Meditation: March 26th, 2025

Physical Setting & Preparation

Find a quiet place where you can sit comfortably, ideally near an open window or outdoors where you can feel the fresh spring air. Have beside you a small bowl of soil or a potted plant, symbolizing the earth that is awakening. Place your hands on your knees, palms upward in a gesture of receiving. Take three deep breaths, feeling the cool air of early spring filling your lungs, noticing how the days are growing longer as we move further into spring.

Opening Invocation | Fosgladh

Fàilte ort, a Mhàrt, mìos na h-earraich.
(Welcome to you, March, month of spring.)

A' Mhàthair Talamh, dùisg bho do chadal geamhraidh.
(Mother Earth, awaken from your winter sleep.)

Air an là seo, an siathamh là fichead, tha mi a' faireachadh d' anail bhlàth.
(On this day, the twenty-sixth day, I feel your warm breath.)

Close your eyes and visualize the world around you awakening. The early spring flowers—snowdrops, crocuses, and early daffodils—push through the soil. The birds have returned, singing their morning songs. The sun's warmth grows stronger each day, though winter's chill still lingers in the shadows. Feel yourself as part of this awakening landscape, connected to the rhythm of the season's change.

Body of the Working | Corp

Tha earrach a' tighinn, agus tha mise ann an staid de challtachd.
(Spring is coming, and I am in a state of loss.)

Mar a chaill an talamh a dhuilleagan, chaill mise cuideachd.
(As the earth lost its leaves, I too have lost.)

Ach tha an talamh a' teagasg dhomh gur ann tro challtachd a thig ath-nuadhachadh.
(But the earth teaches me that through loss comes renewal.)

Feel the soil between your fingers if you have brought some, or place your hands on the earth if you are outside. Feel its coolness, its texture. This soil has witnessed countless cycles of loss and renewal.

Visualize yourself standing in a clearing at dawn. The mist is rising from the ground as the sun's first rays touch the earth. Around you, the trees are showing the first tiny buds of new growth. The old has fallen away to make room for the new.

Now, bring to mind what you have lost. Feel its weight, its shape in your heart. Do not turn away from this feeling, but acknowledge it fully. See this loss as autumn leaves that have fallen to nourish the soil.

The Deep Working | An Obair Dhomhain

A Mhàthair Talamh, gabh mo challtachd.
(Mother Earth, take my loss.)

Mar a ghabhas tu duilleagan an fhoghair agus a thionndaidheas tu iad gu talamh dubh torach.
(As you take the autumn leaves and turn them to rich black soil.)

A' Mhàthair, fosgail mo chridhe dhan ùrachadh.
(Mother, open my heart to renewal.)

Breathe deeply, feeling the connection between your loss and the earth's cycles. Each breath you exhale carries a small portion of your grief into the soil, where it is transformed. Each breath you inhale brings the promise of spring, of renewal, of life continuing in new forms.

Visualize your loss as a seed, planted in the dark soil of your heart. Feel the Mother of the Earth cradling this seed, nourishing it with her ancient wisdom. Watch as it begins to transform, not into what was lost, but into something new—wisdom, strength, compassion.

As spring brings new life from winter's darkness, so too can your loss become the foundation for new growth within you.

Afterthought | Smuain Dheiridh

Take a moment to contemplate:

How might my experience of loss be preparing the soil of my spirit for new growth? What wisdom might be emerging from this fallow time, like the first green shoots of spring?

Closing Blessing | Beannachd Dheiridh

A Mhàthair Talamh, taing dhut airson do ghliocais.
(Mother Earth, thank you for your wisdom.)

Mar a thionndaidheas tu geamhradh gu earrach, cuidich leam mo challtachd a thionndadh gu lùth, gu fàs, gu ath-nuadhachadh.
(As you turn winter to spring, help me turn my loss into energy, into growth, into renewal.)

Gun robh sìth na Mhàthar còmhla rium, an-diugh agus gach latha.
(May the peace of the Mother be with me, today and every day.)

Gradually become aware of your surroundings again. Feel the ground beneath you, solid and supporting. When you are ready, open your eyes, carrying the wisdom of the earth's cycles with you into your day.