This beautiful article from one of our beloved regular contributors, Amanda Sophia, discusses the new blessings and opportunities of Spring. Amanda also shares a powerful nettle tea ritual we can use to welcome the spring energies.
Bring in the New
A nettle ritual to welcome the equinox
by Amanda Sophia
Spring Equinox / Ostara – March 21st, 2021
Welcome to the Spring Equinox, a time that brings energies of blossoming, rebirth, renewal, and awakening your inner child. Day and night are of equal length in perfect equilibrium; nature is coming alive. Dark and light, masculine and feminine, inner and outer are all in balance.
Some powerful questions for self-inquiry
What is stirring within you and wants to be born and blossom? What needs grounding or feels unsettled? Where could you find more balance? Journal about this and let the magic flow.
A Spring Equinox Ritual Using Nettles for Healthy Boundaries, Empowerment & Grounding
Medicinal nettles have been used by our ancestors for centuries. Nature offers us an abundance of this deeply nourishing wild plant that symbolises healthy, strong boundaries. It’s a superfood and spring tonic. It supports kidney and liver function. The leaves contain vitamins A, C, and many B complex vitamins, in addition to beta-carotene, calcium, iron, phosphorus, and potassium.
Nettles are healing. They can be applied to cuts, wounds, and burns. They also treat hay fever, asthma, anemia, cystitis, high blood pressure, and eczema.
Nettles teach us about boundaries, protection, and the empowerment of standing in one’s truth. If you touch the leaf, you get a sting, caused by formic acid from the leaf. But to cure a nettle sting, you rub a dock leaf over the irritation, and dock leaves tend to grow next to nettles. Mother Nature gives us exactly what we need, as long as we are willing to tune in. Three doses of nettles in Spring will prevent any disease for the rest of the year.
How to perform the Tea Nettle Ritual
1. When gathering, ask the land if you can pick them, then honour the answer. Be careful to hold the centre of the leaf or wear gloves as their sting can leave blisters on your hands.
2. Bring them home to dry in a warm window.
3. You can also get organic dried nettles at your local health food store.
4. Alone or in a circle with your beloveds, call upon your ancestors who have walked the path before you and would like to join for the highest good.
5. Set the intention to create healthy boundaries in both your human and spirit forms.
6. Light a candle.
7. Set the tea table, and if you have fresh nettles, place them in a vase as a centrepiece, or burn dried nettles, as they also clear the energy of the space.
8. Use spring water for the tea. As you brew your tea, bless the spring water and give deep gratitude to the waters and the earth and ask that it bless you with love, peace, and grace for the highest good on your journey.
9. If more than one is experiencing the ritual, request that it be done in silence.
10. Brew the tea and allow it to sit for eight minutes.
11. Pour the tea for each beloved.
12. Holding the cup with both hands mindfully, feel the heat of the tea and allow the warmth to drop you into the present moment.
13. Look at the tea and notice everything you can about its appearance, how the leaves gather in the bottom of the cup.
14. Feel the magic of every sip as the tea moves down through your throat and brings you into your body and empowerment. Smell the aroma.
15. Feel the nettles filling you with the strength to speak and stand in your truth.
16. Close the sacred space by giving thanks to your ancestors and the spirits of the tea to communicate that the ritual and line of energy are closed until next time.
