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Coming in with another friendly reminder that New Year is an abstract concept. We’re cyclical and seasonal. We’re mid-transformation, cocooned in blankets of fog and midwinter darkness

Within an over culture but afraid of its own shadow, chasing the sunlight and the eternal youth of the maiden. Our Earth is always dreaming herself anew. The first tender shoots of Imbolc (Gaelic Religious Festival) are still five weeks away.

New Year falls on the 1st of January only because in 1582, Pope Gregory the 13th, Papa of the Gregorian calendar, was tasked with bending the free will of all pagans, heathens and wild hill folk to Christianity.

He was pretty controversial & slapdash with his methods and removed 11 days from that year and decided to move New Year celebrations from the 1st of April (Spring Equinox time

Why? Because this coincided with Lent) to January 1st: dead-of-midwinter time with no other Church-related events happening. (The start of the new Tax year remained at the beginning of April because clearly, it’s not a joyous occasion)

Ancient Celts celebrated the death of the old year at Samhain. Hogmanay was originally celebrated then, as a fiery raucous display to drive away evil spirits and purify the coming year, but was moved to 31st Dec around 1602.

Traditions are always evolving. We are tradition and we are evolution. Choose what to preserve & cultivate or let die. Around 39% of all violent crime in the UK involves alcohol, peaking between midnight & 2am on New Year’s Eve. Grim. Then there’s the massive environmental issue of fireworks.

If the end of the calendar year is significant for you, celebrate in a way that holds meaning. If you want to snooze through the clock striking midnight then you’ll likely feel brighter in the morning. Stay true to your intuitive nature.

My newsfeed is filling up with ads for home gym equipment already. I’m all for being healthy & intentional but also for what’s sustainable.

It’s great to have goals and ambitions but despite our best intentions, most of us will give up on our new year’s resolutions within 17 days of making them.

Whether we plan to get fitter, lose weight or become more disciplined/successful, most folk tend to run out of steam within a month.

Not because we lack courage or willpower but maybe because these goals are made prematurely. Because it’s sleepy dreamy January. Fresh motivational energy is literally released from the new green shoots of spring.

Our lifetimes are a path, not a sprint. Our time on Earth strengthens our Spirit.

If the lifetime of our Earth was the length of our arm, the common era of the Gregorian calendar is like shaving off the tip of our little fingernails.

Our sun still has another predicted five billion years of shining the light of love upon our Earth, and life on Earth keeps changing, and has survived five mass extinctions.

Own your time in your own way. Own your seasons and cycles. Own your pace & rhythms. Own your compass & ambitions. Nothing in nature blooms all year round. We are life dreaming itself. Rest. Imagine. Dream. Unto yourself, and just be you. PLEASE SHARE OUR STORIES

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