This first early snow and the colder nights happening this week made me want to share this beautiful writing about the winter King as we call it in the Norse shamanic tradition.
Whatever our cultural and spiritual background or connections, all of us can feel the deep winter calling to slow down. Doing less. Being more.
A balancing act in our busy lives curated by a frenetic world. Nature has never forgotten the original instructions and can always help us remember them.
Maybe it is really about remembering the soft and slow animal we are.
Maybe it is about sitting with what we try to run away from.
Maybe it is about experiencing a stillness in our minds and bodies that we have never truly allowed.
Maybe it is seeing that we have a choice and understanding changing direction is only possible at very slow speed.
Maybe it is understanding our illnesses can only be met when felt and when we truly stop running away from them or having opinions about them.
Maybe it is about wood fire, hot chocolate, and longer cuddles.
Whatever is calling us in our lives can only be met in the slow times.
Bearing witness to the turmoil, despair, and tender excitement of being alive in this time of prophecy.
"The winter solstice time is no longer celebrated as it once was, with the understanding that this is a period of descent and rest, of going within our homes, within ourselves and taking in all that we have been through, all that has passed in this full year which is coming to a close... like nature and the animal kingdom around us, this time of hibernation is so necessary for our tired limbs, our burdened minds.
Our modern culture teaches avoidance at a max at this time; alcohol, lights, shopping, overworking, over spending, comfort over spending, comfort food and consumerism.
And yet the natural tug to go inwards as nearly all creatures are doing is strong and the weather so bitter that people are left feeling that winter is hard, because for those of us without burning fires and big festive families, it can be lonely and isolating.
Whereas in actual fact winter is kind, she points us in her quiet soft way towards our inner self, towards this annual time of peace and reflection, embracing the darkness and forgiving, accepting and loving embracing goodbye the past year.
"Winter takes away the distractions, the buzz, and presents us with the perfect time to rest and withdraw into a womb like love, bringing fire & light to our hearth"... and then, just around the corner, the new year will begin again, and like a seed planted deep in the earth, we will all rise with renewed energy once again to dance in the sunlight
Life is a gift a Happy winter (it's coming) to you all..." Written by Bridget Anna McNeil
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