My co-author, Lucía, and I are still working on the final pieces for the third of the Modern Pagan Prayers books, which will include pieces for each of the eight festivals of the wheel of the year.
We’re definitely on the home straight, but the last few weeks haven’t been very productive, not least because it’s not particularly easy to write about summer and harvest time in the middle of winter when temperatures are sub-zero or the wind is wuthering and the rain is soldiering down.
But I do like to have a specific topic to write about, so last week, after a few days of better weather, I set myself the task of writing for the Spring Equinox.
There are a number of associated themes that I could have chosen, but the most obvious one is the return of Persephone from Hades and the resulting blossoming of spring flowers.
It seems that this year the flowers are a little ahead of themselves. Last week I posted photos of a host of golden daffodils, and primroses, celandines, periwinkles and crocuses have all been in bloom for a couple of weeks, although the equinox is still a good couple of weeks off.
So I decided to write from the point of view of the world rejoicing at the news that the Goddess is returning, giving each flower its own personality and voice, from the crocus flames that “flicker through the grass like wildfire” to the violets and periwinkles that “whisper in the secret dark”.
Although The world rejoices is now marked down as another “completed” piece for the book, I think it needs to sit for a while before I am sure it is really ready to see the light of day. Until then, I’ll settle for posting pictures of some of the flowers that inspired me.
