art that supports the healing process

Greetings!

At the recent Winter Solstice, I presented the story of goddess Persephone: she is abducted into the abyss where she faces her fears and gets in touch with her anger, power and intuition.  She emerges as an empowered individual.  Once a year, she makes a return visit to the Underworld, causing the vegetation in our world to shrivel and the landscape to become barren.

What does she do there, in the Underworld?  She reigns as Queen of Hades.  She drinks at the well of Cthonic wisdom.  She renews herself in preparation for the coming growing season.

February 2, 2013 is the cross-quarter holiday of Imbolc aka Candlemas aka Groundhog Day.  It marks the halfway point between the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice, and the time of equilibrium between night and day/darkness and light, the Spring Equinox.  In short, we are still experiencing more darkness than light.  Here on the East Coast of the U.S.A., it is cold, dark and all of nature seems to be in hibernation.

Does this dark season feel to you like a Dark Night of the Soul?  Or, is it merely a seasonal dry spell?  In Persephone’s homeland of Greece, her annual descent into the abyss is their dry season.

Culturally, we expect and demand only forward movement, productivity and growth 24/7/365.  We may feel anxiety or depression when we are in the other part of the creative cycle.  What if, instead, we fully embraced the Yin qualities of not-doing?  What if we tried cultivating receptivity?

Listen to your own energy.  It may feel like total inertia but may actually be passivity.  What would most engage you right now?  Walking outdoors and observing, using all of your senses?  Meditating?  Praying?  Reading a good book?  Attending a concert or exhibition?  Gentle yoga?  Speaking with a wise adviser who, also, loves you?  (Tip: if you cannot find a human of that description, look for a mature tree!)

Ask a question and listen patiently for the answer.  If you take this time to be fully Yin, you will be amazed by the information that will flow in.  Allow yourself to be taught and guided.

Wishing you a deeply nurturing Imbolc.