Romancing us in May light, hawthorn drops her white veil as the fire of summer intensifies, the mayflowers fading and falling away as the nascent yellow-green bodies of the haws form. This in-between stage of the immature green berries relates to the citrinitas, the yellowing or xanthosis which is equated with a process of ripening, waiting for the final stage. It is a transitional period, like the time between the fading of the flower after its pollination, and the swelling of the fertilized ovum into a fully ripened fruit. The citrinitas represents a true inspiration from our transpersonal consciousness—our Soul—that impregnates our imagination.

This period of gestation can feel a bit like limbo, perhaps with some tension as the inspiration seems to be swelling up inside, but the time has not come for it to manifest in physical reality. Spending time alone in nature is a way to nurture this growing Soul with further inspiration from the messages of animals, insects, and the cyclical processes of the natural world. Through reflecting on both the subtle and gross changes happening in our environment as parts of our own being, we get a macro perspective on psycho-spiritual processes that are unfolding within us. Just as a mother is affected by changes in hormones as a fetus grows within her womb, the growing Soul begins to affect the way we feel, and subsequently how we perceive the world around us. We are able to understand our own internal processes in more depth, recognizing the correspondences between the internal and external worlds.