This is the Samhain post in my series about activities for the eight holidays throughout the wheel of the year. Around the 1st of November, we are now in the middle between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.

In 2020 I wrote a blog post about this holiday. There are a few traditional threads that weave through it all:

• Halloween
• All Souls’ Day
• All Saints’ Day
• the Celtic feast Samhain
• the Mexican Day of the Dead
• the Germanic Álfablót
• killing off surplus herd animals and preparing for the dark season

My thoughts about this day crystallised into the following main themes: Letting go as an empowering experience, transformation, composting old ideas, resilience and finding your strong roots and solid backbone, celebrating your genetic ancestors as well as the metaphoric ones, resting, mourning and thinking about what you want your own legacy to be.

In the following paragraphs you will find suggestions that may help you experience these themes more tangibly, also some descriptions of my own activities and experiences. I will keep adding new thoughts and ideas in the future.

You can find another perspective and additional insights into this time of year in one of the Samhain podcast episodes of “The Wonder”.

Venturing outside

The 21st of September kicked off autumn‘s colourful phase. Now we enter the next stage and a lot of the leaves are already on the ground. Part of them still rustle enthusiastically but a lot of them have turned into mush not remotely reminiscent of summer.

I have seen and heard some flocks of geese starting their southbound trek. Unfortunately, at those times I had forgotten to bring my camera with me. On those occasions I had it, there were no geese to be found ready to pose for a picture.

The forests nearby are still quite colourful. A few trees really are completely bare, some are sporting a few dry and dark grey leaves. A lot of the foliage is surprisingly green, just a bit muted. Depending on where I look and from which kind of mood, I see nature retreating and exhaling and at the same time dashes of colour and life bravely mobilising its last reserves. Retreat often is a slow process.

This year‘s October was another very warm one. Warm enough to be outside wearing a T-shirt on some days. The planet slowly heating up is just another kind of goodbye. Even if there is still a lot we can do to prevent the worst, the climate is not return to the way it was when I was young. Thinking about this is hard for me.

In my region it has become customary to leave deadwood to stay on the forest floor. So we can follow the slow but steady process of decay. I have always been fascinated by this calm recycling of organic matter. And either I have been paying special attention or there are just very many mushrooms this year, some of them also past their prime by now.

What about your region around the 1st of November? Are the trees still green and full of leaves? Or has nature proceeded even further towards the dark season? Can you see the signs of transience around you?

Gardening

I really should pull myself together and start winterising the garden. Let go of the hope of a successful cauliflower harvest and at the same time look back at what went well.

Every year I am surprised by the resilience of some of the flowers in my garden. After surviving the snails and slugs during summer they are now offering their last hurrah.

You can find advice on gardening in November here and here. Of course when exactly you have to do certain tasks depends on the region you live in.

What is the current state of your garden, balcony or windowsill? Which plants have already started decaying? Where can you still see the odd dash of colour? Have you already winterised your garden?

Meditating

Apart from my own meditation, there is a broad variety of other choices to be found online, covering different styles and durations. I would suggest the search terms “Samhain“, “letting go“ or even “death“ in combination with “meditation“. There are also yoga flows suited for the occasion, some very fun ones by Adriene Mishler. Another option would be to create a fitting atmosphere and just quietly meditate on one or more of the themes of the day.

Getting creative

To celebrate the season around the 1st of November, I looked for and found crotchet patterns to make skulls. To me these little amigurumi are fitting for the season and also just adorable.

A couple of years ago I crocheted a scarf with a skull pattern. It took quite a while but it was well worth the effort. This pattern can be adapted for differently shaped objects for different uses and will also look great in white or even other colours.

Now that autumn is in full swing, why not make an old-fashioned paper kite? Or a lantern to take on a walk outside or to place in your home?

Another fitting crafting project could be to gather some family photos and arrange them in a collage on the wall or on your focus. Or you could create a family tree without pictures, including actual relatives as well as other people you stand on the shoulders of.

I made a mini cardboard easel for my focus. With this I can present different pictures throughout the year. I followed these instructions originally meant for making a phone stand. Over the course of the following year I created a new picture for each holiday to put on the easel.

Listening to or making music around the 1st of November

For the 1^st of May there is an overwhelming list of songs about love and weddings. There seems to be almost as much music centered on death and goodbyes.

When looking for classical music for the 1st of November, we probably all know Chopin’s funeral march, which sounds measured and melancholy, reminding us of a cinematic funeral scenes. Fanny Mendelssohn’s November is also mournful and at the same time dignified and elegant.

Tori Amos is looking forward towards her days as a „Happy Phantom“. She optimistically envisions the kinds of pranks she will play and how many happy moments this type of existence will provide. The German band “Die Ärzte” present the life of a zombie in a similar way in their song „Pro-Zombie“.

Art Garfunkel is much less upbeat with his ballad „Bright Eyes“. He asks:

„Bright eyes, burning like fire
Bright eyes, how can you close and fail?
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale?“

Art Garfunkel

Taylor Swift’s “Marjorie” pays homage to her late grandmother. She revels in the memories of their shared experiences and words of wisdom. Even though they are no longer together, an important part of her grandmother is still with her.

“If I didn’t know better
I’d think you were still around
What died didn’t stay dead
What died didn’t stay dead
You’re alive, you’re alive in my head”

Taylor Swift

With “Tears in Heaven“, Eric Clapton shares his grief for his son who died at a young age. He also sings about the strength he has to find to carry on.

The metal genre revels in the morbid and the exploration of the dark. One well known classic is Iron Maiden’s „Fear of the Dark“ describing the feeling of some unnamed presence always hanging around close by.

Bloodywood’s „Yaad“ on the other hand is about grieving the loss of a loved one, even though this does not always have to be a human being, as can be seen from the video.

Another band even chose the very fitting name Evanescence. Their song „My Immortal“ is about the breakup of an unfortunate relationship and the inability of the protagonist to let go.

My list for this holiday includes two tracks from children’s movies. Of course the first of them has to be „This is Halloween“ from „Nightmare before Christmas“. The inhabitants of Halloween Town may look scary and enjoy startling humans by jumping out from underneath their beds. However, this is all meant in good, lighthearted fun. It just is what it is.

The second song is „Let it Go“ from Disney’s „Frozen“. In this film, the protagonist Elsa overcomes her internal resistance and lets go of expectations of who she should be. This also touches on the topics of this day in my opinion. Letting go can be uncomfortable and is thus often unpopular. On the other side of it, you will find freedom with a level of intensity that personally still makes tears stream down my face when I listen to this song.

Reading

During this time of contemplation and introspection it may be time to flip through those old photo albums again or maybe read some old letter. Even though one of the themes is letting go, a bit of nostalgia can complete the experience.

You can count on Terry Pratchett to also have written a Discworld novel matching the mood of the 1st of November. „Mort“ is about the personification of Death choosing an apprentice who gains a brand new perspective on human mortality and the questions of justice and inevitability that come with his new job.

Do not stand
By my grave, and weep.
I am not there,
I do not sleep—
I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.
Do not stand
By my grave, and cry—
I am not there,
I did not die.

Clare Harner

Harner talks about what happens with what we are made of after we die. What really matters is never gone. And we can take comfort in being surrounded by nature and our memories of those we had to let go.

On the other hand, in her “Blessing for the Brokenhearted“, Jan Richardson advocates for acknowledging feelings of loss and sadness. Even though death is a part of life we do not have to toughen up and deny our emotions. Resilience is not about denial but about looking at things honestly and still going on with our lives.

Let us agree
for now
that we will not say
the breaking
makes us stronger
or that it is better
to have this pain
than to have done
without this love.

Let us promise
we will not
tell ourselves
time will heal
the wound,
when every day
our waking
opens it anew.

Perhaps for now
it can be enough
to simply marvel
at the mystery
of how a heart
so broken
can go on beating,
as if it were made
for precisely this—

as if it knows
the only cure for love
is more of it,

as if it sees
the heart’s sole remedy
for breaking
is to love still,

as if it trusts
that its own
persistent pulse
is the rhythm
of a blessing
we cannot
begin to fathom
but will save us
nonetheless.

Jan Richardson

Finally, Rupi Kaur suggests celebrating death as the culmination of a life that she enjoyed on her own terms:

when i go from this place
dress the porch with garlands
as you would for a wedding my dear
pull the people from their homes
and dance in the streets
when death arrives
like a bride at the aisle
send me off in my brightest clothing
serve ice cream with rose petals to our guests
there’s no reason to cry my dear
i have waited my whole life
for such a beauty to take
my breath away
when i go let it be a celebration
for i have been here
i have lived
i have won at this game called life

Rupi Kaur

Food for the 1st of November

Fliederbeersuppe is a recipe from Northern Germany. It is a sweet soup made from elderberries, served with semolina dumplings. With its colour of dark red, almost black and the white dumplings it is perfect for celebrating the dark season. Also I love that it combines earthy and bitter tastes with softness and sweetness.

Asking questions

These are the questions that might be helpful to ask yourself or the oracle of your choice around the 1st of November:

• Which traits did you inherit from your ancestors?
• Whose shoulders are you standing on?
• What does knowing you came before you have to do with your personal roots?
• What is going to be your legacy, literally and metaphorically?
• What would you have liked to keep, what are you grieving for?
• What is easy for you to let go of?
• In which area are you waiting for the autumn storm to make decisions for you and to make letting go easier?
• Which parts of yourself do you feel are particularly resilient?
• Who are you at you innermost and indestructible core?
• What is your general relationship with transforming what you have become used to into compost for the future?
• Which part of humanity’s history makes you particularly grateful?
• Which projects have you invested energy in time in this year and which have come to a close now?

Focussing on your most important insights

What are your main answers to the questions above? Which poems, quotes or pieces of music do you find most relevant to the mood of the days around the 1st of November? Can you condense the most salient messages into a symbol or a word? Did you find an object outside in nature that you want to be present on your focus?

Do you have a tradition for this time of Halloween, Samhain or All Saint’s? Have you already sorted what projects of the past you want to dissolve and recycle for the future? How do you feel about the subject of mortality?

The next date in the Wheel of the Year is the 21st of December. You can find more articles around the Wheel of the Year on my blog.

What is your hope based on?

This is the last post in my series about activities for the eight holidays throughout the wheel of the year. We are now at the winter solstice.

Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote a blog post about the winter solstice on the 21st of December. There are a few traditional threads that weave through it all:

• Christmas/Yule of course, the Christian holiday as well as the feast of giving gifts and being cosy
• the beginning of winter
• the return of the light in the darkest of days
• Nature‘s hibernation
• on its shadow side kitsch, commercialism and for some a heightened sense of being lonely

My thoughts about this day crystallised into the following main themes: Optimism, withdrawal, regeneration but also community and agency or self-efficacy.

In the following paragraphs you will find suggestions that may help you experience these themes more tangibly, also some descriptions of my own activities and experiences. I will keep adding new thoughts and ideas in the future.

You can find another perspective and additional insights into this time of year in last year‘s podcast episode of The Wonder about the winter solstice.

Venturing outside

These days, it gets dark quite early in the afternoon and the Northern German winter does not exactly seduce you to step outside your door. The autumn winds have taken most of the leaves from the trees in my region and lately it was surprisingly cold so that everything got a good freezing through. There have not been large amounts of snow worth mentioning.

Close by, there are many sloes and initially I had planned to pick some after the first short frosty periods in November. On one of my walking rounds at the beginning of December I realised however, that the bushes had been all but completely emptied. Either someone had felt even more peckish for some sloe jam than I was, or the animals had eaten them. Seeing as I have a good number of jars of rosehip jam in my pantry, I feel generous about the sloes. Next year I will observe them a bit more carefully to find out what happens to them. Funnily enough, there are still many wild rosehips glowing dark red in the hedges.

What does your neighbourhood look like at the moment? Do you have snow? Do you also notice how 5pm masquerades as deep night? Which fruit still cling to the branches in your area?

Gardening in the winter

You can find advice on gardening in December here and here. Of course, what will flourish and when you have to do certain tasks depends on the region you live in.

The following is an inspiration for next year: There is a German tradition of cutting a few branches off fruit trees on the 4^th of December and putting them in a vase inside your home. These so-called Barbara branches will then be in bloom around Christmas and thus be an ideal representation of hope for the return of Spring.

I did not get around to do much in my own garden the last few weeks and then the cold came. I really hope that the barrels that were still holding rain water are going to survive the expansion of the ice. After this very dry summer I was so happy to be able to collect a good amount of water and later forgot or maybe did not have the heart to tip it out.

A lot of the old brownish plant bits are still left standing also because I heard this helps the animals. Next year I want to rethink and sort out what kind of winterproofing I want for my garden. And for myself.

One of the few activities still going on is serving seeds for the birds and squirrels. And marveling at the beauty of the holly bush in my front yard. It was planted by the family who lived here before us and it so wonderfully fits the season. We also took a few clippings for our Advent wreath.

Between the solstice and New Year’s Day I will sit down and plan a bit ahead which vegetables I want to give another chance and dream about how I am going to integrate steps into the inclined bit of lawn that connects the patio and the actual garden. Also I want to decide on a border that will help me keep the slugs and snails at bay. Apart from that I can foresee a session with a little fire in the brazier and that is going to be it for my garden in 2022.

What is the current state of your garden, balcony or windowsill? How have you winterproofed your garden? Which plans for next year’s planting are slumbering away in the back of your mind?

Meditating in the winter

Apart from my own meditation there is a broad variety of other choices to be found online, covering different styles and durations. I would suggest the search terms “winter solstice“ or “yule“ in combination with “meditation“. There are also yoga flows suited for the occasion, especially relaxing flows or just repeating Surya Namaskar until you feel satisfied. Another option would be to create a fitting atmosphere and just quietly meditate on one or more of the themes of the day.

Getting Creative

There is no lack of crafting tutorials for snowmen, Santas, angels or candle arrangements. Maybe for a change you might like to make your own incense cones? There is a recipe here which says that the cones have to dry for a couple of days. But then they don’t have to be lit on the actual day of the solstice. Like the Barbara branches, this is also something to keep in mind for next year.

If I can manage it in time I would like to make a miniature stone circle from salt paste to use in my focus. But that really is all for my crafting this time of year, which really is supposed to be about getting comfortable. So less may be more, especially around Christmas.

I made a mini cardboard easel for my focus which I can present different pictures on throughout the year following these instructions originally meant for making a phone stand. Now I am going to create a new picture to put on the easel to focus on during the following weeks. This is also great for displaying a card for the day.

Listening to or making winter music

The current holiday has to be the one with the longest list of music and songs of all genres, vocal or instrumental, traditional or modern. Being a big fan of the season myself, in the beginning of December I start listening to a lot of this music all day long. It amazes me to see how many versions there are of all the old and new Christmas songs.

I will list mainly pieces that offer a different perspective or are more about winter and darkness rather than “traditional” Christmas lore.

We will start with winter set to music by Vivaldi, Haydn and Glasunov. All three of them express their own personal relationship with winter, the freezing processes in nature and the festive season. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel composed a series of pieces one for each month of the year. Her “December” evokes images of someone walking through a blizzard and then enterin a safe and warm building where variations of a Christmas song are played. On my search for fitting music I came across an exciting instrumental album by Miguel Berkemeier called “Music for Yule – Winter Solstice songs“. He mixes modern, classical and archaic style elements and borrows from traditions from a range of European regions.

Metal never disappoints, so you can find a large number of cover versions of Christmas songs, much to my personal delight. The band August Burns Red are not the only one to have put together a dedicated Christmas album. It includes covers but also original pieces like “Flurries”. This instrumental is about a child who unwraps presents and discovers that one of them is a sled. The child then goes outside for a wild sledding session in the snow. Swansong also offer a composition of their own: With majestic riffs and impressive camera flights across a beach and a snow covered forest, “Winter Maiden” tells us about some kind of Snow Queen ruling over her frosty land in a coastal area without ever aging herself.

In my actual collection of old school CDs I also have one by Loreena McKennitt and one by the Medieval Babes. Here are two songs I picked out as examples: “Good King Wenceslas” and “Carol of the Bells.”

There are many popsongs about darkness and winter. “Sounds of Silence“ Simon & Garfunkel is actually about offering resistance under adverse conditions and about trying to overcome the separation between humans.

And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people, maybe more

People talking without speaking

People hearing without listening

People writing songs that voices never share

And no one dared

Disturb the sound of silence

Simon and Garfunkel, Sound of Silence

To me this fits the subjects of community and agency. In times of darkness and cold, the best we can do is to take care of each other and stay connected.

“Winter“ by Tori Amos connects wintery acoustics with the topic of how the relationship with her father keeps her warm on the inside but does not save her from growing old and after many years asking herself where all the time has gone.

I get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter

I put my hand in my father’s glove

Tori Amos, Winter

I would like to end this list with Gaia Consort’s “Secret womb of night“

The circle cast, the dream is sown

And even hand in hand sometimes we face the night alone

From our darkness light will grow

Put your ear to her, the night might even whisper up her secret

Gaia Consort, Secret womb of night

Even though this could just as well be said about any night of the year, it seems particularly relevant to the winter solstice. The darkness is the place we retreat to by ourselves to be able to return with new light and new realisations. Sometimes we have to be very quiet to hear what is actually important. On the one hand, the intensity of the song seems to contradict this message. On the other hand, at the same time, maybe it does not. I for one am sitting here with a big grin and goosebumps and looking forward to the longest night.

Reading

If there is one novel jumping up and down in front of me for attention these days, it is “Hogfather” by Terry Pratchett. At the beginning of the year, I also mentioned this book in another context. In Terry’s Discworld, its version of Santa Claus is abducted. Death ends up in the predicament of having to substitute for the Hogfather to ensure that at the moment of sunrise enough people believe in the sun’s returning. The story includes a lot of “HO! HO! HO!”, silly office parties as well as a few sociocritical thoughts about the injustice of how presents are distributed among different people. Eventually, there is a literal life and death race between the Hogfather and his antagonists and in the end most of the people involved have learned major lessons. In 2006 the novel was made into a film, which of course I have on DVD and watch every December as a tradition.

Not all poems that fit the occasion are explicitly about Christmas. I remember reading this first one in school when I was young. The mixture of tiredness and tenacity fascinated me. The narrator considers going to sleep, some would say giving up and dying, but there is a very convincing reason for him pulling back from those thoughts and going back to his everyday life because he has promised to keep going.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

The second poem manages to lyrically summarise my main thoughts about the winter solstice: The experiences and rituals going back millennia, the warmth of being among fellow humans, the promise and the dreamlike quality of winter:

The Shortest Day

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world

Came people singing, dancing,

To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen;

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive.

And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, reveling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing behind us—listen!

All the long echoes, sing the same delight,

This Shortest Day,

As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, feast, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends,

And hope for peace.

And now so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome, Yule!

Susan Cooper

Asking questions

These are the questions that might be helpful to ask yourself or the oracle of your choice around the winter solstice:

• How have you made your home and yourself winterproof?
• What gives you hope and what is your own contribution to your hope for brighter times?
• What is your hope based in, either within you or outside of you??
• Whom do you love to think about?
• Whom would you like to give a meaningful gift to?
• Which particularly lovely gift did you receive this year?
• How can you keep this gift safe?
• What do you dream about in this long time of quiet and darkness?

Focussing on your most important findings

I will put together my own focus, gathering all my findings and then add a picture of it here.

What about you?

What are the most meaningful answers to the questions above, the most fitting quotes or poems? Is there a piece of music that you can condense into a word, a phrase or a symbol? Did you find an object outside that deserves to be showcased on your focus?

This concludes the blog post series about activities around the year. The next holiday is going to be the 2^nd of February.

Do you have a tradition for the winter solstice on the 21st of December? How do you handle the current dark and cold season?

Thank you so much for reading and I wish you all the best and a fantastic new year 2023!

How to refill your batteries at the beginning of summer

This is my summer solstice post in my series about activities for the eight holidays throughout the wheel of the year. We are now at the beginning of summer.

Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote a blog post about the 21st of June. There are a few traditional threads that weave through it all:

• the Summer Solstice
• the beginning of summer and the holidays
• St. John‘s Eve and the end of asparagus season

My thoughts about this day crystallised into the following main themes: How things are valued even more due to their transience, the importance of resting for gathering strength for less plentiful days, enjoying the current abundance around us, trusting in natural processes and preserving your harvest in time.

In the following paragraphs you will find suggestions that may help you experience these themes more tangibly, also some descriptions of my own activities and experiences. I will keep adding new thoughts and ideas in the future.

You can find another perspective and additional insights into this time of year in the recent podcast episode The Wonder.

Venturing outside

If it was up to me, the temperatures would be a bit lower in general. At the moment, even my cat seems to just melt into the floor tiles most of the day, even though we llive in the North of Germany. Apart from that, I am amazed (like I am every year) by how light it is outside at 5 am as well as at 11 pm. Some astronomical info on the side: The earliest sunrise of the year does not happen at the solstice but a couple of days earlier, depending on your latitude. I made a graph for surise and sunset times around the winter solstice. For the summer it should look very similar, just the other way around.

Gone is the tenderness of may. Instead, I am faced with an abundance of leaves, fruit and flowers in my region. The main colour impression is green with a couple of multicoloured dots sprinkled in between. In my area roses are a very traditional plant to grow but also the elder trees are still blooming in bright white. There is hardly any stretch of path where I cannot smell them. The lime tree flowers on the other hand, are just about to open in a few days and release their fragrance when the elderflowers have faded.

What does your neighbourhood look like at the moment? Which flowers can you see especially abundantly? What can you smell in nature around you? Are there as many butterflies around you seemingly soaking up every ray of sunshine they can get?

Gardening

In my garden several plants were no match for the army of slugs. Almost all of my sunflowers and all the courgette and pumpkin plants. Those that have made it this far now thrive more or less without depending on my intervention. I planted peas again, severely underestimating the way they stretch sideways when they do not turn out as pathetic as mine did in 2021. I am very much in love with how they fill one of my raised beds and produce blossoms and pods that thicken daily.

In the same way that the time of illumination increases, the trees in my area (known for its tree nurseries) offer highly welcome shade. I am very grateful for the shaded corners in my own garden, being more of an autumn fan myself.

Two years ago I planted some climbing strawberries which are still a bit on the puny side. The wild strawberries, on the other hand, run rampant all across my garden without me having to do anything. Actually, me not doing much in the way of “weed“ removal was exactly what helped these little friendly presents of nature to flourish.

The manual that came with them told me I have to wait one more year before I can harvest the first asparagus. They still have to develop and gather strength to be able to withstand someone cutting pieces off them. The little trees they grow into are fascinating and beautiful to look at, as are the little shiny green berries. Another instance of non-intervention leading to an opportunity to observe something I had not seen before.

Last year I had bought some watering bulbs, this year I added two clay jugs that are inserted into the soil and some clay tips for bottles to also poke into the ground to provide your vegetables with water more evenly. So this year I have to spend even less time worrying about those plants I am most emotionally invested in. On top of that the content of my rain barrel lasts longer.

You can find advice on gardening in June here and here. Of course what will flourish and when you have to do certain tasks depends on the region you live in.

What is the current state of your garden, balcony or windowsill? What grows without you having to do anything or maybe even because of your non-action?

Meditating

Apart from my own meditation there is a broad variety of other choices to be found online, covering different styles and durations. I would suggest the search terms “Summer solstice“, “gathering strength“ or “regeneration“ in combination with “meditation“. There are also yoga flows suited for the occasion, especially yin yoga flows. Another option would be to create a fitting atmosphere and just quietly meditate on one or more of the themes of the day.

Getting creative

To anchor the theme of the season in my mind I searched for a way to craft a miniature hammock. I ended up using this pattern, which I modified a bit in the second row. If you are interested in how and why I made one less loop at the end, let me know. Another tutorial shows you how to create a cash gift in the shape of a tiny hammock. This could easily be done with just a colourful piece of paper if you are not keen on putting a note on your focus. The description is in German but the photos are pretty self explanatory.

Traditionally, the summer solstice is another great opportunity to crowns made from flowers. It‘s especially nice for kids, maybe this time of year the colours can be a bit more vibrant than for the 1st of May. The main thing is to enjoy the opulence of the season. Instead of paper flowers, I decided to crochet some roses to place on my own focus.

To represent the sun itself you can weave wool and strips of fabric into a paper plate or a couple of sticks. Another great idea is to make a lantern from paper that you have done some water colouring on.

And if all this still has not managed to get you into crafting gear, this list of Summer Solstice DIY projects hopefully will.

I made a mini cardboard easel for my focus which I can present different pictures on throughout the year following these instructions originally meant for making a phone stand. Now I am going to create a new picture to put on the easel to focus on during the following weeks.

Food and drink

If there is one thing I associate with Summer solstice, it is a last meal of asparagus, strawberries and sirup made with elderflowers.

Last year I learned how to make an elderflower champagne via fermentation. Here is a similar recipe to the one I am using. If the elder trees near you are still blooming, here is a list of recipes you might like to try. Just remember to pick only what you need and leave some flowers so there will be berries for the animals later in the year.

Listening to or making music

In her cycle through the year, Fanny Mendelssohn also composed a piece about June. Listening to it makes me think about sitting in the shade in my garden and watching the butterflies dance through the flowers. In comparison, the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune by Debussy feels much warmer, a taste of the summer to come.

No list would be complete without a mention of Vivaldi’s Summer. His version and also the one by Glasunov perfectly express the floating feeling of a hot summer afternoon. My research also made me come across “Apaisé, boisé” by Camille Pépin, a contemporary piece that transports me into a very summery forest with very old trees.

As with the subject of love for the 1^st of May, pop music offers a large variety of songs about summer. One of my favourites is “Zu heiß” by Farin Urlaub, a German ode to just lounging around instead of joining any reolution anytime soon, because it is just to hot to rebel. We can postpone any kind of street fight until maybe autumn, right?

When I was a child in the 702 my father used to play his already dated records. One of them contained “Summer in the City” by The Lovin‘ Spoonful, a song deeply embedded in my oldest memories. Their good news is: „Despite the heat it will be alright.“ We just have to wait with any partying activites until the late evening when the temperatures have dropped a bit.

Of course, there are new and traditional childrens’ songs to be found. For example Disney’s snowman Olaf dreaming about what he would like to do in summer.

I did not come up with any proper Metal songs about summer, but there is always “School’s out” by Alice Cooper celebrating the weeks of freedom lying ahead and also Type O Negative’s not exactly refreshing but still enjoyable “Summer Breeze”.

Finally you could join Lisa Thiel or the Latvian group Tautumeitas in honoring the annual return of the summer sun.

Reading

The following poem by John Updike captures how we felt as children, when the long weeks of summer holidays were before us, promising sunshine, carefree hours of playing outside and just being able to live in the moment.

June

The sun is rich

And gladly pays

In golden hours,

Silver days,

And long green weeks

That never end.

School’s out.

The time Is ours to spend.

There’s Little League,

Hopscotch, the creek,

And, after supper,

Hide-and-seek.

The live-long light

Is like a dream,

and freckles come

Like flies to cream.

John Updike

There is an endless list of summer novels old and new. One book that I will add to my “to read“ list is “How to do nothing“ by Jenny Odell. In it she says:

“Our very idea of productivity is premised on the idea of producing something new, whereas we do not tend to see maintenance and care as productive in the same way.”

Jenny Odell

There are other similar books out there about how we can learn to cut back from the high level of activity we have grown accustomed to. Also I have seen some fun looking childrens’ books on the same subject.

Two stories I just have to mention are Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” as well as Terry Prattchett’s “Lords and Ladies”, the latter being very obviously based on the former classical comedy. Both of them feature a royal wedding, a group of craftsmen doing their very best to put together a play for the wedding entertainment and the activities of the elves threatening to bring even more chaos into the situation.

Asking questions

These are the questions that might be helpful to ask yourself or the oracle of your choice:

• What is growing in your life without you having to do anything?
• What in your life actually profits from you not intervening?
• How does not being able to keep hold of the moment help you enjoy it even more fully?
• How can you integrate regular times for restoration into your schedule?
• What does your conscience say about intentionally doing nothing?

Focussing on your most important findings

I have put together my own focus gathering all my findings:

What about you?

What are the most meaningful answers to the questions above, the most fitting quotes or poems? Is there a piece of music that you can condense into a word, a phrase or a symbol? Did you find an object outside that deserves to be showcased on your focus?

The next holiday is going to be the 1^st of August. Shortly before that date, I will blog about it and add all the link to the two main posts.

Do you have a tradition for the Summer solstice on the 21^st of June? What do you like to eat at the moment? Which fruit and vegetables are currently in season where you live? How does the concept of transience help you enjoy life even more intensely? Do you allow yourself the amount of rest that you need? How do you feel about rest and enjoyment without a guilty conscience?

This is the third post in my series about activities for the eight holidays throughout the wheel of the year. We are now between the spring equinox and the summer solstice at the holiday known as Beltane, Mayday and International Workers’ Day.

The synthesis of polarity

Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote a blog post about the 1st of may. There are a few traditional threads that weave through it all:

• Mayday
• International workers‘ day
• Peace

My thoughts about this day crystallised into the following meain themes: The emergence of new things from the union of apparent opposites, reconcilitation, synergies, romantically speaking about all the different versions of love you can find in this world. Also vitality, ethusiasm, youthful zest for live and above all creativity.

In the following paragraphs you will find suggestions that may help you experience these themes more tangibly, also some descriptions of my own activities and experiences. I will keep adding new thoughts and ideas in the future.

You can find another perspective and additional insights into this time of year in the recent podcast episode The Wonder.

Venturing outside

These days im my region nature presents itself as a very attractive mixture of tenderness and bubbly vibrancy. Most of the trees around me wear veils of white, pink or light green to tempt insects into visiting their blossoms. The endearing twitterings of single birds sometimes combines into a high volume acoustic experience that friends of mine would lovingly call „eco noise“. This effect also works on the olfactory level where delicate smells lure you into almost overwhelming clouds of spring aromas.

Overall this synthesis of lightness and intensity results in a very enticing impression on all the senses and warms my heart.And it seems as if the many bees and butterflys I can see zooming around feel the attraction as well, delivering bits of DNA from one blossom to the other to start the life cycle of new fruits.

The tree I chose for a series of photos on the 2nd of February is now in full bloom, whereas on the day of the equinox it was still in winter mode. I really am looking forward to seeing its changes documented.

What does your neighbourhood look like at the moment? Is the world around you a mix of pastels too or has nature already outgrown the delicate stage?

Gardening

In my garden May keeps the promised that March made. Last year I planted asparagus, which (according to the pamphlet that came with it) I should leave alone for two years so I just enjoy watching the shoots appear overnight.

A couple of plants I cultivated in my living room still have to shelter in the grow box on my patio. Some flower seeds are waiting for me to sow them in May. Every year I am surprised that at least in Germany the Ice Saints will bring frosty spells in spring that endanger plants you spent so much effort on growing.

You can find advice on gardening in May here and here. Of course what will flourish and when you have to do certain tasks depends on the region you live in.

What is the current state of your garden, balcony or windowsill? Which plants did you cultivate indoors that are now eager to be transferred outside?

Meditating

Apart from my own meditation there is a broad variety of other choices to be found online, covering different styles and durations. I would suggest the search terms „Beltane“, „reconciliation“ or „love“ in combination with „meditation“. There are also yoga flows suited for the occasion or based on heart opening asanas. Another option would be to create a fitting atmosphere and just quietly meditate on one or more of the themes of the day.

Getting creative

During my search for ideas I came across this tutorial for making your own miniature maypole. This is something that I am definitely going to do to have something to decorate my focus with.

Another option are crowns of flowers made with real flowers or from paper. This seems a lovely idea especially when you have kids and also to add a piece of spring to your indoors home. Same with an origami butterfly, which is something else I am going to make for my fokus. There are countless tutorials, so this one is just meant as an example.

As a representation of love you could make a heart from a variety of materials. If you prefer getting creative with pen and paper I would love to recommend Zentangle to you. It is amazingly relaxing and there are entire collections of heart themed patterns available.

And if all this still has not managed to get you into crafting gear, this very comprehensive list of Mayday DIY projects hopefully will.

I made a mini cardboard easel for my focus which I can present different pictures on throughout the year following these instructions originally meant for making a phone stand. Now I am going to create a new picture to put on the easel to focus on during the following weeks.

Food and drink

I have decidedd to add a new category and add recipes fitting each of the seasons. If there is one thing I associate with Mayday, it is woodruff punch or Maibowle in German. The link also includes a recipe without alcohol.

Listening to or making music

There are so many songs about love I have no idea where to start or stop. So I am not going to go into the pop music genre at all.

Classically, there are several pieces for weddings of course: By Mendelssohn or Wagner, but also modern versions like this one by Roy Todd. Like spring itself he weaves tenderness together with a deep intensity. Just like Fanny Mendelssohn in her interpretation of May. And then there is Mozart, who added music to a German poem about wanting to see violets again at last.

Even the subject of DNA can be sung about. Either in a teachable scientific version or in a German song about the connection between two people.

Some traditional childrens‘ songs describe the beginning of May as an invitation to go outside on Mayday morning to look at garlands and listen to the cuckoo‘s song. I have found another song along these lines which is a bit slower and more meditative. There is also a traditional German song about a donkey and a cuckoo first fighting about who is the best singer and them joining together in a harmonious duet. The lyrics are from an old poem by Hoffmann von Fallersleben and the message fits my own take on Mayday so well I chose the translation of „The cuckoo and the donkey“ as the title for my German blog post for today. I include it here because the next paragraph refers back to it.

I will always sift through the metal genre which often comes up with some surprisingly fitting offerings. This time I did not find any songs about love that I would include under the umbrella of „positive and life-affirming“. What I rediscovered was a cover version of the song about the cuckoo and the donkey by We Butter The Bread With Butter, who make their own synthesis of the opposites of childrens‘ song and grind core. The result is certeinly very engergetic. Where metal is very prolific is in songs about effervescent enthusiasm exemplified by Arkona and Huldre. Both should make almost anyone want to dance around the nearest maypole. Amalie Bruun, the face behind Myrkur, is usually know for her Black Metal. With this traditional piece for the month of May she shows a more delicate facet of her art..

Or you could always dance around a fire together with Gaia Consort and Faun or join Spiral Dance in their weaving of the coming summer. 

Reading

Basically, any story about romance, encouragement or tenderness is a good fit for this time of year. Also books about reconciliation and peace. My one concrete recommendation is „Witches abroad“ by Terry Pratchett. The story is about three disc world witches who have to give their all to prevent a young woman from the state of Genua called Emberella from marring the Duc. What could go wrong?

In her poem „May-Flower“, Emily Dickinson also expands on the theme of tenderness bringing renewal in spring.

May-Flower

Pink, small, and punctual,

Aromatic, low,

Covert in April,

Candid in May,

Dear to the moss,

Known by the knoll,

Next to the robin

In every human soul.

Bold little beauty,

Bedecked with thee,

Nature forswears

Antiquity.

Emily Dickinson

Asking questions

These are the questions that might be helpful to ask yourself or the oracle of your choice:

• Where in your life do you experience conflict?
• How can you constructively deal with this conflict?
• How do you normally handle conflict?
• Is there space in your life for blossoms, pollen and love
• In which part of your life are you ready to risk opening up or searching for new input? Where do you see the highest chance of this risk paying off?
• What would happen if you did not take this chance?
• Which apparent internal polarities would it make sense for you to reconcile?
• What are their differences and what do they have in common with each other?
• Which new qualities could emerge from this union?

Focussing on your most important findings

What are the most meaningful answers to the questions above, the most fitting quotes or poems? Is there a piece of music that cou can condense into a word, a phrase or a symbol? Did you find an object outside that deserves to be showcased on your focus?

II am have put together my own focus gathering all my findings:

The next holiday is going to be the 21st of June. Shortly before that date I will blog about it and add all the link to the two main posts.

What about you?

Do you have a tradition for the 1st of May? How do you handle internal and external conflict? Is there space in your life for new things and for love? What could emerge from you reconciling what seems to be polar opposites within you?

Create space for new life to grow

This is the spring equinox post in my series about activities for the eight holidays throughout the wheel of the year. We are now at the beginning of spring and the day is split exactly into a light half and a dark one.

Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote a blog post about the spring equinox. There are a few traditional threads that weave through it all:

• the Easter tradition
• spring cleaning
• preparing your fields, metaphorically as well as agriculturally
• the return of the spring goddess from her captivity in the underworld in several cultures

My thoughts about this day crystallised into the following meain themes: Apparent paradoxes, entangled within each other. A balance of light and dark. The unstoppable bursting forth of life. Handling contradictions, yearnings and rejections. Making space for new things in our lives. Sacrificing what is no longer relevant.

In the following paragraphs you will find suggestions that may help you experience these themes more tangibly, also some descriptions of my own activities and experiences. I will keep adding new thoughts and ideas in the future.

Venturing outside

In my surrounding area the weather is very typical: Crisp cool mornings turn into days that are much too warm for a padded jacket. Everywhere you can watch fresh green leaves burst forth from some hedges whiles others, especially the beeches, are still covered in brittle brown foliage.

Crocusses and daffodils are now sprinkling colour throughout my world and a lot of trees wear white or green veils already, attracting the first swarms of bees and butterflies. Unfortunately the latter did not want to sit still for me to take a picture of them.

I have now decided on one tree that I am going to observe and photograph through the year. I am interested in how it changes with the seasons and how it stays the same.

What does your neighbourhood look like at the moment? Is nature a bit ahead where you live? Or is is still clinging to hibernation?

Gardening

In my own garden the crocusses have been quite lush too and the rhubarb has started peeking out of the soil. Today I am going to top up my raised vegetable beds with compost and also reerect the trellis arch that I had laid flat on the ground so the storms a few weeks ago would not rip it away. Also I want to sow spinach, peas and radishes. You can find advice on gardening in March here and here. Of course what will flourish and when you have to do certain tasks depends on the region you live in.

There are still some constant visitors in our garden: Pidgeons, tits, bullfinches, magpies, jays, sparrows and of course the friendly neighbourhood squirrels. In the mornings there is some especially loud tweeting and chirping, so spring is definitely in the air. Writing this current blog series has resulted in my interest in Nature around my house being reinvigorated. I am much more aware of what is going on in my neighbourhood and I enjoy it all with all my senses just as I had intended.

What is the current state of your garden, balcony or windowsill? Have you prepared the vegetable beds or have you already started cultivating new plants?

Meditating

Apart from my own meditation there is a broad variety of other choices to be found online, covering different styles and durations. There are also yoga flows suited for the occasion. Another option would be to do a general yoga flow with an emphasis on balance or to just create a fitting atmosphere and quietly meditate on one or more of the themes of the day.

Getting creative

There is always the traditional approach of making Easter eggs from whatever materials you like or any other kind of Easter decoration.

I made a mini cardboard easel for my focus which I can present different pictures on throughout the year following these instructions originally meant for making a phone stand. Today I am going to create a new picture to put on the easel to focus on during the following weeks.

Listening to or making music

As you would expect there is a plethora of music for the occasion. Of course no list would be complete without Vivaldi‘s energetic „Spring“. Two other examples of classical Spring pieces are by Haydn and Glasunow. Then there is Fanny Hendelssohn-Hensel, whose cycle based on the twelve months of the year I first became aware of when writing for the 2nd of February. Her interpretation of March describes the transition from the dark towrds the light while the end part draws inspiration fro the Easter story.

The main reason I included music in this blog series about activities is my memory of singing seasonal songs in primary school music classes. That is why I was delighted to discover the playlist of German folk songs about spring by youtuber Jürgen Fastje. Listening to him very much gives me a springtime mood and I have serveral songs stuck in my head at the same time. In a good way 😉

He has also done at least one traditional spring song in English. Hint: It is about daffodils. Two other songs in English I have found are the Spring from “Folk Songs of the Four Seasons” by Ralph Vaughan Williams as well as „When the Spring comes in“ which is where I took my blog post title from.

In the metal genre, which is close to my own heart, I came across „Crows bring the Spring“ by Korpiklaani. It is much less delicate and chirpy than you might expect from Spring songs in general. This might be due to the very high latitude of this band‘s home shores, where Spring has to be wrestled from Winter‘s tight grip. Still, the happiness is obvious:

„And in the wind, I hear those crows

They will bring the spring

And take the cold away“

Korpiklaani, Crows bring the Spring

If you are looking for a good soundtrack for a vigorous spring cleaning, Justin Timberlake does not seem to be able to get rid of his infectiously good mood:

„I can’t stop the feeling! So just dance, dance, dance“

Justin Timberlake, Can’t stop the Feeling

In The 59th Street Bridge Song Simon and Garfunkel sing about the need to slow down even or especially when things around you happen quickly. Also the importance of being intentionally aware of the small joys in your life like flowers by the wayside. The only sad thing about this song is that it is so short 😉

Reading

Spring is a season that so many people yearn for so much that the list of spring poetry is extensive. Here is just one example showing how in the face of plants and animals reawakening ones own sadness can be transformed.

Now Fades The Last Long Streak Of Snow

Now fades the last long streak of snow,
Now burgeons every maze of quick
About the flowering squares, and thick
By ashen roots the violets blow.

Now rings the woodland loud and long,
The distance takes a lovelier hue,
And drown’d in yonder living blue
The lark becomes a sightless song.

Now dance the lights on lawn and lea,
The flocks are whiter down the vale,
And milkier every milky sail
On winding stream or distant sea;

Where now the seamew pipes, or dives
In yonder greening gleam, and fly
The happy birds, that change their sky
To build and brood; that live their lives

From land to land; and in my breast
Spring wakens too; and my regret
Becomes an April violet,
And buds and blossoms like the rest.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

I have not looked that intensely for books or novels about spring, partly because the pile of books I want to read is high enough as it is at the moment. Maybe you will come up with some ideas of your own. I have heard a lot of good things about „Spring“ by Ali Smith however, which seems to fit the bill perfectly contentwise. Maybe I am going to read it in the spring of 2023.

One lovely novel for readers of all ages about the transition from winter to spring  is “The Wintersmith” by Terry Pratchett. It is about Tiffany Aching, a young witch, who the personification of Winter falls in love with. Things get predictably complicated and Tiffany, with the help of other witches and some Little Folk, has to find a way to ensure that there will be another springtime. You will find all the equinox elements of balance, acceptance, letting go and the saving of someone from the underworld in this book.

Your home and your personal inner landscape

If you feel like it, now would be a good time for an internal as well as an external spring cleaning. Maybe you want to go and collect rubbish in your neighbourhood. You could also turn this event into a modern type of exercise called plogging.

There is ample reading material about the subject of letting things go. I want to recommend one blog that I have been following off and on since shortly after it had started: Joshua Becker‘s becomingminimalist is as pragmatic as it is effective and helpful.

The more you let go of things outside of yourself, the more you will feel the effects echo internally. Sorting your priorities feel just as good as decluttering your attic. Again there are many bits of advice around fitting any type of temperament and level of intended orderliness. They range from the systematic approach of the Eisenhower principle to more organic methods like for example a mindmap. The way you want to ask yourself questions about your values, goals and needs varies from person to person.

Asking questions

These are the questions that might be helpful to ask yourself or the oracle of your choice:

• What will I take with me from the darker half of the year?
• What will I leave behind?
• What will be able to grow in the newly created space in my life?
• How can I stay in balance while being in motion?

Focussing on your most important findings

I have put together my own focus, gathering all my findings which you can see here:

What are the most meaningful answers to the questions above, the most fitting quotes or poems? Is there a piece of music that cou can condense into a word, a phrase or a symbol? Did you find an object outside that deserves to be showcased on your focus?

The next holiday is going to be the 1st of May. Shortly before that date I will blog about it and add all the links to the two main posts.

What about you?

Do you have a tradition for the 20th of March or the beginning of spring? Has spring sprung for you?

This is the first post in my series about activities for the eight holidays throughout the wheel of the year. We are now between the winter solstice and the spring quinox at the holiday known as Candlemas, Imbolc or Groundhog Day.

What inspires me to take off?

Ready, steady…

Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote a blog post about this day in between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. There are a few traditional threads that weave through it all:

• Groundhog Day, when the behaviour of one groundhog is supposed to predict the weather for the next coiple of weeks.
• The blessing of candles on the feast day of Candlemas.
• The feast day of St. Brigid or her divine predecessor Brighid, the goddess of poetry, blacksmithing, inspiration and healing.

My thoughts about this day eventually crystallised into the following main themes: Finding the right moment, striking a balance between being patient and starting, forging plans as well as contracts and listening to inspiration.

In the following paragraphs you will find suggestions that may help you experience these themes more tangibly, also some descriptions of my own activities and experiences. I will put in further details details to this blog post on the 2.2. and keep adding new thoughts and ideas in the future.

Venturing outside

In my surrounding area most of nature is very much ready to launch into a new seasonal cycle. The first tiny green shoots can be seen when you peer closely into the neighbourhood gardens. Very early hazels have now been in bloom for two weeks while the rododendron buds have been waiting for their big show since last year.

It is still very obviously winter, the weather is grey and wet, but the grey itself is much lighter and friendlier than back at the start of the year. The world is waiting for „Go!“ This time I did not take home any physical objects just an number of pictures taken on a surprisingly sunny day at end of January.

I chose a couple of trees which might turn out to be the one special subject for a year long observation. In the following days I will make a final decision on one of them.

What does your neighbourhood look like at the moment? Is nature a bit ahead where you live? Or is is still clinging to hibernation?

Gardening

In my own garden I can see a few early bulbs peeking up from the soil. Unfortunately I am not sure what exactly I planted in that spot. So much for carefully drafting contracts. Some of the roses are testing the waters by growing a few green leaves already. Otherwise not much is happning. For my part, I have also not yet really lauched myself into the gardening year. What I did was put some sweet potatoes into water so the can sprout new roots. This year I really am on time with this task.

On the 2nd of February I want to sit and focus on the planning of my garden setup for the year. Which vegetables I want to give another go, where they are going to be planted, what I am going to cultivate in the raised beds, where I could squeeze in some more shadow plants and ground covers. You can find advice on gardening in February here and here. Of course what will flourish and when you have to do certain tasks depends on the region you live in.

The birds that regularly make appearances in our garden are are tits, magpies and jays. On top of that we are lucky enough to have some squirrels regularly sauntering through our garden all around the year.

What is the current state of your garden, balcony or windowsill? Do you already have plans for the coming gardening season?

Meditating

Apart from my own meditation there is a broad variety of other choices to be found online, covering different styles and durations. There are also yoga flows suited for the occasion. Another option would be to create a fitting atmosphere and just quietly meditate on one or more of the themes of the day.

Getting creative

There is always the traditional approach of making a St. Brigid‘s cross. At first I wanted to make an origami anvil but could not find a tutorial and did not have the motivation to figure it out on my own.

In the end I decided to simply make a mini cardboard easel for my focus which I can present different pictures on throughout the year. I followed these instructions originally meant for making a phone stand. For the 2nd of February it will carry a white piece of paper, a blank canvas waiting for inspiration to strike.

Listening to or making music

Searching for appropriate music, I found a vast array of different interpretations of the current themes. Just looking into classical music pieces about winter the question was less about when to start but where to stop.

Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel‘s version of February is about her remembering the carnical in Italy. Händel‘s „Harmonious Blacksmith“ is very probably not based on Händel having to seek shelter from the rain in a smithy listening to the smith sind a jaunty tune, as the legend goes. Still this piece demonstrates the meaing of timing just like the rather humourous “Anvil Polka by the Allendorf Orchestra.

Florence and the Machine‘s Dog days are over can be interpreted on a variety of levels. What makes it capture the beginning of February for me is the colour scheme of the video and the refrain that was inspired by the writing on a wall of a building in London. Florence herself says:

„It’s a reference to the dog star, Sirius. When it was closest to the Earth, all the animals would get languid and sleepy. When it moved away, they’d wake up.“

Of course the metal genre also delivers some approriate offerings. In The Old Ones Are with Us Wolves in the Throne Room sing about „winter dying“ and the melting of the ice. When it comes to pagan folk, Damh the Bard welcomes the returning Bridhid in a more melancholic way.

This concludes my music list for the moment. It is likely that I will come across some other songs in the future which I will then add.

Reading

I did not come up with entire books on the themes of the day but I found some inspiring poems. One of them is:

February

Though Winter still asserts his right to reign,
He sways his sceptre now with gentler hand;
Nay, sometimes softens to a zephyr bland
The hurrying blast, which erst along the plain
Drove the skin-piercing sleet and pelting rain
In headlong rage; while, ever and anon,
He draws aside his veil of vapours dun,
That the bright sun may smile on us again.
To-day ‘twould seem (so soft the west wind’s sigh)
That the mild spirit of the infant Spring
Was brooding o’er the spots where hidden lie
Such early flowers as are the first to fling
On earth’s green lap their wreaths of various dye—
Flowers, round whose forms sweet hopes and sweeter memories cling.

Rebecca Hey

And a quote that I like so much I have had it it on my wall for a long time now is:

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Arthur Ashe

Asking questions

These are the questions that might be helpful to ask yourself or the oracle of your choice:

• Which contract will you strike with yourself and with the world?
• What is holding you back?
• What inspires you?
• What will be the first step?

Focussing on your most important findings

I am  put together my own focus gathering all my findings. A very important element is the rolled-up conctract I made with myself for the coming year. Let’s see what kind of fruit it will bear..

What are the most meaningful answers to the questions above, the most fitting quotes or poems? Is there a piece of music that cou can condense into a word, a phrase or a symbol? Did you find an object outside that deserves to be showcased on your focus?

The next holiday is going to be the 20th of March. Shortly before that date I will blog about it and add all the links to the two main posts here and here.

What about you?

Do you have a tradition for the 2nd of February? How do you like the second and lighter half of winter?

How can I intentionally celebrate the changing of the seasons?

In 2020 I wrote a series of articles about the eight days in the wheel of the year and in 2021 I added eight meditations, one for each holiday. In this main post you can find all the relevant links as well as an explanation for why I believe there is value in intentionally celebrating the changing seasons.

This year I plan to collate inspirations on how to actually actively follow the wheel of the year for myself as well as others who might be interested. All suggestions should be seen as just that. Obviously they can be mixed and matched as well as added to according to your preferences.

Venturing outside

Since all this is basically about our connection with Nature, the first point of order is to go out and experience your surroundings with all your senses. I plan to choose one plant and record its changes throughout the year by taking photos and noting down any other impressions.

What do gardens in your area look like? What about the wilder areas? Which animals are present, which are just returning from far away countries, which ones are starting to leave again?

Gardening

If you have your own garden you are already connected to the change of the seasons and can include your impressions and experiences in the list. Even if you only have a balcony or a little space for some pots on your windowsill it is very valuable to follow the lives of a few plants throughout the year.

Meditating

Aside from my own there are countless other meditations out there, freely available and covering a broad range of interests and tastes. To me it feels instructive and therapeutic to sit in a relaxed state listening to questions that sound out my subconscious and inspire my phantasy.

Getting creative

Here you can revive all your favourite crafting techniques to create objects along the theme of the holiday in question. You might want to knit, crochet, do origami, potter, write stories or poems, whatever inspires you.

Listening to or making music

It is not only around Midwinter that we can find the appropriate kind of music. I have no idea what music classes were included in your primary school education but I remember singing a lot of songs around the agricultural year when I was a child. To this day, some of these songs bubble up and get stuck in my mind. Sometimes even at the right time of year. Even if we do not actively contribute to agriculture, theses songs touch something deep inside of me and connect me to my being human and to Nature.

In addition there are always classical pieces like Vivaldi‘s Four Seasons. Maybe you can even think of contemporary songs that express the theme of a special seasonal holiday. This is all about you feeling personally inspired and about this inspiration happening on as many sensory channels as possible.

Reading

Those of us who love reading might find poems, stories or even entire books with a meaningful link to a particular season. Reading those with intention may present us with new nuggets of wisdom or relevant quotes.

Asking questions

In my 2020 series of articles I listed seasonally and thematically relevant questions for each holiday. I will recap these and work out the relationships between them. If consulting an oracle is in your praxis, this is a good occasion to include that instead of just asking yourself the questions.

Focussing on your most important findings

This recent blog post describes my concept of a physical anchor to myself and the world. In the following months I will keep such a focus and use it to store the most meaningful objects resulting from my activities mentioned above. How exactly this focus wil look I am not sure right now. It will be a result of actual practice. There might be quotes, words or symbols that popped up during my work with the seasonal themes, any results from my crafting sessions and any messages from meditating and asking questions.

The first holiday of the year is going to be the 2nd of February. Shortly before that date I will blog the first post in this series and afterwards add all the others accordingly as well as list all the relevant links here and in the main post.

What about you?

How do you feel about the changing of the seasons? Do you feel there is meaning in consciously celebrating special days within the year?

List of days throughout the year:

2nd of February – Ready, steady…

20th of March: When the spring comes in

1st of May: A time to be merry

21st of June: Long slow summer days

1st of August: will be added

22nd of September: will be added

1st of November: will be added

21st of December: I get a little warm in my heart

Creating your own optimism during times of darkness

Earth is in an orbital position directly opposite the Summer solstice and now the astronomical circumstances are similar and at the same time reversed: The dark hours in the days are longest now but the rate of change in sunshine hours is smallest. As a result it feels like we may enjoy these dark days for a particularly long time, just like we did the bright days around the beginning of summer. And still I want to remind you that the Earth is anything but especially far away from the Sun.

While the 1st of November tends to bring a menlancholy mood, the current darkness feels calming and intimate to me. Mentally facing the transience of everything in nature reduces its terror and all around us we observe that what felt like death is not actually a real ending. My rhubarb plant is sleeping peacefully under a blanket of tree leaves and my shrubs have freed themselves of all ballast and can rest now. Like in summer there is not much for me to do in my garden now that everything is stowed away, tucked in or has in any other way been winterised.

For animals there are not many options to change their living conditions apart from hibernation or migration towards the opposite hemisphere. Their menu is meagre and depending on the latitude their only light is switched off early in the afternoon. Humans can do quite a lot to make this season really jolly. Even in less technology-heavy times people in some areas cut branches around the 4th of December to take them into their houses so they would blossom for Christmas. Even not especially religious people often put up evergreen trees in their living rooms for the season.

Yule as a holiday of light

The taming of fire meant that we could brigthen our nights at will and the Advent weeks are a particularly popular time for lighting candles, fireplaces, Advent wreaths and these days also electrical fairy lights. They make the darkness into a backdrop for warm mood lighting. Who would choose to hang fairy lights in their garden during summer? When the megalith monuments were erected, the days around the solstices offered the people of those times impressive drama. Nowadays the internet at least gives us the opportunity to get a tiny idea of the original spectacle from anywhere on Earth.

Personally, the days around the Winter Solstice are a very hopeful time for me. Not just the lights but the entire package of traditional and modern carols. The baking and spices, eating cookies and writing cards. Thinking of others is good for my own wellbeing and also noticing that they are thinking of me. Singing together creates a deep connection, even if in 2020 there were less chances of doing this in person. Even here peoples‘ creativity provided seasonal singing online (The link is in German but for the singing sessions you just have to go to the channel and start the live video and sing along.) Even though my family and I decided to not give each other any gifts anymore, the basic idea of giving presents is a lovely one.

Kitsch and consumerism

Obviously, all these traditions carry the potential of slipping into kitsch, consumerism and stress. Inflated expectations lead to some families fighting next to the Christmas tree twinkling cheerfully. There are challenges to be the last one to catch a perfomance of Last Christmas. Not surprisingly, many of us are sceptical towards the whole Christmas thing, to put it mildly.

And yet the cosiness, light and liveliness that we seem to conjure up while nature does not currently provide much of any of them, underlines how humans are capable of making their own hope. We can influence our own optimism based not on pipe dreams and wishful thinking but on natural laws. We can use the laws of biology and physics to make branches blossom and LEDs light up.

In the end, the Winter Solstice message is that the prospect of things turning around is real. The longest night is just one extreme point within our yearly orbit, just like the longest day. Listening to some seasonal music and nibbling ginger bread cookies by candlelight we can rely on the outside world getting brighter in time. Hope is not unfounded, which is why I especially look forward to the beginning of winter every year.

What about you?

How does Nature currently present itself where you live? How did you winterise your garden? What is your attitide towards the seasonal traditions of your area? What gives you hope and what based in reality can you do to increase your optimism for brighter days? Whom do you like to think of and which thoughtful present did you receive?

Meditation and looking forward to the wheel spinning onwards

I have uploaded a short meditation about looking at how you deal with darkness and being alone and how much of a gift the light returning is. You can find it here.

This post refers back to this main article and is part of a series on each of the eight holidays of the year. During 2020 I wrote a post for every one of those dates. Of course the cycle will carry on and I plan to add new things so stay tuned for the 2nd of February!

The celebration of transience and letting go

Winter is officially still far away and yet Germany setting the clocks back a week ago only added to me being very much aware of the hours of light waning for astronomical reasons. Every day around 5pm I look out through the windows wondering where the day has gone. Back at the equinox I was pleased with the trees starting their colourful autumn spectacle. Now a large portion of those leaves are on the ground slowly transforming into a brownish slush. The air smells of fungi and compost and the only crop left over in my vegetable patch is the curly kale I am keeping in there for a winter harvest. The trees in my region run the whole gamut from basically still green through golden but already mightly ruffled to mostly naked. The level of nakedness is not only due to the species of tree, some lose their foliage earlier than others depending on location and wind flow.

The current theme is obvious: Directly opposite the happily fertile Mayday, nature now showcases its powerful process of disintegration. The evolution of species and entire ecosystems is based on other species and individual beings dying. Life without death would soon use up the space and resources of a limited planet. As important as the fresh combination of genes is as a theme for spring, we also need organisms to decompose and release their matter as building blocks for coming generations of beings. Marriage and decay complement each other as perfect opposites.

Traditions all over the world and throughout human history

Even in socially distanced 2020, Halloween was widely celebrated. This rather modern custom of celebrating everything spooky always happens just before All Saints‘ Day and All Souls‘ Day, even though in some regions Protestants commemorate the dead on the last Sunday before Advent called Totensonntag. The Day of the Dead in Mexico is an especially lively version of celebrating human transience but some kind of historical custom is very plausible for other regions of the Earth as well. Even though the Celtic and Germanic peoples of old may not necessarily have called their festivals Samhain or Álfablót, the seasonal conditions and the necessity of reducing their herds down to a size manageable during winter made Death very much visible in early November and very likely a welcome occasion for celebration.

The power of letting go

Some things we easily let go of because their time has just come, some other things are snatched from our hands. Some people seem to be taken from us much too early and some relationships unexpectedly wilt in front of our eyes. We can influence some things (especially our attitude towards letting go), others are beyond our control. Time does not stop for anyone however much we would wish it to. To me, the current times are reason for a lot of gratitude and not the one I feel because of a rich harvest. What makes me grateful is thinking back to all beings who went before me. There is a reason the symbol I chose for this day also evokes pictures of family trees: Millions of years ago there were pioneer organisms leading to beings like me. Much later my more or less direct ancestors existed whose genes make up large sections of my own DNA. And then there is the cultural history of humans which means we do not always have to go back to square one at the start of life. Those who went before us left us inventions and knowledge and they fought for the implementation of rights that today I benefit from.

As sad as a bare tree might look, it has not died itself, just the leaves decomposing at its roots. Anything that is not strictly needed in Winter is shut down and removed. The trunk and limbs stay back, resilient and prepared for the cold times to come and ready to make use of the compost in Spring. In a similar way, the beginning of November is a good reminder for checking the resilient parts inside of me. What is going to remain after the loose parts of my personality have been pulled off by the storms of Time? Where are my own solid backbone and my strong roots?

What about you?

How does Nature currently present itself where you live? Are there still any animals to watch outside? What is the ratio of trees still in leaf versus the bare ones? Which qualities did you inherit from your ancestors? What would you have liked to keep, what are you mourning for? Where do you see the resilient backbone part of yourself? What is your general position towards the transformation of things we mistakenly feel are ours into fertiliser for other people in the future? Which parts of human history make you feel especially grateful?

Meditation and looking forward to the wheel spinning onwards

I have uploaded a short meditation about looking at what is really essential for you to try another approach to this holiday. You can find it here.

This post refers back to this main article and is part of a series on each of the eight holidays of the year. During 2020 I will write another post for every one of those dates so stay tuned for the 21st of December!

Weighing out your harvest and letting go

Yesterday for the first time in months I noticed the beautiful morning mist outside my house. There is no denying the facts: The 1st of September marked the meteorological beginning of autumn and today we enter it a second time in astronomical terms. Temperatures have dropped and the foliage around me has taken on some brilliant red and golden accents. This is the time when later in the day I often regret putting on long trousers in the morning. The autumn equinox is directly opposite Earth‘s spring position in its orbit. The light and dark hours are equal for a very short while, however the rate of change is highest. So the northern hemisphere starts its journey into the darker half of the year, even though the dark minutes added each day become shorter.

While the 1st of August was more about the grain harvest, to me the main focus is now on fruit like apples, pears, plums and elderberries. Some plants in my garden have not yet given up hope, there are some valiant green tomatoes still hanging on the vine and some of my sunflowers are just about to bloom at last. I myself wonder which projects I still want to start or carry on, what leaves I would prefer to let go of in a blaze of red colours, which fruits I can allow myself to not push to ripening. Also which harvest I can and want to preserve for the coming dark months, literally and metaphorically.

Traditions all over the world and throughout human history

In any case this is a time for gratitude, for looking back at what we have been given this year. The Jewish tradition celebrates Sukkot around the beginning of autumn. As well as commemorating the exodus from Egypt, Sukkot is a harvest festival called the „Festival of Ingathering“. Around the world humans in earlier days were existentially dependent on this season‘s abundance: A wealth of myths tells about a vegetation deity who walks the Earth‘s surface from spring until autumn and then has to return to some dark underworld. Similarly, during the lighter half of the year plants sprout, bloom, bear fruit and at the end in some cases actually withdraw underground for hibernation. Humans also tend to spend more time outside during spring and summer: gardening, bathing in a lake or just enjoying the warmth of the sun. In autumn and winter we stay snug inside our homes, fixing our supplies and taking stock. Traditionally, church harvest festivals are based on the 29th of September, the feast day of Michaelmas. This date was also often the official start of the winter night curfew.

Time to take stock

One of Michael‘s attributes are the scales he uses to weigh human souls, another connection with my blog post image. After all, this symbol for balance also always involves the aspect of weighing things against each other. In Physics and Chemistry we find the laws of conservation of energy, momentum and mass. Metaphorically (but also in our gardening reality) we sometimes experience things differently. In some projects an enormous effort yields only little gain, in others the ratio seems to be the other way around and in some cases input and output feel equally balanced. Of course, in those instances neither energy nor matter disappear as if by magic, we just do not have the means to observe where exactly they go.

What about you?

How does Nature currently present itself where you live? How do animals prepare themselves for the coming dark period? Which fields, trees and bushes have not yet been emptied of their bounty? How has this year been for you so far? Which harvest did you reap, what had you hoped for, where did you have to invest less than you thought you would have to, where did you receive more than expected? What are you grateful for? What do you want to preserve? What can you let go of with a light heart? How easy is it for you to send off Summer at the autumn equinox and look forward to the season of candlelight?

Meditation and looking forward to the wheel spinning onwards

I have uploaded a short meditation about weighing decisionsfor you to try another approach to this holiday. You can find it here.

This post refers back to this main article and is part of a series on each of the eight holidays of the year. During 2020 I will write another post for every one of those dates so stay tuned for the 1st of November!