Spring – Yang rising and mothering ourselves and the earth

I wish you all a wonderful Spring equinox, if you live in the northern hemisphere, albeit a few days late. It was on 20^th March.

I hope that you are enjoying the spring and the increasing days of light. In Chinese medicine this is the time of the wood energy rising – new plants and shoots pushing through the soil. New life is arising from the darkness of the earth and the long winter nights. New hope is emerging. This is the Yang (wood) emerging out of the Yin and water of the winter.

At the equinox, day (Yang) and night (Yang) become more equal parts. As we move towards the next quarter of the year, the light (Yang) is increasing up to the longest day of the year -the summer solstice (20^th June).

This time of year is precious to me because my birthday is on 5^th March and my mother’s was on the 18^th March. The 18^{th of} March is usually close to Mother’s Day in the UK, which I know is a different timing from Mother’s Day in many other parts of the earth. Yet March Mother’s Day feels apt. It is a time when birds are laying their eggs and new chicks are being hatched. Now, where I am living in the Pyrenees in France, blackbirds have nested outside our back door and each day I enjoy seeing the new chicks grow and the care of the mother and father blackbird feeding their young.

My company is called Wellmother. I set it up in 1990 to support pregnant women and their partners to connect with each other and their babies. Now my work has expanded further to support us all, male, female, or non-binary to connect with “mothering” energy. For me this is about how we each nurture or mother ourselves and others as well as how we nurture or mother our connection to the earth, our great mother.

The main tools I use to support mothering ourselves and the earth are the Extraordinary Vessels. These powerful Vessels of Chinese medicine support us to feel at home in our bodies and in our world. I especially love the Penetrating Vessel – the sea of Blood. I have written a lot about these Vessels and nurturing. You could start with this Blog if you like.

We can nourish ourselves emotionally, but food is an important part of this. Recently I have become more interested in permaculture and how we can create sustainable and beautiful ways of growing our food. This close connection to earth and the world around us is part of Chinese medicine too. Medicine is probably too narrow a term to describe what is essentially a whole way of living in and perceiving the world.

I had time during the lockdown of 2020 to grow some vegetables in my garden. I realised how nourishing it was for me to nurture new life from seeds and then harvesting it and eating it. I want this to become more part of my life. This year I have again planted seeds to grow even more food in permaculture beds and to grow medicinal flowers and plants to create food forests.

Creating gardens and places where we can tend to our plants and ourselves is a powerful way to nourish ourselves emotionally and physically. As you watch the bursts of blossom on the fruit trees which will bear their fruits later in the year, blackthorn, hawthorn, cherry as well as the medicinal beautiful yellows and oranges of the calendula and blues of the borage plant I wish you well. May you enjoy this rising Spring energy of nourishment and new life.

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