In Between Times

On these cold wintry evenings as shadows grow long and bare tree limbs glimmer softly in the moonlight I often find myself curling up with books and a mug of hot chocolate.

Lately I’ve been re-visiting books on fairy tales. A couple of my favorites are the Norwegian folk tale ” East of the Sun and West of the Moon“, and the Celtic folk tale  “Connla and the Fairy Maiden“. The story of “Frank Martin and the Fairies” by William Carleton inspired the collage above.

I have always loved this time of the year ~ the twinkling of starlight on freshly fallen snow ~ the north wind rattling our wind chimes and the deep quiet silence of the season.

For me, winter is that in-between season of the year when mother nature pauses, the natural pattern of rest between the inhalation and exhalation. She is resting between the last exhalation of autumn and the next inhalation of spring ~ waiting for life to awaken beneath the frozen earth.

The four seasonal stages of earth;

Spring ~ inhalation ~ birth

Summer ~ pause ~ youth

Autumn ~ exhalation ~ middle age

Winter ~ pause ~old age

Here are a few of my favorite things;

• Taking a walk and being mesmerized by the details of the everyday world at my feet.
• Stepping out on the balcony at sunset to bathe in the last lingering rays of honey, golden light.
• Spending hours tucked away in the sweet messiness of the studio working, creating and playing.
• Writing, sketching and painting in my art journal.

What are some of your favorite things? What do you love most about winter? How and where do you find inspiration in the winter?

“Our senses are indeed our doors and windows on this world, in a very real sense the key to the unlocking of meaning and the wellspring of creativity.” ~ Jean Houston

“Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” – Rose Arizmendi