes, and I tend to do a lot of spells asking for balance in whatever areas of my life need it.
Another way I think about the seasons and their holidays is as life phases. To me, spring is a toddler to early adolescent life phase. Sunny and happy one moment, and stormy the next. This life phase is all about learning to engage our will and lean into all the possibilities life offers.
If you are a beginner witch or even intermediate, it’s a good time to start to branch out and explore your potential. In spring, we are motivated to move forward, engage, get things done, and we find that we can harness our will to achieve our desires. As witches, the season reminds us that combining our personal will with the power we access can create change. And change is so very needed right now.
Spring Equinox Spell for Balance and New Beginnings
Spring can be a powerful personal and magical crossroads if you live where the earth is showing signs of rebirth.
Intention: To open to our potential and start to engage our will to achieve what we came here to do.
Create a simple spell plate or altar
Place a symbol or drawing of the sun above, and the moon below
To either side, place spring greenery and flowers
In the center, place a glass of water and a candle
If you are completely new to this idea, you can place some mugwort to call in more psychic abilities. Add whatever divination tools you use to the altar so they can help you learn more or show you signs and dreams.
Do whatever you normally do to start your witchcraft. Light the candle, speak your intention, drink half the glass of water, and offer the other half to the earth. Let the candle burn all the way out.
Elder in Spring Witchcraft
If you struggle to connect with your will, elder can be helpful. When used with a clear heart, mind, and intent, elder can help us engage our will. This is an extremely powerful plant. Only use it with very clear intent.
You might choose to lay some elder sticks on your altar if you have any. The sticks are the most effective, but elder doesn’t like her wood being harvested unless she gives consent. The traditional belief is that you call her by one of her old names, such as Eldamor, and ask if you can harvest some of her wood. She will give consent by holding absolutely still. If you don’t have access or she doesn’t grant permission, you can buy some elder berries and start to use them in teas or on your altar as a way to honor her and get to know her.
Green Witchery and Spring Health Practices
Spring can be challenging to our bodies as the weather swings wildly between sunshine and the last of the dark half of the year’s cold and damp. In some areas, pollen is in the air. Keeping our respiratory, kidney, and liver systems strong can keep us healthy now and later in the year.
Focus on moving lymph with hydrotherapy, movement, etc. Using spring tonic greens like dandelion and chickweed is important. You may wish to do a mild spring cleanse, focusing on garden weeds that you harvest while holding that intention. This helps your body move out of the sluggishness of winter’s hibernation.
Earth-Based Spring Witchcraft Practices
Honoring animal cycles by leaving gifts for bird nests, dedicating a wild spot in your yard for wild spirits, honoring the balance between birth and death, and eco-activism spells.
Elemental Rituals for the Spring Equinox
One of the rituals I’ve created is an annual offering and thanking of the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. As climate change accelerates, the elemental spirits make wilder swings trying to rebalance what is happening.
I’ll turn in each direction or just stand in the center, and I’ll offer a song or chant, or an offering blend I made of herbs. You can also just very informally speak your appreciation and offer them support in doing their job to keep life here balanced. I also thank the spirits of place and ask them to help me with this work.
Spring Deities and Seasonal Spirits
Deities are never just about one thing. They are complex and nuanced. My ancestors often thought of spring deities as maiden or son aspects, or deities associated with new growth, beauty, flowers, or renewal. But that is not true in all areas.
Some cultures don’t have a “spring” season or deities associated with it. It is different everywhere, and much has been lost. Persephone is an example of a Greek deity strongly associated with spring. I’ll write more in a separate blog.
For now, I’m wishing all of you an abundant and vibrant spring, and may the crossroads of spring bring the world a vision of beauty, equity, abundance, and justice.
Blessings on your Path
Colette Gardiner
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