The Wheel of the Year Is Off!!! What Do I Do?

The winter snap has just started and facebook is already filling up with posts on the "Polar Vortex" and jokes about Mother Nature going crazy.  It never takes long for the annual jokes to be trotted out.  Most people will go along with their lives, scrambling to weather-proof their homes, dragging out sweaters and blankets, but what about those of of with an Earth-centered spirituality?  This does not go along with the nicely laid out Wheel of the Year we are taught!  What are we to do?  It has been ingrained into us that right now we should be gathering up the last bits of our harvest, decorating with pumpkins and lovely colored leaves, as well as spending our time in introspection with the Crone Goddess as the year transitions. Instead we have been bitten in the ass by icy cold weather and maybe even some snow!

Since Calleigh is visiting us early this year, let us take advantage of her gifts.  The Winter is a perfect time to go within and do inner work.  It's likely that with everything else in nature in turmoil, we are as well.  After all, we are not separate from nature but completely tied together. We feel the changes deep within and denying won't change that. Take advantage of the extra energy for self-work.  This time next year, you could be very grateful you did!

At the same time, don't get too worked up over this weather change.  I realize we are setting records for low temperatures and snowfall, but those records only go back a hundred years so so, depending on where you live.  If you listen to the climatologists, we are actually moving back to a more normal weather pattern.  Since we have started recording it, we have actually been at the end of a long-term cycle - the "good" end.  We might as well get used to these changes.  They are sticking with us! That means that we need to become less rigid in our thoughts of when seasons are supposed to be.  We are in store for a lot of change!

There is a word of caution.  Even though these energies are coming at us already, don't get caught up in the thinking that this is it and winter is here for good.  For most of us, that is not true.  This was a cold event  Treat the energies as just a taste. perhaps take this as a good time to figure out what you need to work on once the blanket of Winter settles around us.  Perhaps use this reminder of what needs to be done to prepare yourself for some major change. Or maybe take this as a reminder that there are plenty of people out there who need help in the winter - the disabled, the elderly, the desperately poor.  Things like food or helping winterize their homes would make a world of difference.  That is something so many forget.  We are all connected, so we need to act like it! Don't ignore this unusual

time. Make the most of it. You'll be glad you did!