Lessons from Winter
One of the most life-changing principles of the Sacred Feminine is the understanding that life, just like nature, has seasons.
Western society has become a society dominated by the masculine principle, with a focus on a linear, logical, upward trajectory.
Life is a ladder that is meant to be climbed, as opposed to a journey we spiral through.
Tough seasons in life become the result of a personal failure, rather than the understanding that there is a time for growth and there is a time for death and slowness.
We’ve forgotten how to ebb and flow with the shifting of seasons. We’ve forgotten how to hold the spectrum of our emotions without falling into or calling it a disorder.
When we use Nature as our guide, we understand that Winter isn’t the shitty season that needs to be avoided…it’s a necessary part of the cycle and one that can bring healing, cleansing, and wisdom that we wouldn’t otherwise get if we just lived in Summer all year long.
It took me a long time to learn how to work with and embrace Winter energy, and some years have been harder than others.
At times I’ve found myself eagerly anticipating the slow, dark nights and the opportunity for rest and reflection.
Other years I’ve been restless, irritable, and found myself falling into depressive episodes because I hadn’t cultivated the power to hold the darkness.
Living a Sacred Feminine life means not beating up on yourself when things feel hard and dark, but rather having the power to hold yourself through whatever life throws at you, especially during a literal and metaphorical Winter.
One of my greatest passions in this life is teaching women how to reclaim the power of nature and the power of the seasons. It’s helping them understand that our ability to hold ourselves in the dark, in the void, determines not only how much we can grow, but how much our lives eventually flourish.
Those who abandon themselves during Winter won’t ever know the fullness available to them during Summer.
So today, I invite you to contemplate these Lessons from Winter. Allow them to activate the knowing deep inside you that when you use Mother Nature as your guide, trust is always available to you.
Endings are a natural part of life; you can fight them or accept them, but they will come just the same.
Winter has its own kind of beauty…if you’re willing to see it.
It’s in stillness that we find ourselves.
In order to make room for what is next, we have to let go of what no longer fits.
Winter is nature’s detoxification. The process of letting old parts of ourselves, old relationships, and old ways of being die might be painful, but it is also cleansing.
It’s in the darkness that we see what truly matters.
Spring always follows Winter. The Sun always returns. Allow this to be your anchor when the darkness feels overwhelming.
All living beings require rest. This is the path of sustainability.
We only know the depths of our power by our ability to manage the fertile void.
Real power isn’t showing off when things are going well, it’s staying strong when it looks like everything is falling apart.