Winter Solstice came and went. I’ve been swept up in an unending march of activities and social events and obligations all through winter break. And now I’ve been spit out back into the work week grind, without even an afternoon to myself to putz about, fiddle with my projects and contemplate the year.
The fall season was filled with a series of events, time loping quickly along, the temperatures dropping from warm to pleasantly cool to actually kind of cold. We went apple pickin’ and gun shootin’, had friends visit from back East, Thanksgiving feasted, the Christmas tree decorated, the winter markets shopped, an archery range erected in my backyard. Feast after feast and snacking and gift giving. The past few months have brimmed fuller and fuller, and now I am feeling a deep, primal need to power the fuck down and hibernate, but time moves on and on with the next thing and the next. I trip along, hoping for a chance to catch my footing.
In October, Dana and I hosted the inaugural Weird Sister reading at the Ninth House, which was a shining success, the audience packed and readers knocking it out of the park. We are starting now to plan the next one for late April. Melisa, owner of the Ninth House, extended an invitation for me to do bone readings at the shop for Small Business Saturday. I was very unsure of myself going in, but after a day of back-to-back readings I couldn’t have been happier and look forward to offering this again in the future. I also hosted my first class at the Ninth House in early December--an intro to divination course which went better than I could have imagined. It was such a fun class, with groups trying out tea leaf reading and I Ching and scrying and bone throwing. It will be a hard class to top and I’m so grateful for the opportunity. On January 25th, I’ll be offering my next class, The Wheel of the Year, at Ninth House.
I picked up a Wheel of the Year altar cloth from Tucson artist, Sophie McTear, and decided to try it out as a throwing surface for year-outlook readings.
So what’s becoming? What’s our outlook for the year we’ve stumbled into? I crack an egg for my Yaga Self, I throw the bones to see.
The acorn falls neatly onto Yule, pointing to you are here. The high level outlook for the winter season is sheep energy. Those homey, comfort vibes. The softness and the herd. A certain vulnerability and moving along to move along. The javelina vertebrae too tells you now the herd, the family is necessary, is protection, is you. This winter you will find yourself part of a whole. The bison roots you into the earth, stabilizing your center through the season.
The possum jaw stretches between Yule and Imbolc. Through this darker part of the year, is a time to connect with ancestors, with darkness, the night. It may also be a time of feeling one way internally but projecting another. A time of saving face or acting a part.
Imbolc holds the fox arm. A time to be nimble and clever, an energy of working and hustling. This is what happens on the surface of your life. Underlying is the antler reminding you that endurance is your baseline on this journey, to stay connected and working on your spiritual self.
The javelina tusk grows out of the interiors of Imbolc, jutting into Ostara. Spring brings connection with your people. Hone your senses on who is truly with you. This may be a time of defensiveness, of searching. A time to be tough and certain. Feel your way forward with your instinct not your eyes. Remember there are many paths through the forest, you are many, you are secure.
Beltane, the May Day frenzy, there’s something going on internally. A badger tooth with roots upward digs straight down, touching hedgehog hip. This person that you are sometimes or that is around you, the independent, gruff, get it done myself kind of person, maybe this person hits a nerve. Irritates this joyful creature you can be, you try to keep protected/buried. You want to have your simple, lovely life, your hobbies, your curious world unencumbered. But those things are always under attack. The world is unrelenting, and you curl into yourself, unsocial and solitary. The more you try to protect it, the more is leaching out.
Connected to the conflicts that arose during the late-spring, a feeling of drain and loss grows out of your interior and manifests fully through Summer Solstice. A concern, a crisis. Handle with care during these fragile months and take time to reflect on what is restorative.
Muskrat jaw brims between the exterior and interior, curving inward through Lammastide. Some conversation you have to have with yourself. A time to swim deeply, taking what you’ve gathered in the world and bringing those lessons down into yourself. A scrappy, little survivor. As seasons start to tip from late summer into fall, bring your resources home and start to build a nest in you.
Mabon, the fall equinox, is rooted in moose energy. Be your patient, present self. Hold steady who you are, self-assured and grounded. Exterior happenings have your armor down, your anxious, rabbit brain overtaking your instincts and leaving you vulnerable. On the surface there may be much frantic energy, haste, and worry. Try to dig into yourself, find something grounding.
Samhain, the year grows darker and darker still. Here we find the python and rabbit existing side by side. Some coming to terms and acceptance. There is death, there is life, there is a feeling that your little rabbit-self can actually carry a great deal of weight and actually the deepest fear, your predators, are much smaller than you think. You step into Yule, the circle rolls forward back onto itself.