Rough Nights

Last night I put a little candle on a cedar sheet, lit it, and with my two most important intentions for the coming year I let it float down the river to the sea. There they went, my wishes, dancing on the current until they disappeared around the bend of the river, a little candle light swallowed by the darkness.

Since the days of old, the shortest days of the year had a special meaning. In pre-Christian Germany the thirteen nights after the winter solstice were called the “Rough Nights”. The ancestors were alive in those nights, stories were told, ceremonies held and offerings for the coming season were given.

The time of these short days and long nights is a time to reflect on where we come from and where we want to go. Where I come from, this includes for me acknowledging my ancestors but also going through my life and blessing every part of it, giving thanks to all the people that challenged or supported me, all the people who loved or hurt me. I would not be who I am without them, I would not be where I am without them.

Then I turn around, away from the past towards the future. What is my deepest desire, not yet lived, what is my greatest dream not yet realized? Two things came up for me: To be a good grandpa for my grandkids, and to touch many more people with the healing magic of a soul connection with nature. The little candle flame carried those intentions.

What are your wishes? Write them on a paper, carve them in a piece of driftwood, give them life in a painting, whatever works for you. Then: Let it go. Burn it in the fire, let it float down the river, bury it under a tree, whatever works for you. Just remember one thing: Do it in the dark. When we plant a seed in the garden, we give the seed into the darkness of the soil. There Grandmother Earth goes pregnant with it, she carries it until it’s time to be born into the light. This time of being buried is essential for the process. It is a time of not knowing, of trusting. Digging up the seed in order to check if it starts growing roots, would be detrimental. It would kill it.

The same is true for our dreams, our intentions. We phrase it and give it to the womb of darkness. “Everything that has form and shape is born out of the womb of the Feminine,” an old medicine woman taught me. Now all it needs is a time of trust, of letting it rest, even of forgetting about it. “Like a tree that does not rush its saps in winter because it knows, spring will come.” (Rilke) This is the preparation for spring, for the very moment when the time is right and we have the opportunity to act and make our dreams come true. Intention leads to action, action creates reality. These are the three steps of creating in the physical world.

Do not let slip away the times where darkness is offered to us in such abundance. Use it for looking back and for looking ahead. We need both for the boat of our life to move ahead. We need to bless our past in order not to get stuck there, and we need a vision, a direction. None works without the other. The best vision does not do anything as long as we do not have peace with the past, and all the counseling and dealing with the past does not move us ahead unless we have a vision.

May your seeds grow, may the boat of your life sail towards completion.

If you should get stuck, go see an elder. Or see a homeopath. They can help you to get your boat afloat.

Because I care, I would like to give you a Christmas present: If you register for a homeopathic treatment with me by January 15th, I will give you a discount of $80.00 off your first month package. Click here to email me and we will set up your first free pre-consultation.