Today’s winter storm is layering snow on remnants of earlier downfalls. Despite Brigid’s promise of spring, here in Canada we know there is more of winter still to be endured, more time needed within the Sacred Cauldron of the One who prepares us for a rebirth. We are in the dark of the moon, the heavens uniting with earth in this time of waiting. The poet Nicola Slee offers insight in these dark times while Sylvia Senensky reminds us that there is important work to do before the promised rebirth. 

 

You think she has left

But she has not.  She is resting.

You think she has gone underground

But she has not.  She has veiled herself.

You think she is powerless

But she is gathering her power,

Drawing it back to herself from where

It has been dispersed, scattered.

You think she is not speaking

Only because you do not

Hear the language of her silence.

 

You think she is alone

But she has never been.

You think she has lost all her names and seasons

But there have always been those who have kept her ways.

You think that the pattern is broken

But see, she spins the chaos into waves and whorls

You can’t yet decipher.  Keep looking.

She has never left, though you couldn’t find her.

It is we who are returning.

(“Seeking the Risen Christa”: Nicola Slee)

 

This is Sophia time. We are still in the realm of waiting for the rebirth of Spring. Within her sacred cauldron, our lives and our desires for our planet find a place of gestation, a safe darkness where, as with the caterpillar in a chrysalis, the great work of transformation of our souls and of all of life can happen.

The ancient Irish order of the Ceile de (Spouses of God) have a Lenten practice they call “Corgus” which means  a contract  with the life as in “ I  am the  way , the truth  and the life “:   You take some time to reflect on  your life and your spiritual  goals at this time,  then in meditation  you ask  yourself: What is it in your life  that at this  time  works  against your spiritual growth ?

When you discover what this is, you don’t try to stop doing this!  However you contract with yourself that whenever you engage in that behaviour or thinking pattern you stay awake to it and become very conscious of your choice.  You observe what you are actually doing and why you are doing it.  You notice how you choose to turn away from life and towards death. The Spring Equinox is a time to renew your vows and recommit to your path.

Sylvia Senensky writes:

We are being called upon by the sorrowing and powerful Dark Feminine to know our own darkness and the profound richness of all dark places, even when they are laden with pain.  Through her we know the mystery of existence and the sacredness of the cycles of life.  We learn how important the destruction of the old ways is to the rebirth of the new.  When she steps into our lives and awakens us, we can be shattered to our core, and we know, as we see the tears streaming down her face, that she too is holding us in her compassionate and loving embrace.

 …. She is calling upon us, each in our way to do our inner work, to become her allies, to become the best human beings we know how to be; to allow our creativity, our compassion and our love to flow to ourselves and to all life forms on this planet….  Love attracts love.  If we flood our planet with loving and transformative energy, our actions will begin to mirror our feelings.  We will come home to ourselves. (Healing and Empowering the Feminine Chiron Publications, Wilmette Illinois 2003)

From Sophia’s cauldron, we shall emerge into a new springtime, in an interdependent co-arising with the earth, knowing ourselves renewed in soul, body and spirit.