Snowdrop in the Spring sunshine
What a glorious day to be alive on this sweet earth as she casts aside her mantle of Winter. It makes me want to sing and skip through the hills. I’ve just come back from a walk and I feel so blessed to live in this beautiful part of the world. I can wander out into my garden, hop over the fence and walk up through meadows, past stands of oak trees and hazel, to climb a favourite little hillock next to the ruins of a stone barn. From the top of my hillock, next to a wonderful gnarly hawthorn full of mistletoe, I can see down into the Golden Valley one way and across to the Black Mountains in the other direction. I am surrounded by the tweeting and twittering of birds who sound as happy as I feel, and the bleating of curious sheep who are watching me carefully in case I might have come on behalf of the farmer with some extra food for them.
This year, the abundance of the Snowdrop has really caught my attention, and I wanted to share its wisdom with you, before it goes over and gives way to the later Spring flowers. I did a journey to the spirit of Snowdrop to ask what wisdom it had for Humankind, and this is what it told me…
Journey to the Spirit of the Snowdrop
I saw a huge snowdrop in front of me. I felt surrounded by pure white petals.
‘I am the Spirit of the Snowdrop. My whiteness represents purity, the purity of the snow that covers the land in winter, the purity of the snow that wipes out, erases memories, traces of last year and puts the land to sleep ready for the new beginning. I am about new beginnings, new energy, the energy of the Winter Solstice coming into being. The energy that started with the Solstice, as I lay underground in my bulb, beginning to wake up, beginning to come. I am the first flush of life after Winter, the first hint that spring will come again.
The fresh scent of snowdrop brings hope to Humankind, hope that all the troubles of last year are left behind. I am aligned with the energy of Bridie, St Bridget. I am her totem flower. I bring all the qualities of Bridie. Put me on your altar if you want to step into new beginnings, with purity, freshness and hope. The green edgings to my petals are like the first green shoots of spring. Contrary to my appearance, my whiteness and association with snow, I have the quality of warmth within me. I have to carry my own warmth to offset the cold of winter. I carry the spark, the warmth of new life, new dawns, new Spring. I am a flower of the dawn. I represent the light coming back at the dawn of the day, the warmth of the sun coming back. So as well as representing the beginning of the year, I also represent the beginning of the day.
Notice how my petals close at night-time, in the darkness, to protect my inner self, then open again when the sun warms me. So too this is a message for humankind that when the darkness comes, you need to close down a little, to fold your outer petals around you and draw your energy inwards for a little while, before you are ready to unfurl again when the warmth of the sunlight comes back into being.
I am a gentle flower. I nod on the breeze. I also have great stamina. I am robust. My gentle, delicate appearance belies the strength and robustness that I have. I preserve my strength and robustness by having these protective qualities, knowing when it is time to furl my petals around me and draw my energy in and having the innate knowledge about when it is safe to open and unfurl. Then it is time to smile and enjoy the light again. This is a quality that I bring into human relationships. I bring the wisdom for when it is time to fold your petals around you and protect yourself against any onslaught, anything that is like a harsh cold wind to you – furl yourself around and imagine that you have snowdrop petals to wrap around you and protect you. I bring you the quality of wisdom to know when it is safe to unfurl your petals again and to smile into the sun. This is the wisdom of the Snowdrop.
If you are having trouble with this, if you do not know where your boundaries lie, if you do not know when it is safe to unfurl, if you do not know when you need to furl yourself and draw your energy inwards, tune into the energy of Snowdrop. Put some snowdrops in water on your altar, light a candle and pray that the spirit of the Snowdrop will help you with these qualities.
I am about boundaries. I am about having the innate knowledge about when you need to furl yourself and when it is better to unfurl yourself. I am about having good instincts about your own safety and protectedness. This is what I bring to you – knowing when you need to protect yourself from the onslaught of an icy blast of wind.
I bring the knowledge of how to restore yourself over Winter, how to conserve your energy, how to draw you energy in to conserve your health, before it is time to unfurl again in the spring. This is how you preserve your energy and protect your health, contain your reserves and renew yourself in the spring, just as Bridie does, just as Bridie is the mistress of the secret of the renewal of youth for women. Be careful of going to too many parties in the winter. Conserve your energy. Rest, have long, deep sleeps. Sleep more in the winter, than in the spring and summer, just as the hours of darkness are longer in the winter, so your amount of sleep should be longer in the winter. Tune yourself to the seasons. Nurture your seeds in the winter.
The fragrance of snowdrop represents the freshness of new beginnings. If you are having difficulty retaining your hope about the freshness of new beginnings, go and visit the Snowdrop. Breath in the freshness of its scent. Let hope return to you. Let health return to you.
Thank you for wanting to share my message with humankind.’
Anna Bromley - Flowersong Healing 