The Spring Equinox balances light and dark as the season of Spring returns while we sit in the liminal, at the crossroads of the change of the season.
It is a time where you can start to feel the stagnancy of winter melt away and movement start to creep back into the cyclical nature of things. As a Pisces sun, I tend to feel the energy shift pretty rapidly from the cold watery depths towards the flames of Aries. This year in particular felt like I was hoisted into the fire, action simmering beneath my bones in anticipation for the year ahead.
The Spring Equinox marks the start of the return of Persephone, the goddess of Spring, and a reminder to start to come back from our own personal decent to the underworld over these last few months. The story of Persephone reminds us that nature operates in a constant cycle of life and death. There cannot be one without the other, and that their dance lives both around us and within us.
This time asks us to start to plant the seeds of our desires. What do we want to bring to life throughout this next growing season? It also a reminder to our bodies to bring in movement to what has been still over the winter. In the northeast, plant allies start to emerge from the frozen ground.
I can’t help but to get excited at the return of my plant friends during this time. The Mugwort leaves greeting me on my walks with my dog, the nettles huddled low to the ground. It won’t be long until they greet me in my garden overtaking its landscape.
You can nurture your body by witnessing what comes up around you, there is always a reason why they are there. A lot of the springtime plants that greet us are supportive to our body’s lymphatic system, liver and kidneys. They are saying “Hey, I am here to support your own vitality.”
In my practice, March 19th is the day we celebrate San Giuseppe the protector of hearth and saint of families and workers. In Sicily, they have elaborate feasts for the saints as my ancestors remember the days they begged the saint for relief from a draught during the Middle Ages and in response rain graced the land and an abundance of fava beans were grown.
In New Orleans, this practice continues with triple-tiered altars and tables with so many dishes of food including wine, bread, and the tradition of fava beans which is associated with the saint.
I always like to connect the saints with the wheel of the year. It brings a sense of wonder and excitement for me to understand the world we live in. It is no surprise that San Guiseppe is the saint we honour during the Spring Equinox or that his feast day is interconnected with fava beans. I was taught in the folk Italian tradition that beans and seeds were a sign of fertility and the cycles of life. That during this cyclical time of the year, is when my ancestors would eat the seeds and bread to perform rites in devotion to the Grain Mother for the crops to be blessed during the growing season.
I spend this day reminding myself of the practices of my ancestors. I pay notion to the presence of Persephone, San Guiseppe and the Grain Mother. I try and go and greet the plants by my home. Sometimes my devotion encompasses all of them into one etherial being. For I can’t help but to see their layers, feel their presence. And overall, on this day I try to remember to be grateful as I kindle the fire within me.
Jenna Faccenda is an Italian American folk herbalist, witch, and writer. Deeply rooted in the intention of the traditions of her southern Italian heritage from Sicily and Campania, within the lens of the diaspora, she weaves Italian American folk herbalism into every aspect of her work. Through these practices, Jenna honours her ancestors and the guidance of the plants.
As the creatrix of Widow Apothecary, Jenna crafts and sells herbal remedies along with Italian folk magic tools. Jenna also teaches Italian folk magic and herbalism classes in the Philadelphia area, sharing the history, rituals, and practices.