As the Great Wheel turns and the Lunar New Year arrives once again, we find ourselves noticing the increasing light. Our days now grow incrementally longer. The sun shines a bit brighter. Here in the Northern Hemisphere we stand at the midway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Perhaps this "return of the light" and the palpable seasonal shifts occurring now bring a growing sense of hope, as we move through the depth of winter and closer to the rebirth spring promises. We can feel the natural rhythms of continuous change happening on many levels. Something yet unseen gestates, as we prepare ourselves with visions of what we wish to plant for the coming year, in our gardens, and in our lives!
Our world is shifting rapidly all around us, as a new world is being born (and an outmoded old world is steadily dissolving). These can be overwhelmingly tumultuous, even apocalyptic feeling times. We all must work to take good care of ourselves, in addition to care-taking each other and our planet, so that together we may heal. We are being called to dream a dream of Wisdom Remembrance, Mutual Aid, and Blooming Futures! Even as we move through our most challenging moments and darkest days, we are evolving. Let our personal and collective evolution become ever more intentional.
This is an auspicious moment to mindfully create rituals and routines that cultivate our own multi-faceted wellness and our radical imaginations. This will enable us to collectively co-create, build, and facilitate a healthier and happier future world! We are being called to intentionally shape the change, as the world around us rapidly changes shape, so together we can heal the future currently being midwifed into reality!
Integrating the rituals that bring us healing into our daily lives as part of our self-care practice is an essential aspect of living a more balanced and intentional life. This is a wonderfully potent time within the wheel of the year to begin a personal practice! (or to 'begin once again' with renewed discipline) It is also a great moment to choose and commit (or re-commit) to the ways in which we will personally work towards healing the macro-cosmic worlds we orbit within, as well as the micro-cosmic worlds orbiting within us.
It is important to be intentional in crafting our future lives, and our future worlds. Part of sustainably shaping emergent change is reflecting on the truth of what we wish to release and allow to be composted, as well as the visions we most deeply wish to bring into being, and our motivations. In order to successfully "shape the change" we must remember to make spaces in our lives to slow down, unplug, listen to our intuition, invite inspired creative flow, work on honing our voice and various crafts, tend the flames that light up our lives, and clear our spaces, both physical and mental/emotional.
A lovely and beneficial healing self-care ritual for these still-cold days (and beyond) is to start each day, before we even leave our bed, by tuning in to our natural breath for a few moments, and reflecting on a gratitude contemplation.
Carve out a bit of time in your days and weeks for deep breathing, stretching, connecting with nature, cozy mindfulness & divination practices, introspective writing, meditative creative practices, taking walks, doing whatever feels like play, crafting, cooking healthful foods, offering fire rituals, taking incremental action steps towards your chosen goals, listening to the musics that move you, and planting 'seeds' with deep intention.
It is vital that we continue to tend our own inner spark through the darkest and coldest of chapters. May these days of growing light bring you growing Hope, and a renewed strength of Willpower. May your coming spring bloom beautifully and health-fully!
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