Beginnings of Winter
Early winter comes creeping in on little cat paws, stepping softly as the cold and dark waxes…It’s easy to miss. Around us, the vast machinery of modern life is gearing up for the ‘holiday season’. Which is a lovely thing. or at least, used to be. Thanksgiving meant gathering with extended family for time around the table. Christmas brought sparkly lights, evergreens and the joy of opening presents in your pyjamas.
I see little joy these days. I see a lot of harried people, both in the treatment room and without. I wrote earlier about the transition from autumn to winter- transitions are really important- they set the tone for the season to come. Halloween (which was traditionally Samhain/Beginning of Winter) has somehow morphed from an evening of costumes, candy and mischief into the Bataan Death March of multiple trunk or treats, pilgrimages to high candy density areas (it’s a thing) and the first stomachache of the holiday season.
“When did Halloween become a 10 day event?!?!” local harried WV parent 11/1/23
We’ve just moved out of the transition period into true winter. Given that one of the powers of Water is reflection, give it a go. How were the last three weeks for you? Was it productive? Did you gather in the learnings of autumn? Do you feel prepared for the next part of our journey? Did you put away the cotton ankle socks and grab something more substantial? Or did you feel like the last three weeks were a bit like living in a blender?
Winter is a manifestation of the Water element. And Water is where we are taken to the level of the bones…It’s time to get down to brass tacks, as it were. And like all the elements, it holds a paradox. It oscillates between stillness and movement. The way in right now is stillness. You just gotta stop running around like a chicken and listen. Listen the way you do when you’re in the woods at night when a branch cracks and it wasn’t you.
What was that??!?
I liken the seasons to a dinner party (you really want to be at this dinner party). With any dinner party, simple courtesies are best. Arrive on time, dress appropriately and SHOW UP. Leave distractions and Iphones for another time- if you are going to attend, damn well do it. If we stood outside the restaurant, with our noses against the window, it would be all too easy to dismiss what’s going on inside.
Bet the food isn’t that great.
What was her hairdresser thinking?
Nigel can be such an ass, especially after that second martini.
In order to enjoy the banquet of winter, we need to access the Winter inside of us. It’s deep and quiet and speaks to the part of us that holds the will to live, even in hardship.
Modern culture is going to tell you that hardship is for idiots and those who eschew modern conveniences like Alexa, Amazon and a fridge that talks to you are behind the times. Cultures that lived within the limits of Nature are gonna tell you that marshmallows don’t survive and couch potatoes get eaten. That lives are measured not in birthdays, but in winters. They will tell you that mixed in with the beauty and pathos is a helluva lot of hard work. That doing difficult things doesn’t just build muscle and bone, it builds resilience of body, mind and spirit.
I read a beautiful thing recently- it came out of the new documentary by Ken Burns. When faced with a winter storm, domesticated cattle will walk away from the storm, prolonging their time in it and ofttimes leading to their death. Our native bison have the wisdom of the wild within them. They walk into the storm.
Water is winter is darkness is cold is wisdom…
Grab your woolies and start walking, people.