The Magic Of Winter | Live Recording

Join Meghan in exploring the energy of winter and what makes it so magical! In this session, they share the archetypal energy that flows through the winter season and invite you through a journal practice to know exactly what you need this season and how you can be supported to rest and live a magical life.

Image by Aaron Burden from Unsplash. Background music by Dream-Protocol from Pixabay.

Transcript

So,

Let's start us off with a question.

I've got two questions to start us off so that we can get to know one another here and get to know our love or dislike for winter.

So on a scale from 1 to 10,

Your love or your dislike of winter.

1 being dislike,

10 being love.

Wendy 10 plus plus plus plus plus plus plus.

I love it.

I love it.

10 love winter so much.

Maybe all of the 10 people came here because.

Okay,

No,

Great.

We've got some ones here.

7 and 8 and 8,

A 1,

A 1,

A 10.

Oh,

Okay.

It's pretty extreme.

Both sides.

7,

Love January,

New start but not February.

Yeah,

So maybe there's a difference there.

Loving the beginning of winter but then,

You know,

Wishing like it could end sooner,

Right?

There might be some of that energy,

Definitely.

I was like,

I was,

I'm hesitating a bit.

I feel like I used to be a 10 but I might be a 9 now.

I still absolutely love winter but yeah,

Might be,

Might be a 9.

I think India changed me after 12 years of living in India.

You know,

I was a 10 before I went to India.

12 years later,

I'm now a 9.

So my love of winter has gone down one,

One,

One notch.

For me,

One of the good things of winter is the long,

Dark,

Cozy nights cocooning.

I like the slowing down,

If one that's possible.

Beautiful.

That leads us into the second part.

Favorite thing about winter,

Least favorite thing about winter.

So that's our,

That's our second prompt.

What's your favorite thing about winter?

What's your least favorite thing?

For me,

My absolute favorite is freshly,

Freshly laid snow under a full moon.

Some winters it doesn't happen where I live,

You know,

And I haven't seen it for years since I haven't lived here.

But like,

I'm like putting that out to the universe right now that I want to see a fresh laid snow under a full moon.

That's what I want.

You love watching the snow come down.

Don't like driving in the snow.

Yeah,

I'm trying to think.

My least favorite right now,

Because it's that transition time,

I'm not loving,

Not loving the mud.

I wish I could,

I wish I could love it and just like get dirty and like not,

Not care about it.

But I've been going on like hikes in our local park.

And I just like there's so much mud in the car because of that.

And oh,

I just like really don't want to clean it,

Right?

So the mud and like the yeah,

The driving,

I think I haven't drove in winter in a really long time.

So we'll see how that goes.

But like that,

That icy,

That icy combination of driving that makes you feel unsafe,

Right?

Just like for the nervous system,

It doesn't feel it doesn't feel great.

Yeah.

I also don't really like that all of the big holidays align in the winter in the Northern Hemisphere because that for me feels very conflicting between this outward expression and focus and being together and gathering and like the inner stillness that I want to be in,

Which we will talk a little bit about.

But that's also something I don't really like,

But don't really hate it either.

Okay,

Let's see.

I love skiing,

But not so much when it's negative 30.

Yeah.

Mm hmm.

You got to cover all the skin or else.

Yeah,

You've got some trouble being cozy,

Both indoors and outdoors.

Least favorite when it's wet and not so cold rather than cold and snowy.

Yeah,

That's what I say.

If it's going to be cold,

It should be snowing.

I don't like the cold and the rain and the mud.

Favorite thing is soft snow when we get it.

I hate the snow mixed with the ice.

Most favorite is a cold bed.

My partner does not like that either.

You should get one of those one of those like old timey like they look like the they look like rackets,

Like tennis rackets.

And they have like I think they probably used to put coals in them,

Right?

Coals from the fire.

And like put that in your put that in your bed.

I'm sure there's more modern things to do with that.

But I like the I like the idea of that.

Favorite playing in the snow.

Least favorite the icy roads.

I do not like being able to have the windows.

Oh,

The windows wide open.

Okay.

So yeah,

All the air stuck inside.

Favorite coziness hot tea on a cold day.

Soft quiet snowfall.

Least favorite being cold having to go out and do errands.

I love the new winter.

I feel like I can hide from the world like a bear hibernating.

Favorite all the pretty lights.

Oh,

Yeah,

This time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Unfortunately,

People don't leave their lights on.

They should leave them up through January through February to get us through to the spring.

Being free to stay in being cozy eggnog hot chocolate walks on fresh snow.

Yeah,

I love the crunch.

The crunch on the snow.

I like the time to review the previous year.

Don't like the icy ground.

Yeah,

Beautiful.

Least favorite the getting dark so early.

Hmm.

I like the darkness.

Love seeing the twinkle lights people decorating at night and like how unpredictable it is in the southern US 70 degrees one day 30 the next.

Yeah.

So I don't like about the beginning of winter here.

Oh,

Excellent.

Excellent.

Love it.

Thank you all for sharing.

All right,

So let's first talk about like this,

The archetypal energy of winter.

I am going to be referencing a book called wintering by Catherine May.

I'm going to be referencing quoting talking about a lot of things that she talks about in the book because it's really amazing.

If you want to dive more into this energy of winter,

It's a very short,

Easy read.

I think I read it in one day,

Maybe two days.

It's very,

Very easy to read.

I would recommend getting that,

But I'll be bringing in some of those elements here today.

Okay,

So let's talk about this energy of winter first.

So what are some what are some words that you associate with the energy of winter?

Just like if somebody said winter,

What comes to you?

What comes to your mind first?

And maybe you've already said some of those things because they're your favorite things.

But thinking more about the that energy that's flowing through the universe and that arrives here that archetypal energy that arrives in the winter.

What are some of those some of those words?

Cold,

Rain,

Snow,

Safety,

Quiet,

Cold,

Calm,

Still,

Slow,

Cold,

Snow,

Rest,

Introspection,

Deep rest,

Inner work,

Peaceful,

Dark.

Love it.

So the if you've been around with me for a while and you've heard lots of my cyclical living talks on here,

You will know the energy,

You will know the energy of the winter.

And that is in connection with the energy of the inner winter,

Which is the bleeding time of your menstrual cycle,

Or the new moon.

So those three are aligning together with the archetypal energy of death and rebirth.

It's sort of like holds that big transition in the cycle,

The letting go,

The dying off and the rebirthing and beginning anew.

Right?

But we'll I'll talk a little bit about how,

Yeah,

It might not,

It might not hold as much of the energy of death as we might imagine.

There is definitely lots of life that happens in the death of the winter.

I'm going to share a quote from the book I was just mentioning,

Wintering by Catherine May.

Let me find it here.

There we go.

This quote,

It says,

Plants and animals don't fight the winter.

They don't pretend it's not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer.

They prepare,

They adapt,

They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through.

Winter is a time of withdrawing from the world,

Maximizing scant resources,

Carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight.

But that's where the transformation occurs.

Winter is not the death of the life cycle,

But it's crucible.

So this like brings a whole,

You know,

This quote just like brings this whole new energy to what may seem like the death of the cycle,

Right?

The death of the earthly seasons,

Right?

But when we sit with that,

I would love to know,

Like,

Do you change,

Do you change any of your routines coming into winter?

Or do you feel like possibly you live in a perpetual summer,

You know,

Living every day the same no matter what the season is outside of you,

No matter what the season is outside in the earth.

Do you,

Do you change anything about your routines,

The way that you do things,

The way that you move,

The way that you are in the winter?

And I'll say that,

You know,

Because like our society is not expecting us to change,

Right?

The cultures that we live in are expecting us to continue to show up the same every day,

Right?

So the culture that is set on this linear,

More patriarchal model doesn't allow for the movement and the flow to embrace the slowing down,

The resting,

The going within,

The being with the darkness,

Right?

And so if you don't,

There's nothing,

Like there's nothing wrong with that,

Right?

And being in a culture that is,

You know,

Telling you,

No,

You have to,

You have to be the same.

You have to do the same things you did at the summer solstice that you do at the winter solstice,

Right?

Like that's,

That's something that is within us because it's in a lot of our cultures.

I won't say all of them,

Right?

But so many of our cultures around the world.

So hopefully this,

This talk will,

Even if you are one of those people that sort of stays the same,

Hopefully this talk will spark some ideas about how you might,

What I'm calling,

Preparing for the winter,

The winter magic,

Right?

Being with that magic of winter that allows this,

Us to go into this crucible and find some healing and transformation,

Right?

So one story that I love,

Which also,

You know,

There's a piece of this story in the book Wintering,

But also with my,

My connection to some mythology in Scotland and the Celtic studies I have done.

I have come to know the,

The goddess,

The Caliak.

And if you haven't heard of her before I'll just give like the little short,

Short version about who,

Who she is because she is the,

The ruler over winter.

And in the,

In the Celtic cosmology,

There was only two halves of the year.

There was the dark half,

The winter,

And there was the light half,

The summer.

So the Caliak was the,

You know,

The ruler over the winter,

Winter half of the cycle from Samhain,

Which comes,

You know,

October 31st,

November 1st,

That time of the year through until Beltane,

Which is the beginning of May.

So the Caliak takes a human form at Samhain and rules over the winter months,

Bringing that wind and wild weather.

So when you look outside and you see the wind,

You see the snow,

You see that wild blistery weather,

That is the Caliak,

Like making,

Making herself known.

Right.

And based in,

Based in Scotland and the,

She's very connected to the land of Scotland.

But this is where,

You know,

She formed,

She formed the mountains by dropping rocks from her basket.

She carries a hammer to,

To form the valleys of the land.

When the ground freezes,

It's because she's,

She touched her staff to that part of the,

Of the ground.

So this sort of energy being the ruler of winter is also the creator,

Like she is the creator of that land.

Right.

And thinking about creation,

Right.

All beginnings start in the darkness.

They start as,

You know,

They start,

It starts as nothing.

It starts as darkness.

And we think about,

You know,

You think about a seed in the,

In the dark earth.

You think about a baby in the dark womb.

You think about the,

The butterfly in the dark cocoon.

Right.

All of these,

All of this creation is coming out of darkness.

And this is what the Caliak represents.

So she is seen as the creator and the mother,

You know,

The mother of all gods.

And but also is very connected to this energy of winter.

Right.

So she's got these two pieces together,

Winter and this creation energy.

And then at Beltana,

Breej,

Who is the other goddess that dominates the light half,

Rules the light half,

Takes over in May and Caliak turns,

Turns to stone again.

And this idea that like spring can only arrive by the,

The nurturing retreat of the winter and by those,

That creation energy that,

That starts it,

That begins it.

Right.

So we've got this cyclical energy,

Right?

We can't have life without starting in the darkness,

Right?

Without starting somewhere.

And that's what winter,

That's what winter brings for us.

There is,

You know,

We see these archetypes through many,

Many different cultures.

So looking in your own culture,

Maybe there is,

You know,

Maybe there is already some mythology about winter.

And maybe that's something you want to explore and research some more about to see how you can connect with that energy.

The other thing,

You know,

The other energy that,

You know,

Is very apparent during this time is,

Is nature,

Right?

And especially trees and deciduous trees.

So looking at this energy of deciduous trees,

You know,

As the,

As the summer begins to wane and the autumn arrives,

The sunlight grows shorter,

It grows more distant,

The temperatures become cooler.

And that means that the deciduous trees have to,

Have to create a lot more energy to,

To grow,

To stay alive.

Right.

And at some point it becomes too much.

Right.

So thinking about like,

It's like that protection,

Protection for burnout,

Right?

So that like,

There is this,

There is this point where you can tell it's too much.

It takes too much to keep my energy flowing outward,

To keep my energy in this perpetual summer growth energy.

Right.

So the tree says it's too much now.

I can't,

I can't do it and be sustainable.

So it stops making food.

And it sends,

It sends the resources down to the roots.

And because of that,

The leaves,

Right,

They change colors and then eventually fall off the tree.

But as the leaves,

The leaves are falling,

The,

The buds for next year's leaves and flowers on that tree are already in place.

Did you know that?

So the buds of the tree are actually formed in the high summer time,

At the time of the highest light and heat.

And you know,

We may look,

You may look outside right now and think that the trees are bare,

But actually,

If you look really,

Really close,

You will see that there are buds on the branches.

And they are in this time of resting and waiting.

Right.

So the autumn leaves,

Then they've dropped to the ground,

They are composting and they're nourishing the soil for the roots,

Right?

So they're providing food for the roots so that then the roots can gather enough of that energy,

Enough of that stored nutrients to then in the spring,

Send it back up the trunk,

Back up the branches and towards the buds so that they can open and blossom for the spring and summer.

Isn't that just like,

I like love,

I love learning these things because then it tells us that,

You know,

It's not really,

It's not really all death and darkness in the winter,

Right?

There is life,

But it is a quiet,

Restful,

You know,

Just it's a,

It's a peaceful living,

Right?

It is a time to gather the resources that aren't as prevalent and holding them close,

Right?

So then in this time,

Because all of this transition is happening and because it is this dance between death and life,

Right?

Between darkness and light,

Between the cold outside,

The warm inside,

This is a place where it is easy to pass between the worlds,

Right?

A liminal space where we can also dance between the death and the life,

The darkness and the light,

Right?

And with that brings a chance for healing and transformation and to get in touch with our being,

You know,

With your true self and who you really are and connect more with that so that then when the spring arrives,

You can take more of yourself and give it during that time.

So some sacred,

Some sacred invitations to carry forward into the winter.

Definitely resting,

Right?

We see this in many different areas.

Resting,

Being more and doing less,

Right?

And with that,

The invitation to go within,

To go within,

To connect with that core part of who you are,

With that divine self within.

And with that,

This invitation to possibly visit the darkness and allow it to transform you,

You know,

If you're in a place that it feels comfortable and safe to do that,

Right?

Healing happens within safety.

So if it feels really unsafe,

You know,

And you have somatic responses to being,

Going within the darkness and to seeing like the shadows within,

Then make sure you get some,

You know,

You get some support or you have a container that feels safe that you can explore that in.

And then,

You know,

Once we're able to connect with this divine self,

With our true self,

That is where the visioning comes from,

Right?

That's the ground that we can plant the seeds and grow the roots for our vision that then will become the,

You know,

The workings in the world that are connected to who we are,

Connected to our purpose.

And so then coming into the end of the winter,

You know,

Planting some of those seeds and setting intentions or through the winter,

Right?

Planting seeds,

Setting intentions of how you want to take that thread that's connected to the core of you through the rest of the cycle.

So I thought we could do some journal,

Some journaling to see if something,

You know,

Because I want this information to help each of you personally.

And I think journaling will help connect to this archetypal universal energy to what's actually happening for you personally.

So if you want to grab a journal,

I've got five questions.

Not sure if we have time for all five of them.

We'll just start and see where we go.

So our first question,

What inner work are you invited to explore?

What feels safe enough to dive into?

Thinking about being with that,

Being with that darkness within,

That unknown within.

Let's think about how you can meet that.

So I'm going to give us three minutes to explore that.

Let me know at the end of three minutes if you need more time.

So let's do three minutes to explore what inner work,

What may be for you to explore this winter.

We'll start now.

Think about it.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 30 more seconds.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ All right,

That is our time.

If you need another minute,

You can go ahead and take it,

But if you would like to share,

What came up for you?

What inner work do you feel like you are being invited into?

I think for me,

I was talking,

I think last week during our live,

I was talking about my potential word for 2023 is going to be rooted,

Rooted,

Rootedness,

Rootinging down,

Something about growing roots,

Right?

And feel like that came through in my exploration of this question.

And connected to identity as well,

Like who am I in this place?

I lived,

I say this all the time,

But my identity of who I've been for the past 12 years,

It's changed by internally what was happening for me,

But now the external has changed.

And some of those identities I've had to let go of.

And so it's feeling a bit like there's a void within me.

And so the inner work I feel like is connecting back to the core,

Right?

The foundation,

The roots about who I am and how that shows up in this,

On this land,

In this community,

In this place.

So that's what I am,

That's what I'm feeling at the moment.

The other thing I wrote down is continuing,

I feel like every winter I come back to this work of scarcity and abundance.

And so that,

Especially because I go on a winter hibernation,

I go away from work,

I don't do work except for in my coven community,

I don't do any outside public type work for some weeks over the winter.

And it's such a confronting time because January is consistently my lowest income in my work.

And so sitting with being okay with that and seeing the abundance in that restful time when it's not as financially secure and safe.

So that's also,

That's the other thing I wrote down there.

Okay,

So this is our next question.

What vulnerabilities do you experience in winter?

So being aware of our vulnerabilities will help to know what we need,

Right?

So thinking about past winters,

Thinking about how you're feeling right now as winter is coming or here,

Depending on your view of when winter is.

You know,

What feels vulnerable?

What feels vulnerable to you?

So I'll put three more minutes back on the clock and we'll go ahead and start now.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ 30 more seconds for that.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ I wrote some more about my scarcity because that's the thing that's the most present.

Because of my winter hibernation and taking time away from work,

I get a lot of FOMO.

Like I fear I'm going to miss out on something that happens because I won't be around.

I get afraid that people will forget about me over a month or six weeks.

I also have this fear,

And I hate that I have this fear,

That somebody else will birth my creative ideas.

Even I know that's not valid because all of our creations are unique to us.

But I fear that somebody's going to do it first.

And if I'm taking all this time to rest,

Then I don't have time to work on those creative ideas.

Knowing that rest is a very important part of creation,

But still there's a little voice in there that says,

No,

You've got to keep doing something because,

Again,

I'm going to miss out on something.

So all of that lacking scarcity energy that comes when I step away.

Our next question will help us to think how we can be with these vulnerabilities.

And then also just the struggle it is to connect with nature that feels vulnerable.

It's not as easy to go outside and do things like I was in the summer and the autumn.

Taking my walks and sitting for long contemplative journeys through the woods and things like that.

Falling on icy sidewalks.

So,

Yes,

Like the physical vulnerabilities,

Definitely.

Creeping around,

Staring at the ground.

Yeah,

Yeah,

I feel that.

When they're getting sick.

Also,

Again,

Another physical vulnerability.

Yeah,

Being required to do stuff that don't have the energy for.

Bad memories of previous winter isolations,

Though.

I am okay now.

Okay,

So triggering from past winters.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Not sure what feels vulnerable for me in winter.

Have to think more about it.

No worries.

That question is there for you to explore any time you need it.

The feeling of loneliness.

Yeah,

That's true for a lot of people,

Isn't it?

Because there's not as much going on.

You can't,

Not as much connection.

That's like,

That's also something I've been thinking about.

Because,

You know,

We just moved into this community.

You know,

A couple months ago.

And,

You know,

It hasn't been easy to,

Like,

Make connections in person.

Because there's not a lot of things happening.

So that feels vulnerable in,

Like,

The community sense,

Definitely.

Okay.

So looking at your vulnerabilities that you have identified.

We're going to ask the question,

What support?

What support do you need from yourself?

And or from others around you?

So thinking about these vulnerabilities that you have.

What are your needs?

What needs do you have?

And how can you get the support to meet those needs through the winter?

So give us another three minutes on the clock to explore our support.

Not having many friends to call on for sharing festivities.

Yeah.

That's difficult.

Okay.

Three minutes.

Let's start now.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

That is our time.

Thank you all for sharing.

So if you'd like to share,

What,

What support do you need?

To.

Address your vulnerabilities through the summer or.

Through the winter.

Most of my vulnerabilities are in summer.

Yeah.

To address your vulnerabilities through the winter and.

Yeah.

To find places of,

Of safety healing and transformation connecting to yourself.

In this season.

I'm going to be joining a local land trust.

And I hope you can find that for yourself.

I'm planning on joining.

There's a local land trust.

In my.

In my township where I live.

And I'm very hopeful that through volunteering with the land trust,

That we can help people.

To just put yourself.

You know,

In places where that might be,

That might be available.

Right.

Tabletop puzzles and music.

Yes.

I just got I am in,

You probably heard me talk about this too,

But I'm in a couple of the.

By nothing free groups.

Also in my area.

And I'm going to be joining a local land trust.

And that's going to be our winter puzzle.

So we are gonna,

We're going to put together the,

The winter full moon wolf puzzle.

Yeah.

Because I may have to do tasks for which I have low energy.

I need to plan and ask for help.

Beautiful.

Yes,

Yes,

Yes,

Yes.

I'm going to be doing that.

I'm going to be asking for help.

I'm going to be asking for help.

Asking for help from a friend who can see the positive outlooks easier than me.

With kindness,

Curiosity,

And safety,

Without having to explain everything.

It's beautiful.

Another thing for me this winter choosing who to spend my time with.

Not people who are draining people who are aligned.

Beautiful.

I don't think I shared mine.

I'm going to need some connection.

Connection,

Connection,

Connection.

So my support,

I'm going to need some connection.

So having some way to connect to nature,

Even if it's not what I'm used to.

So finding,

Finding what that support looks like.

Connecting into my,

My coven community,

Which I said is the only community that I connect to.

And I'm really feeling into that because some of my intention is,

Is piecing out my purpose and my roots.

Right.

So I think.

Can it staying connected with them is going to be really important.

And then I put another support is ritual rituals and spell work.

And sticking with my morning ritual,

Maybe changing it up for the winter.

And so I'll explore that.

But again,

Bringing in that.

That magical piece of winter.

And that energy of the,

The transformation that happens in the.

And the darkness and the stillness.

So.

I think bringing,

Bringing more ritual conscious ritual into that place.

Well,

What helps support me.

At least.

Ritual unconscious about work.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That really,

Like,

It really like.

It's a good question.

I'm going to work with that.

I'm going to like work with some.

I don't usually work with water,

But I'd love to work with snow.

You know,

People make.

People make like full moon water and stuff,

But I'm going to work with the work with the snow,

Maybe the snow,

Maybe if it snows in a full moon,

My favorite combination.

Do some spell work around that.

Our last last.

Question.

I'm going to ask you and you can share it.

Sort of like as an intention,

Moving forward into the winter season.

What is one doing that you can let go of.

And what is one being that you can invite in.

So one doing that you want to let go of for the winter and one.

One being,

Or.

You know,

Just being present stillness,

But I'm going to let you go with that.

Okay.

What is one doing you can let go of and one being you could invite in.

Letting go of obsessive thinking and bringing in peace.

Beautiful.

Letting go of doing wifely tasks while I take a bit of time to think about that.

What is one doing you can let go of and one being you could invite in.

I didn't think of this for myself.

So I'm going to have to take a moment to think.

What's it going to be for me?

I mean,

Well,

Most of my work,

I'm letting go.

I'm letting go of the things that I'm doing.

I'm letting go of the things that I'm doing in the winter.

I can't really think of anything else.

But like,

That's,

That's probably the one thing that.

One thing is the most difficult for me in my work is the.

The like.

I don't know,

Marketing piece.

I don't know,

Like,

Promoting podcasts.

Like.

Yeah,

That's.

That's something I'm happy to step away from for a while.

I know it's necessary,

But it's,

It's a bit difficult for me.

Although when I think about.

One thing I would like to stop doing is.

I would like to stop being a victim of racism.

Towards myself and especially towards my partner.

That's one doing I would like to let go of.

Gosh,

It's hard.

Right.

When you see somebody doing something,

You're like.

It would be better if you did it this way.

And maybe that's the.

Maybe that's the.

The thing that I find is that I'm not a design projector.

So oftentimes.

See like,

Oh,

There's a much easier,

Simpler way to do that.

You're making it much harder on yourself.

But sometimes,

You know.

No,

I just,

I just need to let.

I just need to let him do it.

His own way.

So that's one doing I could let go of.

More in that.

Spiritual transformation energy.

And then the other thing I can invite in.

I think I.

And because I don't have,

You know,

Because I do.

The winter,

My hibernation time and I step away.

From my work.

I am hoping that my being can be time away from screens.

And I would love.

To be able to spend.

A day in the morning.

A chunk in the.

At night that I'm not.

Not anywhere near a screen,

Not anywhere near the internet.

And I would love at least one day a week,

That's 24 hours.

Without.

Without a screen.

That feels really lovely,

But it feels.

Yeah.

Is it possible?

I'm wondering.

So that's,

That's mine for right now.

Oh yeah.

So I guess that is a doing that's letting go of too.

It's not a being that I'm inviting in.

But the,

I think the being is the.

That being a ritual for me.

Bringing in that ritual space of.

Connecting,

Connecting into myself instead of.

Into a screen.

Yeah.

I also love getting really creative in the winter.

So when I step away from the screen,

I.

You know,

The winter is when I do my most.

Most of my crafting,

My crafting things.

So I love doing embroidery work.

So that's really,

That's a great thing.

To connect in with my winter energy.

And collages.

I love making,

I love making collages.

And somebody just gave me a whole stack of magazines.

That they were getting rid of.

So I'm,

I'm excited to.

Somebody.

Somebody in my business community.

Made personal.

Personal like Oracle cards to neck connected to.

Like who they are,

Like their soul cards.

I think they might call them.

And I.

Ever since I heard them say it,

I was like,

So fascinated and thought.

Oh,

I love making collages.

Like,

I wonder what it would look like for me to make like my own.

My own soul soul card deck.

And like.

Hand cut out the pieces of magazine and glue them all together.

And then maybe like Modge,

Podge them.

Like little card form.

Hmm.

So that might be,

That might be a project I do for myself.

In my being space.

Over the winter.

Letting go of obsessing over healing materials and trying to heal faster.

Yes.

Yes.

Because again,

That is.

And you're inviting in being present in the moment.

In a semantically kind of way.

Beautiful.

Yeah.

Because again,

That is.

That is right.

This linear like,

Okay,

Here's the.

Here's the goalpost for,

For healing.

When I reach that.

I'm going to be healed.

Right.

That is not,

That's not reality.

That's not the truth.

Healing is cyclical.

It's spiral.

Like think of it as a spiral and never,

Never ending.

And both at the same time,

We are healed and whole.

And at the same time,

There is,

There is healing happening.

Right.

Oof.

You can get,

You can get burnt out by continually trying to heal yourself.

And yeah,

Winter may be a time to,

To step away from that.

Constantly I need to,

I need to improve,

Right.

I need self-improvement and self-help and all of that.

Sometimes we just need,

Just need a break.

Just need to be.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm a little bit on the fence about that.

But I think that's really important and a beautiful thing to do at this time of the year.

Right.

Is reflecting back.

Looking back,

Like where were you last December?

And I guarantee.

There are.

There are numerous things.

Numerous ways in which you have changed.

And transformed and healed.

And I think that's a really important thing to do.

And to just take time to really see where,

Where have I been?

Where have I come to be here,

To be who I am today?

Yeah.

I struggle with that as well.

And I'm always thinking like,

Oh,

But.

But this year this will happen.

Right.

So that's a lovely thing to do.

To just take time to really reflect back.

Right.

And to just,

To just look back at this year and to January really reflecting back in like bringing in that abundance,

Right.

Of like the,

The beauty of where you are and who you are today and how you have changed.

And I'm not going to say that this year is going to be a lot of internal changes.

I have an inkling that this next year is going to be a lot of internal changes.

So we'll,

We'll see how that goes.

Well,

This idea of celebrating how far we've come and what was occurring a year ago.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm just sitting here thinking about.

Where were you?

Last December.

Yeah,

I was in,

I was living in Kolkata.

Waiting for my partner's green card interview,

Not knowing,

Not knowing when it was going to happen.

I had just lost my part-time teaching job in November the month before.

So I was just sort of like thrown into like this business full-time,

Not knowing what was going to happen.

And I still don't know what's going to happen with it.

Gosh,

I was like,

Yeah.

I only took,

I only took a two week winter hibernation last year because I was so scared because I had lost my part-time teaching job.

I was so scared that like,

I wouldn't have,

I wouldn't have enough finances because I was supporting us.

I was the main financial supporter when we were in India,

Because I was getting,

I was getting paid,

You know,

In US dollars.

And in India that goes a long way.

My partner was getting paid in rupees and not going as far.

Gosh,

Now the tides have,

The tides have switched that my income is very small percentage of what,

How we survive here.

My partner is mainly,

Yeah.

It's doing all the,

Doing all the financial support at the moment.

Gosh,

Yeah.

I'm going to have to,

I'm going to look back through my journal.

I'm going to,

I'm going to grab my journal out from last December and see where,

See where I was.

Yeah.

Thanks for,

Thanks for inviting that exploration here.

I changed internally to allow the external.

Beautiful.

I love that.

For me,

I can also see what is still the same.

Like the things I need to let go of now as they aren't getting better.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And yeah.

Just focusing on that,

Like on the slowness,

Right.

Because winter also brings that energy of slowness and gentleness.

And so when we see the things that haven't yet changed,

How can we invite in that gentle slowness for that?

Not getting overwhelmed by all the things we want to change,

Which I tend to do.

Yeah.

Cause it's like,

I can see what's possible.

I can see what's possible.

And I think if I just do ABCDFG,

You know,

All of these things,

That that will be possible.

But then like I get stuck again,

Like Cara was staying in that sort of like burnout.

Like I'm heading towards burnout because I'm trying to change too much,

Too fast.

So slowing down,

Slowing down,

Being gentle,

One thing at a time,

One step at a time.

Right.

It has been,

It's been wonderful being with you all.

A deep,

Deep blessing,

Lots of gratitude to each one of you,

To each one of you that have been with me for the whole year and to each one of you that just found yourself here today.

It's been a beautiful journey through 2022 and looking forward to see what,

What our next year may hold for all of us.

All right.

I will,

I will see you,

See you all in the new year.

Maybe before that.

Sending you lots of love,

Many blessings for a magical winter ahead.

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