Magic is the ability to change consciousness at will. As a mother of a nine-years-old girl, I am striving to teach her magic wherever possible.
The turning of the season is an excellent opportunity for using magic as a consciousness-shifting tool, and this past Spring Equinox was an exciting juncture for practicing this with my daughter.
Winter was almost gone, but its cobwebs lingered. I felt a little weighed down after the long inwards months, as if some clouds were still lingering internally, if not out in the sky. I had to do something to shake them off!
A dear friend, who was born in Iran, mentioned that Iranians celebrate the New Year on Spring Equinox, with a series of ceremonial jumps over a fire. This sounded exciting:-)
I invited my daughter, Ellah, to let go of winter and welcome the coming spring with some magic. This word always ignites her imagination, as it still does mine. We gathered various pieces of paper that represented winter, such as schedules, and cards with information or events that took place during the winter months.
A fireproof bowl and a box of matches in one hand, a jar of flax seeds in the other, we headed toward our back yard. The grass was still dewy and a few rays of sun created tiny rainbows through them. Magic was afoot…
We placed the bowl on the ground, scrunched our pieces of paper in it, and set them on fire! I didn’t explain anything; rather I stepped back and watched the flames for a moment. What I wanted to let go of became clear in my mind’s eye within seconds. I proceeded to sprint and leaped over the fire, calling out: “I’m letting go of winter’s procrastination!”
Before I had a chance to ask if she knew what the word meant, Ellah was behind me, jumping over the fire and announcing what she was letting go of! We started laughing together, and run back for more. I briefly asked her, and realized she didn’t know what ‘Procrastination’ was. “Going around in circles, and not doing what I planned to do,” I said to her, to which she answered by jumping over the flame again, calling: “I let go of laziness!”
I was thrilled. There was no need for laying out the concept or launching into explanations. An honest example was enough for her to follow suit. We went on and on, leaping over the flames, calling out to our hearts’ content, laughing, giggling, excited, and yes, empowered, since we knew something was truly shifting in our lives, as we announced it was…
Having burned the last of winter and released its lingering weight, it was time for planting!
I opened the flax seed jar, took a handful of tiny, smooth seeds in my hand, and scattered them in the wind, calling out my gratitude. Ellah didn’t need an invitation. She took the jar and went for it. Passing the flax seeds from one to the other, we went all around our front and back yards, scattering them wildly everywhere, naming out loud what we are grateful for, what we are planting, what we wish to harvest.
When we came almost full circle, we were amazed to see a single, blue, flax flower, on a thin stem, growing in our front yard. I was speechless for a moment, and then realized, in my adult’s left-brain, that this must be one of the first flax seeds to grow from last year’s scattering. Ellah, though, announced categorically: “They grew, Mom! It’s magic!” And there was no way I was going to dispute this.
Our consciousness was certainly not the same by the end of this magical morning. I felt lighter, springier, and much more motivated to tackle the tasks on my plate. Ellah was impacted, I’m sure, in more ways then I could know.
We created magic by changing our inner winter-consciousness into spring. The mechanical change of clocks stands in stark contrast. Better known as ‘Spring Forward’ — it does anything but… The changing of clocks is an external act, which typically leaves us disoriented and out of sync for days, if not weeks.
Changing consciousness at will, by creating an outer representation of what we wish to transform, is an internal act, which reverberates in our body, heart, and spirit. Creating it together with a child is doubly rewarding.
When you next want to explain something to your young one, think of how you could do it magically. How would you create an act that is meaningful to you? Forget explanations. Modeling will do the job better than any words you may come up with!
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© 2011 DeAnna L’am, All Rights Reserved
