Spring Equinox Festival
Foundation Centre - Ireland
March 21st, 2026
By: Rev. Noeleen Watson
There was something magical about today's ceremony, the weather was more like a summer's day with clear blue skies, the sun beaming down and the temperature was very warm. Our temple is still under reconstruction, so we made the castle theatre our temple. Katheriona was stepping in as our presiding Priestess. She welcomed everyone with a smile and a loving heart. We had many new attendees which is always good to see. Katheriona shared it was the 50th Anniversary of the Fellowship of Isis, the importance of the balance returning to our lives.
We were all invited to walk in procession towards the Rose Garden, our Priest Tom led us with a steady beat of his drum. You could see all the new growth around the gardens. Standing in a circle around the budding rose bushes, an invocation to the Rosa Mundi was made. Katheriona, our presiding Priestess led us gently back into our heart centre.
We made our way towards the Sacred Grove; Katheriona shared the history of the grove of trees that now represent the Druid Grove of Dana. We were each given a bay leaf and we were to place something that is weighing us down in the leaf and then place it among the trees. There was such a lightness letting things go. Noeleen, a priestess, read her poem she wrote for the 50th Anniversary of the Fellowship of Isis: Click to view this poem (opens in new tab)
Walking along the pathway towards the abbey, our eyes were drawn to the beautiful colours of the spring's flowers. It was like walking through a real-life rainbow of love. When we all reached the abbey, Lady Olivia's favourite place, an invocation to the Goddess Eriu was made. This place is dedicated to the Noble Order of Tara, a Sister Society within in the Fellowship of Isis. One of our regular attendees sang a beautiful song, that certainly brought a smile to all.
We then made our way to our temple, where one of our priestesses invoked the Goddess Persephone and shared with us the importance of having only love in our hearts when we enter our temple. We look forward to returning to our temple with all the new improvements and slight changes.
We entered the theatre, our home for today in quiet procession, one could see the amazement on people's faces. Katheriona opened our ceremony with an oracle reading from Lady Olivia's book called "Dea." The reading was all about love and the heart. The image that will stay with me is the rose rambling up through the temple walls, the heart of the rose is the heart of the mother. Deities were invoked by our priesthood. We had made a beautiful altar dedicated to the chalices, each chalice had Brigid's Well Water and a white rose. Blessings were given to all who wanted a blessing. One of our priestesses delivered an oracle from the Goddess Ostara, she shared the importance of our inner child and how we need to play and bring lightness to ourselves like children do.
We went on a journey to meet the Goddess Grainne, again it was connecting with the light. Several creative offerings were presented from a fabulous mystery play, bringing the light into the dark and the also the importance of the dark in our lives. A poem was read about the Spring Equinox; every word was alive with imagery. Then we had a story about feathers, now that blew me away.
We all held hands in a circle and sent out healing for our intentions. We all joined together in song. People walking by outside actually stood and looked through the doors. There is something powerful when all voices come together in perfect harmony.
Today the rose, a symbol of love was the underlining theme for our ceremony. One could feel the genuine love today among our community. Each rose contains so many petals and every one of those petals fits perfectly with the next. Every one of us is like a petal in the rose. The centre of the rose is the heart.
Katheriona gave us all a final blessing and shared the next date for our Bealtaine Festival which is on Saturday 2nd May at 11am. We look forward to returning to our freshly renovated temple.
(Please note: Festival attendance is by invitation only - to request one, see this page: Events)
