I woke up early this morning, maybe too early. Restless and oddly energized at 4am, I transitioned from bed to couch, where I watched the unified black outside the windows transition into sumptuous, inky blue. By the time I herded my kid into the car, the sky was soft with yellow light. Unintentionally, I’d been able to witness the beginning of this day of true balance between light and dark and sense into the growing illumination heading our way.

Sometimes my sense of the “turning of the wheel” isn’t so sharp (which is partially why I started this project - to attune myself to the seasons, solstices, and equinoxes!), so I’m curious about my awareness of this particular moment. Is the project working? Are we all especially sensitive to the arrival of light, brightening, and hope?

I like to think it’s a little bit of both. This time, globally, has been a more intense spinning of The Wheel of Fortune than we could have ever imagined. As change flings us from elation to pain, clarity to confusion, and, frankly, just all over the place, some things are becoming more and more obvious: that we need orientation and that the natural world around us is always unfurling, offering us a point of reference that both reminds us of the preciousness of life and grounds us in reality.

In this sense, I’ve been charting a path through the murk towards the light of the Spring Equinox with focus and diligence. Like a moth flitting towards a far-off lamp (I certainly feel just as fragile and frenetic, sometimes). We are, you might remember, journeying through the uncharted terrain of the Eight of Cups this month, bravely taking steps towards deeper meaning with no guaranteed outcome. What instinct has been steering you? What vision of your life and the world is becoming clearer, step by step?

Now that we’ve reached the point of true balance, we might be able to peer more directly into what’s emerging, seeing the faint shape of what’s to come and the results of our vulnerable, open-hearted risk-taking and trust in this mysterious process of growth. I’m feeling both tired and galvanized as we shift into Spring, Aries season (!!) and Mercury stationing direct today (huzzah!).

Another reason why this Equinox has been so active in my mind over the past few months is that it marks the debut of an exciting new project I’ve been working on with the wise, delightful, and endlessly inspiring Bethany Carder of My Resonant Frequencies. We connected on Substack through her insightful comments on the Incandescent Tarot forecasts, and when I conquered my internet shyness to reach out, we quickly bonded and decided to work on a collaborative project together.

The result of this playful experimentation is our first installment of a series called Elemental Explorations.

Elemental Explorations is a collaborative audio and practice series rooted in the seasons. Both of us had been separately committing to aligning our practices around the natural world, which we bonded over immediately (and gleefully). Bethany brings her experience with astronomical astrology, sound, and movement while I bring my lifelong relationship to tarot and intuitive practice. With each equinox and solstice, we follow one element - through conversation, sound, movement, tarot, and somatic practice, and more - as an invitation to come back into relationship with the living world.

Not content to stop there, we created a website as a companion space to hold practices that extend the conversation beyond the episode: tarot spreads, meditations, affirmations, and sound experiments. It was important for us to offer paths of grounding and expansion; plus, we just wanted to invite people into the practices we’ve found so enjoyable! They're here to be returned to, tried in different phases, adapted to your own body and environment.

I hope you enjoy this new project and stay tuned for the next installment on the Summer Solstice. With our creative wheels spinning (see what I did there??), I’m sure this next iteration will be full of surprises.

Now, without futher ado, let’s dive into our exploration of the Spring Equinox and the holiday, Ostara.

How do you grow something in your life? It’s no surprise that our reading on the Spring Equinox, as nature starts to awaken after a long winter, focuses on growth, abundance, and breakthrough. We begin at exactly the same place we started in our last reading: the chaos, conflict, and collaboration of the Five of Wands.

This type of carryover tells us that there’s something crucial about our experience from mid-February until now. What did you learn about working with differing inputs, personalities, visions? How did you practice trusting your senses as well as your ability to get through tough patches with others while also being true to yourself?

Between now and the Summer Solstice, we’ll be growing these areas of our life. While previously the Five of Wands led to the new beginning of the Ace of Pentacles, this time we’re led to the abundance and overflow of the Seven of Pentacles. Clearly, something is working, and it may even be surprising to us that we’ve come this far.

In this new and emerging space we have more than enough results to contend with, not just the shining promise of a single ace. Look at this cascade of vegetation in the seven! I love how there’s almost a melancholic look to the main character in this card, as if they’re somehow disappointed things worked out so well and need time to adjust.

Some processing is in order since the speed of our progress has been faster than we can follow. Looking back at the muscular exertion in the Five of Wands, I’m thinking that our time practicing new skills has brought our experience out of challenge and into success. Where have you been pushing yourself to grow? What skills or tactics that once felt burdensome, awkward, or strenuous are now lighter and easier to access?

Let’s not forget that the Five of Wands is, well, a wands card. All this action looks exhausting, and it is! So, on a practical, bodliy level, this quarter of the year requires plenty of space for rest. Double-down on routines, get enough sleep, and prioritize nourishment. It’ll also be hard to see what’s going well if we keep moving in a frenzy.

Things get more solitary as the Seven of Pentacles transitions into the Two of Swords. A decision is approaching, and we’ll need space to get the perspective necessary to make a call that’s aligned with our values. While at the beginning of the quarter our growth sprung from collaboration and a bustling social life, we approach the solstice with a need to retreat. Here, however, is a strong current of mystery; the Two of Swords mirrors the layout of the queen of the mysterious herself, The High Priestess.

Having collected experience in the Five of Wands and taken in the positive results through the Seven of Pentacles, we’re now able to navigate the next stage of our journey with confidence. And as the Two of Swords hints, the deciding factor may not be flashy and obvious like in the preceeding cards - it’s likely our intuition will be adding the final and deciding input on choosing the path we need to take.

▶ Themes: birth, fertility, abundance, new life, regeneration, joy, balance, harmony, rising energy

▶ Direction: east - sunrise, light returning

▶ Elements: fresh air, fertile earth

▶ Symbols: egg, hare, nest, seedling, balance scales, sunrise, basket

▶ Colors: pastels! new green, soft yellow, blush pink, sky blue, lavender, cream

▶ Food: eggs, fresh greens, sprouts, herbs, honey

▶ Stones: rose quartz, aquamarine, moss agate, clear quartz, citrine

▶ Plants: daffodil, tulip, crocus, violet, fern, budding branches (a la the wands cards!)

▶ Animals: rabbit, snake, chick, lamb, bee, songbirds

▶ Gestures: planting seeds, decorating eggs, opening windows, cleaning space, walking at sunrise