Leaning into the new year
Oh how this new year blew in like a bomb cyclone of spirit asking us to choose certain aspects in our lives that truly needed to be left behind. This new year was unlike any I have experienced before. It was an intense, deep spiritual death. For some, relationships ended, loved ones walked into the spirit world unexpectedly, some were sick and experienced a deep physical detox, and for others is was a death within relationship to themselves or others. Never before I have I been pushed so hard to speak loudly on what I may have been tip toeing around and trying convince myself to keep. The tail end of 2022 moved us to make major decisions and face shifts that we didn’t want to, simply out of holding onto the comforts of the usual, but the usual does not serve when we are committed to growth, healing and evolution. So I suppose with all the healing work we all moved through during the year, it was time, in the darkness of winter solstice, to release the old skins.
Image taken at a Solstice Ceremony in Glover, VT
I come to you in the new year wrung out, exhausted, singing to the earth, with flowing tears, laughing with the coyote, sitting with the trees, and praying for that incredible healing green energy of the earth to reach us all in these still gray days. Today I took a mini adventure, left the house so early it was completely dark outside and drove into the white mountains. As I shifted elevation there were landscapes of brown and green to powdered sugar forests and thick foggy otherworldly spaces. All of it was completely magnificent and I found myself mesmerized by the energies of the earth around me along with the interesting rhythm of humanity moving about on the morning commute.
This December and January weather have left me in such a strange physical place. My circadian rhythm feels off center as I try to process such a change in the northern Vermont weather. I also notice a space of grief in my chest for knowing the signs of what may be to come for all of us in the north east. In this new year I am working intently on moving through my big emotions in a new and freeing way. For example, two nights ago we experienced another strange stormy rain clinking on the windows. I slipped into a hot bath to conclude my day once the kids were in bed. When I emerged from the water I found myself overheated and stepped outside for some relief. As I stood there taking breaths in the cool air, I suddenly felt this call from the rain to move my body and expose myself to the elements. So I placed my towel safely on the porch chair and walked straight into the weather fully naked and exposed. I moved my arms and upper body around and just let go noticing every cold drop that met my skin.
There is something really wild and freeing about rejoicing in the darkness, in the deep struggles, or in the weather that makes no sense and gives you a heavy feeling of climate change doom. So wherever you are and whatever you are experiencing that might be bringing up big emotion, worry, etc, I think it’s important that we remember our wild and freeing connection to this miraculous earth and the land you are residing on.
Remember, what you need, what you offer, what you express to the earth is always heard, received, and returned within a safe energetic container that holds your body, your spirit, and supports the release of what you need to shed.
Leaning into the earth and sending love in the new year,
Diana