An important part of my soul resides at Slieve na Calliagh in Ireland. I have only been there once, but I met my Goddess there and over the years it has become a place I visit regularly in meditations and journeys.

Slieve na Cailliagh is a passage cairn that is aligned to the sunrise at the Equinoxes. At these times, the sun illuminates the symbols on the back stone at the end of the passage. For this reason, the Equinoxes are important in my practice. The Autumn Equinox is a time when I go into the passage grave and turn towards the darkness. At the Spring Equinox, I step out again into the world and into an active life.

Six months ago, only a month after my attack of pancreatitis, and very much in pain and unsure about what was going to happen to me, I was very reluctant to enter the dark of the cairn. My trust in my Goddess was dented, part of me feared that I was going to die, and I was scared to enter the darkness of the temple. It was a tough ritual. And a tough winter.

Now, with the pain much diminished, and the new Spring showing so much promise, I was ready to step outside again. It is time to share myself with the world more fully. In my Spring Equinox ritual, under warm sunshine and petal snow, I was told that I need to take in the beauty of life as it flows towards me, turn it into a blessing, and let it flow out again.

In the warmer weather, it is so much easier to feel that flow of beauty. There is warmth in the sun, the birds sing out their love of life, and bees buzz around spring flowers. I breathe it all in, breathe it into my heart. And as I breathe it out again, I find that it has turned into gratitude. Gratitude for the beauty, for the ability to see, hear and feel it, for the fragile privilege of being alive.

But here I come up against an old truth: in order to feel the beauty of life, I have to be present. I have to step into the fullness of being alive without reservation. And I can only get there if I remember the lessons of the winter: I am not the plans I make for the future. I am not the job I do or the title I claim for myself. I cannot count on tomorrow being the same as today. All there is, is life as it flows through me and around me right here and right now.

So I breathe with the sunshine and the clouds. I breathe with the soft touch of the breeze and the pain in my stomach. I breathe with the violets blooming and some of the blossom dying already - after so short a time. And the beauty of each of these things strikes me. The fragile nature of all life touches me. And I breathe it out again as gratitude.

This is what I am called to do at this time of renewed life and vitality: to bless and honour Life with my gratitude. To express the beauty I see in every way I can. As I am inseparably connected to All That Is, it is my hope that my gratitude and my prayers have an effect on the world around me. That beauty is somehow strengthened by my practice. Who knows? Will you pray with me?

May my gratitude, in the presence of the Divine, bless all life in its fragility. May beauty shine out and be seen. May we find ways to live that respect and nurture all that is precious. Awen.