Day: March 22 - Vernal Equinox (Various Locations)
Themes: Rebirth; Beauty; Fertility; Balance; Freedom; Nature
Symbols: Butterflies; Seedlings; Rainwater; Spring Flowers
About Butterfly Maiden: In Hopi tradition, the Butterfly Maiden is a kachina (spirit) who rules the springtime and the earth's fertility. Butterfly Maiden flutters into our life today to reconnect us with nature and to help us rediscover that graceful butterfly within each of us -- the one that effortlessly rises above problems, making the world its flower.
To Do Today: In magical traditions, the equinox celebrates the sun's journey back to predominance in the sky and the return of fertility to the earth. It is a joyous fire festival when the elements are in balance, giving us the opportunity to likewise balance our lives. If anything has held you back from real spiritual growth, now is the time to banish it and move on. Visualize yourself as the caterpillar who becomes a butterfly, then let the Butterfly Maiden give you wings with which to overcome anything!
To inspire Butterfly Maiden's beauty within and without, wash your face and chakras (near pulse points as well as at the top of the head, in the middle of the forehead, over the heart, near the groin, behind the knees, and at the bottom of the feet) with rainwater first thing in the morning (dawn is best). Go outside afterward and toss some flower petals into a spring breeze, saying:
Butterfly Maiden, liberate me
let my mind and spirit ever be free!
The winds will carry your wish to heaven.
From Patricia Telesco's "365 Goddess"