Cultivating Resilience 2025
Astronomical Clock in Prague. Built in1410
I have been interested in the holidays we celebrate and their origins for a long time. When my kids were infants, I wanted to create family traditions that I could feel connected to and not like I was just going through the motions without knowing why. Not having been raised in a religion, Christmas for us was more a commercialized cultural event with lots of baking, parties, Santa, and gifts.
With some digging, I found that the origins of the holidays we celebrate today are mostly rooted in the pagan, Earth-based spiritual traditions of our European ancestors that have blended together over time. For instance, lighted Christmas trees, wreaths, mistletoe, and holly are aspects of the pre-Christian festivals celebrating the return of the light at the Winter Solstice that would bring rebirth of Spring.
Late Roman Republic calendar
I recently learned that in the ancient Roman calendar, December 25th landed on the Solstice. Then to reconcile the lunar and solar calendars, there were 12 intercalary days at the end of the solar year. At that time, the new year was celebrated in March, at the Spring Equinox.
In the last half of the first Millenium, the Catholic Church took the Solstice for its own and declared December 25th “Christ’s Mass,” celebrating the return of the light in the story of Jesus’ birth and the 12 intercalary days became the “12 Days of Christmas.”
Then in 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII introduced further astronomical corrections to the Roman calendar, the dates moved a little relative to the journey of the sun, and over time his Gregorian calendar was universally adopted. While Christ’s Mass stayed on December 25th, it is no longer the Solstice and we lost our connection to the significance of the longest night.
The start of the New Year also fell prey to Gregory’s regorganization of the calendar when it got moved from near the Spring Equinox in March, to January 1st. It was done because the month name, January, was named for “Janus” the god of new beginnings, and it seemed more fitting. March was so named for the Roman god of War, “Martius,” because March was considered the start of the military campaign season. This is how we ended up with a celebration of a fresh start in the depths of winter. Our celebration of the New Year on January 1st has more to do with our months’ names as opposed to aligning ourselves with the Natural rhythms of life throughout the year. Jubilation can feel a bit forced when the world is in hibernation mode and we haven’t recovered from Christmas festivities.
In the Jewish tradition, New Year celebrations are still connected to Nature, as it is celebrated at the new moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox. This makes sense because fall is the conclusion of the growing season. In Chinese culture, New Year lands on the second new moon after the Winter Solstice, the beginning of the growing season. Both are examples of traditions that connect human physical and spiritual life to the greater movements of the Sun, Moon, and planting cycle. But January 1st has no such connection. Interestingly, Great Britan and the American colonies did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752 and until then, celebrated New Year’s Day in the old way, on March 25th, which would have been the Vernal Equinox at the time when the Solstice was December 25th. It is the beginning of the planting cycle.
In modern times, our day-to-day lives are also no longer intimately tied to the Earth, Sun, and Moon. We have light with the flick of a switch, temperature-controlled living spaces, and fresh blueberries any time of year. Most people on the planet at this time are not physically, mentally, or spiritually connected to the Earth as a living spiritual being on whom their life depends. This is the basis of our current crisis of Nature and Culture. We have lost our place in the web of life and done a lot of damage in the process.
The Five Energetic Phases of the Seasons
As descendants of European peoples, whose Earth-centered spirituality was lost, often by violent means, to the Church, where do we pick up the threads? Reconnecting ourselves to the web of life helps us individually feel connected to something greater than ourselves and can ease our anxiety in this time of radical transformation. This reconnection of the human heart is also an offering of healing to the Earth Herself that is critically needed at this time. While there is little we can do to ease the unfolding crisis of Nature and Culture that are at the end of their life cycle, we can focus our attention and love on what is waiting to be born. The cultural Winter/Water Phase that we are in is a death and rebirth phase according to the old Taoists. We can clearly see the loss (death) all around us as the old cultural and political structures that were meant to hold and protect us crumble, and global warming trips along unchecked. We also know that death and rebirth are part of the same seasonal phase and we can choose to put our attention, love, and life force into the rebirth aspect.
You can read more about the Winter/Water Phase of our Culture here:
Gregorian calendar aside, on January 1st, we are still in the depths of Winter both seasonally (and culturally), having gained just a couple minutes of daylight since the Solstice. Nature is busy doing the slow, essential Winter/Water Phase work of dormancy and gathering potential energy for rebirth, and so are we. We are tied to her rhythms whether we are aware of that reality, or not. Winter/Water Phase is the time for gathering the potential energy for the rebirth that we will see come Spring/Wood time. This is like the time of pregnancy in human terms. We know there are babies growing but we don’t get to meet them until they are born in the Spring/Wood phase.
New Year’s Resolutions Best Start Date
On January 1st, Nature is showing no signs of the up and out energy of Spring/Wood. This is why so many New Year’s resolutions peter out after a few weeks. You are fighting against Nature. It would be like expecting to find daffodils blooming in January solely because you had the idea it would be nice. You may have a mental level idea that January 1st you are going to reign in your diet, start a new exercise program, cut down on alcohol, or whatever your thing is, but every cell in your body is in storage and gathering potential mode. That is an uphill climb and if instead you take the next few weeks to plan, gather information, and put together your supports as your form of gathering potential for a rebirth, you will have more success. Plan on having yourself ready to start in earnest by January 27th (see diagram above) when the Winter/Water Phase ends and use the roughly two weeks of the Earth Phase transition to find your new rhythms. Then, on February 11th, the Spring/Wood Phase energies will start to arrive, marked by the rising of sap heralded by the hanging of buckets on Maple trees here in New England. This is the energy of birth and new beginnings that will help carry you in your new endeavor. All of Nature in the northern hemisphere is moving up and out to give rise to new life in infinite forms. You can ride that wave of rebirth into your new version of yourself.
Wishing You Resilience in the New Year!
In Case You Missed It
The “Resilient Spirit” Retreat Series is a passion project, born in response to the reality that we are living in a time of chaos and upheaval that repeatedly disorients and confounds, leaving us all stressed and anxious.The “Resilient Spirit” Retreat Series will be offered during the four Earth Phase transitions of the year to help you, season by season, learn to more effectively work with the energetic phases and to live more fully into the genuine gifts secretly stored in your blueprint. There is no greater contribution to healing the global crisis than for individuals to show up in their lives and live their soul’s purpose. The first gathering is February 8th!
Please Share With Anyone Who Might have Interest
I found much of the information on the evolution of our calendar in a little book, called “The Return of the LIght, Twelve Tales from Around the World for Winter Solstice,” by Carolyn McVickar Edwards.
@resilience.and.joy