How to Celebrate the Spring Equinox on your Own

The Spring Equinox is tomorrow. Because we are all being encouraged to use social distancing at the moment, here are things you can do at home to celebrate the time of balance. As well as coming up with some suggestions myself, I asked my fellow Moon Books authors what they recommend as a solitary activity for this seasonal festival. They came up with great ideas.

Go Outside and See the Flowers
Brendan Howlin, author of The Handbook of Urban Druidry, suggests going outside and enjoying the spectacle of flowers that are blooming. He said: "See the crocuses and daffodils, marvel at the colours and the new green bursting out all around you. The important thing is to feel the enjoyment, the promise and most importantly the hope."

Create a Mandala
One of the things I like to do is make a mandala with a seasonal theme. If you are going outside in your own garden to see the spring flowers, you could pick some to take indoors, then arrange them to create a picture that captures the essence of spring. You could also draw or paint a mandala if you feel crafty. Here's a link to one I did a few years ago.

Scrying at Sunrise with Water in a Bowl
Elen Sentier, who runs Wye's Woman British Native Shamanism and is the author of numerous books on shamanic spirituality, said:

"One of our old ways is the silver bowl of water scrying. Doesn't have to be silver, but silvery. Dawn. Go out to catch the first rays of the spring sunrise in the water in your bowl. They're often dazzling, which is part of the scrying. Ask the spring goddess (however you call her) to show you what you need to do for (say) the time until midsummer. I do it most years and find I learn a lot :-)."

Paint Spell Eggs
Dorothy L. Abrams, author of Identity and the Quartered Circle, suggests creating spell eggs. She said:

"It's an activity that works for groups, individuals and families. Set up as usual for any ritual. Have at hand eggs already hard boiled, a wax crayon and egg colouring supplies (colours mixed and in small bowls). Meditate on what you want the magic to be. Seek runes or symbols to represent that end. Write those in wax on the eggs. Charge the eggs with energy as you normally do. Ritually colour them from a kit or with natural colours like beet juice, tea, blueberry juice etc. Then raise energy over the eggs and send the spell out to the universe. Then ritually consume the eggs (if they haven't been at room temperature too long) or open the circle and bury them outside in your garden."

The eggs in the photo are not ones I painted myself, I hasten to add. They are wooden eggs from Poland that have been in my family for quite a few years.

Equinox Candle Spell
I like to do a solitary candle magic ritual at both the spring and autumn equinoxes to help me get more balance in my life. All you need is a notebook, a pen and two candles. Ideally it should be one black and one white candle, to represent the balance of day and night and the balance we want in our lives, but any candles of different colours will do. You light the candles then sit down with your notebook and make two lists; one of things you want to make more time for in your life and the second of things you want to spend less time doing. Keep the lists to look at again to remind yourself of your wishes. This is one of the spells in my book Pagan Portals - Candle Magic.

Spring Cleaning
Maria DeBlassie, author of Everyday Enchantments, suggests taking the time to spring clean your mind, body, and soul as a form of homey/practical ritual. She has blogged with lots of suggestions here.

Guided Visualisations
Guided visualisations are great to do on your own. Last year I blogged with a Spring Equinox Visualisation for balance. You can find that here. That visualisation will also be appearing in my book Pagan Portals: Guided Visualisations, which is due to be published this autumn.

Working with a Partner
Martha Gray, author of Grimalkin the Witch's Cat, said: "You don't need a crowd to work effectively." If you are at home with your partner - or your cat - then you can do perfect magic together. Martha added: "If it is just one person who has a real connection, you can do a great deal more than a group."

Take Part in an Online Event
Yesterday, I blogged with a list of online pagan events. One that is free and should be great is Rachel Patterson's Kitchen Witch School of Witchcraft's online video spring equinox ritual, which the group has opened up to everyone, rather than just students. Debi Gregory, Community Support Officer for the Pagan Federation, also pointed out that there is a Pagan Federation Online Spring Equinox Moot.

Read a Book
Another thing you could do is choose a book to read to learn more about magic, witchcraft and paganism. I would, of course, recommend one from Moon Books!