The Magic of Snow and Energizing Sacred Spaces – Farewell to Winter

The same scene in the wintertime....
Backyard in recvent snowstorm
Backyard in recent snowstorm

There is something very magical about snow.  I think, for me, its the stillness of the snow and the fact that it is able to cover up so much.  As the snow delicately falls, or as you wake up to a 6″ of beautiful snow in the morning, all evidence of human debris, damage, and destruction seems to be melted away.  The world becomes seemingly untouched once again.  Certain kinds of snows “stick”; they stick to the trees, to the bushes, and make the landscape an incredible wonderland.   We’ve been blessed with a lot of snow this year–I expect this weekend’s snowfall in Michigan will be the last we see this year.

This winter wonderland greets me in cool whites and blues; a delicate dusting of snows on every branch, dried grass, and covering the pond.  Even though its march, we are still getting snow.  An early walk into the forest leaving nothing but my bootprints behind.  Others have been here before me–animal tracks in the snow. These secret animal pathways are invisible to us most of the year, but the snow brings them forth.

Speaking of magic, one of my favorite winter activities is empowering our outdoor stone sacred circle with various patterns when it snows. This year, for example, I’ve put three such patterns into the snow (and the wheel pattern stayed for a full month in February before melting).  I think this is a great way to empower an outdoor magical space–the patterns lend their energy, the repetition of walking them can be a form of walking meditation.

Here are two such patterns I walked this year.  A spiral, a wheel (with eight spokes, representing the wheel of the year) and an awen (which is not pictured because it was hard to get a clear shot of it).

Spiral pattern at Imbloc
Spiral pattern at Imbloc
Wheel pattern in late Feb
Wheel pattern in late Feb

Here are some other photos that show the beauty of winter.  As the Spring Equinox greets us next week, we’ll soon say goodbye to the magic of the snows and instead greet the blossoming of the spring.  Farewell winter!

Path to the circle
Path to the circle
Looking through the bushes
Looking through the bushes
Secret forest behind circle
Secret forest behind circle
Web and maypole in the snow
Web and maypole in the snow

Dana O'Driscoll

Dana O’Driscoll has been an animist druid for 20 years, and currently serves as Grand Archdruid in the Ancient Order of Druids in America (www.aoda.org). She is a druid-grade member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids and is the OBOD’s 2018 Mount Haemus Scholar. She is the author of Sacred Actions: Living the Wheel of the Year through Earth-Centered Spiritual Practice (REDFeather, 2021), the Sacred Actions Journal (REDFeather, 2022), and Land Healing: Physical, Metaphysical, and Ritual Approaches for Healing the Earth (REDFeather, 2024). She is also the author/illustrator of the Tarot of Trees, Plant Spirit Oracle, and Treelore Oracle. Dana is an herbalist, certified permaculture designer, and permaculture teacher who teaches about reconnection, regeneration, and land healing through herbalism, wild food foraging, and sustainable living. In 2024, she co-founded the Pennsylvania School of Herbalism with her sister and fellow herbalist, Briel Beaty. Dana lives at a 5-acre homestead in rural western Pennsylvania with her partner and a host of feathered and furred friends. She writes at the Druids Garden blog and is on Instagram as @druidsgardenart. She also regularly writes for Plant Healer Quarterly and Spirituality and Health magazine.

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5 Comments

  1. Snow is beautiful when it first falls.
    It changes the look of everything, making what has become normal appear new again.
    I don’t do well in the cold though, so I sit in the warm and gaze at the snow world through the window.

  2. A very enjoyable post – I’m glad you got snow and enjoyed it! We had a very dry winter. Love the patterns idea!

    1. Sorry to hear you didn’t have much of a winter….that’s how it was last year (and it gave way to a drought).

  3. Magical photographs.

    1. A world untouched by man… how magical would that be.

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