Have you ever missed a night of sleep?
Or what about 3 or 4 nights in a row?
You feel nutty as hell, right? Like, you’re not firing on all cylinders; a cell phone with one lowly bar and 2% battery.
OK, now what about when you get a good night’s sleep, or 3 or 4 good sleeps in a row?
You’re a champ! A gold medalist, the best of the best, a full battery and all the cell signal you could ever want.
Knowing this tells you some big things.
First, it tells you that you need regular rest for health and well-being.
And it also tells you that you’re sensitive to the daily migration of your energy; when to be active and when you need to rest.
Good job!
Since you’re so beautifully in touch with that daily rhythm, it means you’re already a natural at aligning with the larger rhythm; the year.
It means that you are very likely feeling a pull, a type of gravity, right this very minute.
And I bet this pull feels confusing.
Because, this pull is in direct opposition to “the holidays”.
On one hand, the nights are growing longer, the deciduous trees have dropped their leaves, and lots of animals are beginning to hibernate.
Gardens are barely producing, and there’s a need to stay inside and sheltered to keep from freezing.
On the other hand, it’s the holidays! Time to eat, spend, socialize, decorate, and travel!!
So, where are you at with it all?
Check in with yourself real quick. Feel your body, your mind, your heart, your psyche.
Raring to go? Or ready to rest?
I’ll speak for myself here — I’m leaning toward rest.
While I will certainly enjoy some holiday parties and feasts, and I’ll love seeing everyone at the holiday sales so they’ll have oils for gifts and stocking stuffers (wink), I can feel that a big part of me is ready to align with the hibernating bears and get all the rest I need.
So maybe…
Once upon a time there was a wild-haired woman who lived on the frozen north side of a mountain. She was old but not-old; young but not-young. Every winter, just as the rhododendron curled against the cold, she followed the Black Bears deep into the mountain for a season of Dreaming.
Like the bears who dig down to the warm heart of Earth, holding them safe while they sleep, this young-old wild haired woman nestles into the warm heart of her own Dreamtime. Like the bears, her rhythm slows. Like the bears, she gestates while she rests; visions and rituals are her cubs.
The woman is not cocooned in the great Mystery of the Dream alone, though. There are others Dreaming with her, nestled nearby. They align with the rhythms of Nature just like she does.
It is no secret who they are. They are the Mystery School students; women devoted to self-knowing and connecting with Nature, and they will all be part of the young-old wild haired woman’s Dreaming just as she will be part of theirs.
And when the light begins to peek into the year in early February, The Priestess archetype finds these Dreamers and wakes them with a warm invitation to kindle their inner flames.
They awaken together, their life force renewed from a season of intentional rest, a ritual that many people miss.
The ones who Dreamed together will awaken together and then walk The Wheel of the Year together — a community devoted to evolving and unfurling one season at a time; the rhythm we are born to follow, a sacred sustainability.
If you are enrolled in a Darkwood Mystery School, you will be part of this sacred Dreaming collective. You will be here when The Priestess awakens us in February, fresh and ready to go, having gotten all the rest you needed.
I mean, or not.
You know yourself better than anyone.
Maybe your rhythms are just fine, and you got it covered. Hell yeah.
But if not, if you’re frustrated, worn out, disconnected, and yearning for a life that aligns with Nature, then, you know, maybe think about a Mystery School.
Just sayin’.
This might be your year.
If it’s time to devote to your Self, your work in the world, and your connection with Nature, you’ll know.
love and all the rest,
xo
kv
