Night Sky looking up — *Photo by Tim Foster via Unsplash*

Last night the sky was so clear that the waxing crescent moon shined as bright as if it were full, illuminating the trees and casting shadows across my gardens. I’ve missed the moon these past 18 months - only giving it fleeting glances now and again, before hurrying to work, study or sleep. I can’t remember the last time I sat with her and let her light wash over me- a simple little ritual I enjoy as a way to bring a sense of peace after a long day.

Now that nursing school is finished (graduation is this weekend!) I feel the slow comedown of completing a big task. The long exhale of a breath I’ve been holding for months. It is both exhilarating and unsettling. I feel as if I’ve entered a new life. Nursing school was one of those dividing life events of Before and After. You know, when you think of the way life was before I had kids or before COVID; or after my divorce, after my kids graduated. Life becomes a bifurcation of our own unique experiences.

Over the past 18 months I had to ignore my natural cadence to slow down in the colder months, because clinicals stop for no one - not even winter or perimenopause. I had to muscle through exhaustion and drag myself across multiple finish lines. All of which goes against the grain of my soul. Now comes the reckoning - my exhaustion has caught up with me and I find myself wanting to rest more than anything.

As part of reclaiming my energy and recalibrating to this new chapter of life, I’ve begun to find my way back to my spiritual path, which I largely left in order to concentrate on school. Like with the moon, I’ve barely been out in nature this season. Usually this time of year I’m eagerly looking for signs of spring - bird songs, daffodil leaves, a change in the slant of sunlight in my sitting room. I’m excited to have the time to do that once more. I worry my gardens will have forgotten me.

I’ve also begun slowly checking things off my post-nursing school list of all the things that have been on hold until I graduated. I’ve picked up my paints and started writing more - creative outlets that leave me energized and refreshed; I subscribed to a couple of ezines in an effort to do less doom scrolling on social media; I picked out new colors for my kitchen walls to refresh the space; and I’ve begun to very gently move my body more, slowly straitening it out from months hunched over a computer or text book.

As tired as I am, I welcome the energy shift that comes with springtime and the Season of the Maiden. I intend to rest as much as I can these last few weeks of winter and then go outside, play in the dirt, sit in the sun, and gently work on releasing the stagnant energy left behind by winter. The earth and I will wake up together this season.

Ostara Resource Guide

As part of my energy reset, I put together this guide for Ostara and the Spring Equinox. It includes some of my own writing and a free Ostara course with printables I’ve shared in previous years. It also has some recommended readings with links. I hope you find it helpful for your own Ostara and springtime celebrations.