ANAM:

It is the last day of November, 2024. Mí na Samhna : the month of Samhain, in the Irish language. This month once signalled the beginning of the old way of time known as the “Celtic Calendar”. There is wisdom to be found in acknowledging that all life begins in the darkness, in a state of mystery and reverence of the unknown. Like a cloak, the night arrives ever earlier in this dark portion of the year. The darkness comes in to claim the space of that once exuberant and expansive sunshine ( well, long days at least shall we say in Ireland where the sun is also shy). The sun is like a king illuminating a realm of knowing and visibility. We can think of the realm of the bright months of the year as symbolic of the conscious mind – analogous to nature that dwells above ground as an expression of all that is held in the roots ( the roots symbolic of the unconscious: ie. all that we are not conscious of but that runs the show).

As we are embraced by the long and tender arms of winter, the symbol of the old woman, the cailleach takes her throne. A cloak of winter’s cold and dark days encourages us to retreat indoors, to tend our hearts and our hearth ( if like us your heat source is a fireplace or stove ). In days before the luminescent glow of the television or computer screen, these long evenings were once shared, gathering around a fire, telling stories. Ghost stories that would make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck – according to my father. Going home in rural Ireland at a time before electricity, one walks amid the vast expanse of darkness, the cries of animals and the sounds of the wind. With little more than a steady mind and a prayer. Courage grows in adversity and in bracing inner strength against the terror of the unknown. We can acknowledge the futility of indulging in worry or negative imagination if we simply want to survive, or to get home to our warm beds on a cold winter’s night.

It is the last day of November and December begins with a new moon.

When we look at the winter of life, the fact of mortality, of death and aging, we can be, paradoxically, brought into a more intense appreciation of life. It may be that we live in a culture that denies the fact of aging and in the ignorance of death, forgets to know what it is to truly live. We learn to put things off, to delay, to save for a “rainy day”. Ironic if most of our days are rainy. If we forget the depth and truth of the full human story or how to recognise meaning and value in every stage of life from cradle to grave, we miss the opportunity to cherish an arc of belonging – both to ourselves and one another. How brave would we be when we know that : this.moment.really.matters ?

In winter, all around us nature participates in the dance of death and letting go. The great adornment of leaf and flower has blazed in colour and now succumbs to gravity and rot. The spirit that so brightly shone in the flowers, has now be encapsulated in seed and retreated into the roots. Nestled in deep foundations, the life force curves and rests, like a sleeping cat, until tender rays of spring unfurls her knowing.

With this new moon, may depth and wisdom illuminate our inner lives to nourish a courageous vision. May we chart the course to create a world of beauty that honours the soul and tends to the heart of humanity 🙏🏻