Spring’s First Signs: Weather Lore, Energy Shifts & Seasonal Traditions

Hey guys welcome to the Learn Feng Shui podcast where you'll Learn Feng Shui from a classical point of view taking out the myth and Superstition so if you're interested in learning fun Chinese astrology all things Chinese metaphysics as well as the superstitions and myths that connect it all you'll enjoy learning funu with me hey guys welcome to the Learn Feng Shui podcast where Traditions meet modern living I'm Candice Berlanga certified funu practitioner and red ribbon professional with the international funu Guild today's episode it's going to be a little different than I usually do at the beginning of the month I was going to do energy update but I'd be lying if I told you guys I had my newsletter finished at the time I'm recording by the time this podcast comes out I should have that newsletter at learnfengshui.com but as I'm getting ready for this week and getting ready to put an episode out I don't have it ready been extra busy with clients and all you know energy shifts for the new year so I haven't had the most time to work on the newsletter but that's okay because I thought I'd change it up a little bit today we're going to look at Eastern and Western philosophies that celebrate the beginning of Spring we're going to look at natural phenomena of the Season seasonal foods that will nourish and keep you healthy and then I'll look at five meaningful ways to honor the energetic shift as well as some weather lore making predictions about the spring and if we're going to have early spring or not this episode we're looking at embracing new growth and fresh Beginnings at Spring will bring so let's get into it sticking with the theme or tone of the energy update let's start looking at the First Solar term for the Year this will give us a little bit of a context or Clue Into why February is regarded as the beginning of Spring the First Solar term is called leune and that starts February 3rd and goes through February 18th is the 15-day solar cycle of energy or micro season and it's the very first one it's the one that starts the year off so now it's officially the year of the snake and during this time we start to see warmer days and AR riseing uh yangong energy temperatures will begin to gradually rise the Yang Energy starts to increase and of course this symbolizes growth renewal and movement sprouting plants will start to make their appearance so in some regions some early green choots will start to emerge signaling The Awakening of life I know my cherry tree those early Bloomers like the cherry tree the plum and all that it is the time of year where you might start seeing blossoms my cherry tree has little wood buds so there's that that always signals to me that the springtime is near and it usually starts very early around this time increase rain and moisture there's often increased rainfall during this time maybe we'll get some more rain spring moisture starts to return and that supports this new growth you might start seeing a little grass growth too migration and animal activity will start to change so the birds like swallows start returning North the we get Canadian geese here in Texas and so that's my marker you might notice it where you live I don't know what kind of animals you see hibernated animals will start to stir as the days lengthen so this morning I went out to start my car and warm it up to take my kid to school and there was a robin just chirping away in the tree in my neighbor's yard and I was like yep that's the start of spring so here we are El tune and uh plowing and planting will begin so different farmers in China have long viewed leune as the time of preparing and planting the field so they don't plant yet but preparing and tilling it does an agricultural shift here in Texas too farmers will start plowing the fields we are a big cotton and grain we grow a lot of that around here and so we'll start seeing the fields getting tilled and our allergies should kick in pretty soon so that's the marker that we we look at that can vary agriculturally just depending where you're at and what's local to your area there as we shift into February we enter the first month of the spring season and it's it's represented by the energy of wood February March and April are tiger rabbit and dragon they're all aligned with the wood energy and represent the season of spring this represents a time of growth renewal expansion and we see that with the plants that symbolize nature wood element encourages this new beginning and the nurturing of plans that'll flourish it aligns good with the month of the Tigers so if we look at just the archetype of the tiger as some people like to do the animals associated with courage strength and bold action and both these tiger and wood energies we can find this drive to make these bold moves take on new challenges and we start to see a balance of Yin and Yang again just kind of reflecting on the wisdom of the Y Jing and the hexagram that represents the month of February so the eing is just a system of forecasting or divination and so if you're looking at timing or you ask a question about timing and you pull this hexagram then it represents the month of February and it symbolizes Harmony and balance in the yin and yang the hexagram is represented by two trigrams and those are Heaven and Earth this represents the forces of Heaven and Earth in perfect alignment just like an equal balance of day and night we experience more towards the Spring Equinox it's kind of this invitation for us to Har harmonize our own energy and the longer daylight hours signify this energy of growth and renewal and the Stillness of the night still holds at you an energy of rest and reflection we probably start to feel more energized I feel more energized and I had a long time I don't know since the winter solstice I feel like the dark uh it's been really warm here in Texas um but you know that does not mean we're out of the woods for cold weather weather and we'll talk about during our weather lore we'll look at that here in the prediction for spring in just a minute but first looking at Western Traditions the observance of Lee tune or beginning of Spring corresponds closely with the Pagan wheel of the year and the observance of embolic which is a traditional Gaelic name for February 1st and traditionally marks the beginning of Spring also and in some traditions is called St Bridget's day or candle Miss and both Lee Chun and embolic both Mark the halfway point between the winter solstice and the Spring Equinox it's a time also for purification the spring cleaning anticipation of a new life in ancient Rome it was called Shepherd's holiday well The gales associated with the onset of the US's lactation prior to birthing the spring Lambs so just like with Eastern Traditions the Western Traditions also looked to Nature to symbolize or to look for those natural markers so both cultures look to that to symbolize or to signal to them that the energy was Shifting the observance of St Bridget's day is a pre-christian festival marking the beginning of Spring in the Celtic calendar traditionally it's a time of renewal fertility and protection symbolized by weaving of St Bridget's cross in the lighting of sacred fires more specifically the sacred fire of kildair this this is a Perpetual flame that's kept burning by the St bridgid's nuns and symbolizes divine inspiration much like the fire of Chinese metaphysics so both Traditions recognize this was a seasonal threshold and it symbolizes Awakening of Life fertility and creative inspiration there's very much a connection there and the honoring of that spring and growing energy and we weren't alone in looking at weather lore so looking at predictions for spring both embolic and leun have their own ways speaking of that natural phenomena embolic weather lore in Celtic tradition embolic February 1 was seen as a time when the spring begins emerging but the weather on this day was believed to predict the remaining length of winter so folklore suggests that if the day was bright and clear that winter would actually last longer and this was due to something called The Divine hat of winter it was said that if the day was nice she was out gathering firewood and the uh winter would last longer but if the day is cloudy or stormy she was asleep meaning spring would come sooner and we can't talk about this connection to weather lore without looking at Groundhogs Day which occurred as I'm recording this this will be yesterday February 2nd traditionally I know punks saton Phil saw his shadow so it's predicted that there's six more weeks of winter if it's a sunny day the groundhog sees its shadow predicting six more weeks of winter but if it's cloudy it suggests an early spring so just like these Customs kind of evolved from this European weather lore that was brought to America by different settlers and it reflects seasonal divination practices found in many Traditions both embolic and Groundhog Day serve as the seasonal markers highlighting Humanity's long-standing connection to predicting the weather and wanting to know what lies ahead it's also said that in Lee chune so in the Chinese traditions that shifting winds if it comes from the north that the winter will linger but if it comes from the south the warmth will arrive sooner there's also a thunder prediction so in some traditions if Thunder occurs around Lee chune it's believed to Signal unsteady weather and possible droughts later in the year if it's unseasonably warm on leune a cold spells expected to follow so if it's Cold Spring may arrive more gradually these align pretty closely you know if it's nice on the day of leune or Groundhogs Day or embolic then we're going to get a cold spell I was looking at the weather and it's supposed to be warm here the rest of the week but next week it is going to drop down and get a little bit chillier it's just interesting to see how even though they're different cultures we still recognize the same pattern of it being nice and sunny on a specific day and that foreshadowing a bad weather later on in the season I just think that's interesting the parallels that we can draw from both sides of east and west another way the Chinese used to predict the weather for the year is something called The Cow herder and the spring cow or the spring ox and this is actually a picture in the tong Shu or Tong Shin Chinese Almanac it's one of the very first Pages it's actually kind of hard to find here in the west I had to order from Amazon and just hope it was the correct thing because it's all in Chinese so I specifically wanted it for this picture and I wanted to do my own little predictions here um it actually this picture tells you a lot it is basically a picture of a a gentleman he has a cow with him there's some other things in the background there's a stock of wheat he's usually holding a piece of wheat or a whip and the the sun is in a specific position in the sky and all of this tells us a different thing the copy I got is in black and white but usually there will be different colors that are used to represent different things in this picture it tells us a lot of information but specifically for weather it will reveal a lot of different things and U even the position that he stands in so in this case to that he's standing behind the ox that means that this leune is actually more than 5 days after the Lunar New Year he has something called a whipstick or Willow whipstick that actually represents the 24 solar terms the spring Ox signifies a hope for a bumper Harvest abundance happiness and good weather it says here when the cow herder is depicted as being Barefoot with his trousers up It Means A Rainy year on the other hand if he's wearing shoes on both feet it indicates predictions of droughts and a forewarning that the farmers need to be better prepared and indication of good weather is if he has one shoe on and one shoe off this year he has two shoes on meaning it's supposed to be a drier year so there's just a bunch of different things that this picture can depict but again when we're looking just at weather we can look at his shoes for indication I know it'll be a fat ox or a skinny ox and this year the ox is fat meaning it's supposed to be an abundant year with a lot of resources which I'm not sure how if there's a drought prediction with him wearing shoes let's take that and uh see if these predictions are correct now let's go into five ways to honor the energy of spring five ways to Hony of spring uh last month in my newsletter for January I had a little section on spring cleaning so you can go to the website and follow those tips I can put the link up to the newsletter in the show notes below so just generally though I don't want to spend too much time on it because we all know what to do for spring cleaning just refreshing your home decluttering opening Windows and even doing a spiritual cleansing with smoke sound or even intention some essential oils open them windows I just said that and do a spring cleaning SLS space clearing keep that energy up in your house just welcome that new energy in another way you can honor this energy is to lighting a candle or lighting a fire maybe you light a fire on one of those cold days when when the winter returns back but um you can honor St Bridget's sacred fire and that leunes Rising Yang energy by lighting a candle or fire a bonfire or a fire pit outside maybe just to symbolize that illumination transformation and renewal number three you can observe Nature's signs taking a nice nice walk on one of those warm days make it mindful you know really notice the spring blooms or the spring buds that are on the plants notice returning birds look at the shifting weather and just really be present in nature just kind of aligning yourself with the seasonal transition and the rising of this energy I think it'll help give you some more Vigor I know again I I just I can't say it enough I feel like I have a lot of energy and I feel really good right now so that I'll take it number four more vigorous exercise you can do now since the yangang energy is building doing a little bit more vigorous exercise is totally fine for this time of year uh number four eating seasonal foods and warming Foods still is still a bit cold support your body with this energy shift with lighter nourishing meals and foods you can eat during this time are going to be your spring greens make sure they are raw they also help detox your body's liver in align with this energy of the wood element asparagus is a nice spring vegetable it's also supposed to be good for supporting your liver Health it's a good seasonal food um sweet potatoes are just recommended I think all the time they're pretty good but they're good for more of Earth Energy they nourish your spleen and stomach but they are more warming and grounding in the cooler months still cold outside and apples just they're pretty available but they also support liver and digestion eating the apple peel is recommended and green apples are supposed to be good for detox you can also Juice them and um they have a lot of the same properties that you could find in what are called mung beans without having to go search a lot of the Chinese medicine where we find Hang-Ups is that they are traditional Chinese foods and so here in the west I can't always find some of these foods that are recommended so just finding an alternative is really good so just those are some foods can eat and setting your intentions for growth it's a good time to make those New Year's resolutions I talk about time and time again January is still the midst of Winter the energy is growing but it's like everything's still at a very much of a standstill and so now that spring is here just like Farmers prepare the soil TR to plant seeds in our own personal life you know set some goals start new creative ideas just things that help you grow self-help new business projects expanding your business all of those are really supported by the energy of February and this month that starts off Spring all right guys well that's all I got for today so looked at Eastern Western traditions of spring looking at that balance of Ying energy how the wood energy and tiger month set the tone for growth and that weather Lord for seasonal foods and aligning with the seasonal shift remember Spring's all about renewal embracing that energy no matter what the forecast says you know even if it's cold outside next week will be Funway for a love and romance little Valentine's episode for you and go check out the newsletter on the website and let me know if you have any questions okay bye