The Growing Time

Animal Totem : Beaver

Astrological Sun sign : Taurus

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The Growing Time is the second of the three cycles of spring and continues the growth and illumination cycle of the East.

It marks the period when grasses develop and spread rapidly to transform the landscape. It indicates a period of growth in the natural cycle that involves dramatic change. It is the time of new life putting down roots and securing the stability of Earth. It is the time when spring is stirring to its fullest expression with trees in full leaf, flowers in bloom, and the creative forces of Nature evident everywhere.

In astrology this time corresponds to the Sun moving into the sign of Taurus with birth totem for Taurus being Beaver. The East Wind and East Direction influences the consolidation of that learnt in the Awakening Time.

This period also indicates a crossover point in the seasonal cycle – the East point on the Wheel of the Year – which comes mid-way between the Spring Equinox on 21st March and the Summer solstice on 21 June. It coincides with the last day of April, but was often more celebrated among northern peoples as May Day. In ancient times among northern cultures, it was a festival of union and initiation and emphasised the time in life of romance and sexual awareness. It also recognised the period of testing that anyone who searches for the unison of mind, body and spirit must undergo

The birth totem for the Growing Time is Beaver. Beavers are the doers in the animal kingdon. Theyare the architects and construction enegineers of the animal world, who can transform their environment to provide for their own security and comfort. They are able to cut down trees and branches with their sharp teeth to provide the materials from which to construct dams to create a pond or lake in which they can build their lodges. Beaver medicine is akin to water and earth energy and incorporates a strong sense of family and home. If you were to look at the dams that beaver builds blocking the woodland streams you would find several entrances and exits. Beaver always leaves itself many alternative escape routes. This practise is a lesson to all of us not to paint ourselves into corners. If we eliminate our alternatives, we dam the flow of experience in our lives. A doer is characterised by industriousness, and Beaver knows that limitation cancels productivity.

To understand Beaver medicine, one should take a look at the power of working and attaining a sense of achievement. In building a dream, teamwork is necessary. To accomplish a goal with others involves working with the group mind. Group mind constitutes harmony of the highest order, without individual egos getting in the way. Each partner in the project honours the talents and abilities of the others, and knows how to complete the piece of the puzzle that belongs to them. In working well with others, a sense of community is achieved and unity ensues. Beaver tells you to look for alternative solutions to life's challengers and to protect the creations which you put your love and energy into.

The mineral totem for the growing time is the green variety of the Jasper bloodstone. Jasper is a dull cryptocrystalline quartz which comes in reddish brown, yellow and green colorations. The green variety flecked with reddish spots is also know as heliotrope. Heliotrope means ~sun reflecting~ and, significantly, as green is the colour of plants that reach upwards towards the sun, so heliotrope was seen as an aid to uplifting the human consciousness toward the spiritual Sun, and so was considered as a tool of the spirit. The bloodstone was thus highly regarded among all ancient people and was attributed with many psychic powers. The red flecks contain iron and help the stone to act as a styptic which stems bleeding. It was also used to stimulate the power centres of the energy body (the chakras) by being moved up the spine in circular motions. Its slow subtle vibrations were throught to be transmitted to the chakras, and helped to align their energy patterns.

Like the Totem stone, Beaver medicine has an intrinsic ability to bring harmony into the lives of others when the energies are used in an outgoing way. but when these powers, whether intentionally or subconsciously, are directed to entirely selfish purposes or to manipulate others for personal gain, they are likely to have the opposite effect and stir up confusion, contention and even pain.

The East Winds bring to the Growing Time a similar emphasis on far sightedness which is encountered in the previous Awakening Time. But since the Growing Time is the period of rooting rather than budding, and of blossoming forth from a stable base, there is a greater emphasis on what is material and tangible rather than the intangible of mental ideas and spiritual principles. . As the East is the direction of the dawn and awakening – the time to take steps to turn dreams into reality., so the spiritual influence emphasised in the Awakening Time is still there but in the Growing Time it is being directed more to an opening up from within to an expression that is without – like the petals of a blossoming flower.

I hope that this Growing Time brings to {{{all}} an appreciation what is at hand around them, the vision to see that there are spiritual qualities within the material, thus to see beyond external realities and attain the far sightedness of the Eagle to see beyond the reaches of matter and bring harmony into the lives of all.

Happy birthday Taurus!