🌄Equinoxes and Eclipses🌔
plus musings on daylight savings and my Wild Garlic soup recipe
Hello, I’m Charly, a botanist and lunar lover based in Sheffield. I’m on a mission to adopt a slower pace of life which is more in sync with the energies of the seasons here in the Northern hemisphere. Subscribers enjoy full access to my bi-monthly newsletters. I also offer online courses centred around the Wheel of the Year. Access to my Spring/Summer course, the Plant Almanac, closes tonight.
Dearest you,
Welcome to the second of this year’s eight free editions of Moontime Musings in line with the Pagan Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year.1
Here we are at the Spring Equinox - Ostara - and the beginning of Astronomical Spring! I can’t quite believe that we’ve made it (especially after 2 challenging mornings navigating a hard frost earlier this week!). A fortnight ago I had the joy of spending 5 delicious days drinking up the early Spring sunshine and marvelling at the March flowers on the Kernewek (Cornish) Coast. This annual ritual of walking away Winter with my dear friend Ash holds so much medicine - for the mind, as well as the body. Hiking up and down some gruelling stretches of the path, certainly awakens stiffened Winter muscles! But it’s worth it for the views.
Another annual ritual of mine for the past 3 years has been holding space for a beautiful community of folks seeking a deeper connection to British plants and trees. As I write to you, I’m noticing the Norway Maple tree opposite my house beginning to flower, and it was this noticing that first inspired me to create the Plant Almanac. Before I did, I’d been an environmental educator for over a decade and had only just clocked that it’s not just the showy trees, like Cherry, who flower! This led me down a research rabbit hole into the life cycle of 16 different native British trees to find out when they flower, and what their flowers look like. I learnt, for example, that the Ash tree’s flowers remind me a lot of purple sprouting broccoli! (see photo below). Along with these trees, I’ve also created resources for over 20 flowering plants which include a collection of their folklore as well as current and historical uses.
I would love to guide you on this annual pilgrimage with plants between the Equinoxes - dedicating 6 months to truly noticing the plants around us here in the U.K. Enrolment for this course (which only opens once a year), closes at midnight tonight. To join this year’s cohort, click the button below.
Now onto what’s coming up for the rest of March:
20 March: Ostara (Pagan)
20 March: beginning of Astronomical & Astrological Spring
20 March: Sun moves into Aries
20 March: The Plant Almanac course begins.
23 March: Purim (Jewish)
29 March 10:57 GMT: New Seed Super Moon in Aries and Solar Eclipse
30 March: British Summer Time begins (clocks forward 1 hour)
30 March: Mother’s Day (U.K)
30 - 31 March: Eid ul-Fitr (Muslim)
Eclipse Season
We’re right in the depths of the first Eclipse season of 2025 which lasts until the New Moon in 9 days’ time. In my last newsletter, I mentioned that…
we have the first Lunar Eclipse of 2025 on 14 March, which is a potent time for closing doors and releasing people, thoughts and actions that no longer serve us.
Eclipses always arrive in pairs, usually close to the Equinoxes here in the Northern Hemisphere (the next Eclipse season is 7-21 September 2025). Astronomically, eclipse seasons only occur at these times of year as this is when the Moon's orbit around Earth is tilted by about 5 degrees. Eclipses also only occur in alignment with a New or Full Moon. The first Solar Eclipse of 2025 falls on 29 March and will be at its maximum at 11:03 GMT in London. Unlike some eclipses which are ‘total’ and completely block out the sun’s light (remember the one of August 1999?!), this one is only partial, yet we’ll still be able to witness the Moon casting a shadow over some of the sun’s light.
Astrologically, Solar Eclipses symbolise bright new beginnings and the opportunity to not only turn to a fresh page, but start a brand new journal! With the Spring Equinox here and the Solar eclipse approaching, make some time over the next 9 days to reflect on the following:
What bright new seeds are stirring within me?
Where in my life can I cultivate more balance?
Where would I like to be in 6 months’ time at the Autumn Equinox?
Daylight savings/British Summer Time - why?!
As the light grows earlier and earlier, I’m reminding myself that in 10 days’ time we’ll be cast back into the shadows and my 5:45am wake up time will revert back to my late Winter time rising of 6:45am. I was wondering why we change the clocks here in the U.K, having always assumed it was to benefit farmers, so did a bit of digging. Here’s what I found from one of my favourite sites timeanddate.com:
The idea of daylight saving time was first suggested in a letter by Benjamin Franklin in 1784. In 1907, William Willett […] campaigned to advance clocks at the beginning of the spring and summer months and to return to GMT in a similar manner in the autumn. The 1908 Daylight Saving Bill was the first attempt in the UK to move clocks forward one hour in summer. The idea was to provide more daylight hours after work for the training of the Territorial Army and for recreation, to reduce shunting accidents on the railways and to reduce expenditure on lighting. The House of Commons rejected the Bill.2
According to the same source, it wasn’t until 1916 that daylight savings was adopted in the U.K - following Germany’s example to “save energy and help the war effort.” So nothing to do with farming after all! There are many arguments in favour of and against daylight savings, including folks from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents whose research predicts that “less people would be killed and injured in road accidents if one hour of daylight was transferred from the morning to the afternoon.” What are your thoughts on this? I’d love to hear in the comments.
Wild Garlic Soup Recipe
For the final segment of this newsletter, I wanted to leave you with a gift - my Wild Garlic Soup recipe. Woodlands are abundant with wild garlic at the moment - a beautiful ingredient for pestos and soups. One of the most nourishing ways that I like to use wild garlic is by adding to a nettle soup. Now is also a good time to make nettle tea - head over to
for a recipe from Jo.Wild Garlic and Nettle Soup
Ingredients
Half a carrier bag full of nettle tops (just pick the first 2-6 leaves using gardening gloves)
2 handfuls wild garlic*
1 large onion
1 large potato
1.5l vegetable stock
Dried herbs of your choice (I like to add rosemary)
Salt and Pepper to taste
* if you’re unfamiliar with wild garlic, please read the blog below by
Method
Once you’ve collected your wild garlic and nettles, shake them out onto a sheet outside to allow any creatures to escape.
Meanwhile dice the onion and potato and pop the kettle on to boil.
With the gardening gloves, add handfuls of the nettles to a colander to rinse.
In your biggest pan, heat some olive oil.
Fry the onion over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile make up 1.5 litres stock.
Add the potatoes for another 5.
Add any dried herbs if using.
Add the vegetable stock.
Bring to the boil.
Add the wild garlic and nettle leaves and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.
Take off the heat and blend.
Season and enjoy!
That’s all from me for this second free edition of 2025. Please consider sharing this newsletter with anyone who you think would like it. Your reciprocity is greatly appreciated 🙏
The next edition comes out in the week of the the next Full (Seed) Moon on 10 April and full access will be for paid subscribers only. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for less than the price of a good coffee each month (£3.50) or £35 a year.
Thank you for reading and Ostara blessings.
Love,
Charly x
Contains affiliate link
UK Debates to Extend Daylight Saving for Entire Year