Welcome to Life! February is the time in the Northern Hemisphere when we see life returning to our gardens, parks, forests and wild places. For me this is the start of the new year. I know it as Candlemas or Imbolc. In fact, for me, the start of the new year is when I see the first Snowdrop. In early February I’m scanning the garden and walking along the hedgerow, searching for the first flower with great excitement.
I have my own tradition at this time of year, I call it my Imbolc Pot. I take some seeds to plant and at the bottom of the pot I write a wish, a hope, a prayer – something I would like to see shoot, grow, flower and fruit. This may be a project, a relationship, or something more nebulous; like changing a behaviour or thought pattern that doesn’t serve me, or those around me. I also include in this something less selfish, a prayer, hope or wish for our dear planet, our good Mother Earth.
I started doing this years ago with flowering plants. Then, two years ago I decided to try using fruit seeds. I saved the seeds from an apple and planted them in this way. Two germinated and grew and I now have two small apple tree saplings! Last year I saved some butternut squash seeds, planted them and they all germinated. Last Autumn I had my first homegrown squash. This year, I’m going to try lemon seeds.
I plant, I watch, I water, I feed. My husband asked what my secret was as commercially grown fruit and vegetables should not have seeds that can germinate. My success is down to knowing that everything wants to grow. Everything has a spark of Life, an impetus from the Divine Mystery to manifest, express, flower and fruit. There only needs to be the barest of conditions met for germination – be it light, heat, growing medium, water etc.
When I plant my Imbolc Pot, I’m bearing in mind that ‘what you feed, grows’. My little bit of paper with hopes, wishes and prayers has a counterpart within myself, the ‘seeds’ I have in the soil of my mind and emotions. That energy is passed onto the paper and then onto the plants that will grow. I want my plants to be strong and healthy. I want my own self within and without to be strong and healthy. I can feed the attributes within myself that I want to see manifest more strongly – this usually includes patience and kindness! Just for fun I’m going to document my Imbolc pot this year and see if the lemon seeds will germinate. Watch this space!
TIME AFTER TIME UPDATE: Well, finally I’m on the last chapters, the end is in sight! Currently over 90,000 words and I wouldn’t be surprised if that increases. It’s not the story I set out to tell, and anyone that writes fiction will understand when I assert the characters had a very clear idea of what they wanted to say and where they wanted to go, often against my wishes but I know, now, to let them guide me. As often happens at this stage, for me, I’ve taken a great dislike to my main character Elizabeth Cavendish. That happened with Samantha Grayson in The Bloodsong Series. I suspect it’s because after several years of living with them, I see all the things in them that I dislike about myself. Even when the last keystroke has been made there is still months of work, particularly with this book, in checking much of the science, data and history I’ve attempted to weld together, to ensure it’s accurate to the time periods that I’m writing in. Then there’s continuity, editing, final story/plot/pace tweaks, not to mention front cover design.
Despte the ups and downs of writing and self-publishing, the frequent lack of space and time, I’m thrilled to be able to follow my heart and be on my fourth book, with the fifth in progress. I’m blessed, privileged and extremely grateful.