Thank you for joining us!
Before we begin, I wanted to share a Comment Highlight from Monday’s discussion question:
of Sara’s Lenses wrote…Recently I've been aware of my moments in the wee hours, rocking my sleepless one-year-old, as moments of devotion, to her and to God.
I love the beauty and simplicity of this response, Sara! Such love is irreplaceable, and it’s amazing how God can find us in those early morning hours, no matter how tired and distant we might feel.
Thank you for sharing!
The Darker Half
Yesterday over on Substack’s Notes feature I was having a conversation with
about the way I use my bullet journaling practice, splitting the year into two halves with a paper planner for each to keep me organized.Here was my original Note:
I love October, and one of the biggest reasons why is because it's when I switch into my new bullet journal for the “dark months” of the year.
I split my year into two six-month chunks: Oct - March and April - Sept, with one full bullet journal for each half. And we're about to step over the threshold into what I basically consider my New Year, around Samhain. It's so exciting, this boundary, this liminal space. I love it.
Kim then asked me to explain a bit more of my intentions behind splitting the year up in this way, and here was my explanation:
I’ve just never found the traditional calendar to match what’s going on in my body and brain. New Year in January? Ooft, nothing feels new and fresh in January, it feels gloomy and cold. I’m still not ready to “emerge” into spring, in January. Doesn’t fit.
For me, it makes the most sense to break the year into seasonal halves. During the “light half” it’s all about growth, cultivation, striving, and ideation. During the “dark half” it’s about harvesting, preserving, reflecting, and drawing inward to set myself up for a new season of growth. Obviously on any given winter day I may still have to strive and grow (life goes on, of course) and on any given summer day I may need to rest, but my overall arc and focus of the season is going to be different depending on what half of the year I’m in.
Since writing this out, I’ve been pondering this natural division I feel between the two sides of the year, seeing Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter as a dichotomy that I have to approach with reverence and preparation.
There is evidence to suggest that certain ancient cultures split their years up in this way, too, seeing autumn and spring as two gateways into two kingdoms: the sun’s receding, and the sun’s return. While modern paganism has muddied the waters a little, the ancient Celts almost certainly saw Samhain at the end of October as a threshold, a sort of new year. The dark womb leading to a springlike resurrection.
I’m not going to go so far as to call the Gregorian calendar tyrannical; it serves its purpose to keep us all on the same page. But it does feel wrong on a bodily level that I find difficult to explain. Trying to start something new in the deep darkness of January is a fool’s errand. No wonder we all drop our resolutions by February! Our bodies are still cold, sluggish, and hungry. Maybe we should let them be, until the season for growth and activity comes back around.
And so, here we are, marching into the year’s darker half, and I can feel myself already drawing inward. Letting summer’s bright light and brash activity fade. Looking for ways to make the nest of this house a little neater, a little cozier, a little more ready to receive us in our long days of gloom and rain.
In the end, the Creator created our bodies to be wise. They know, often better than we do, what a season is for. Better than the calendar. Better than the clock.
So if this upcoming season is darker for you, more withdrawn, more reflective, take heart! Don’t fight it. Lean in, and listen to what your body is telling you.
God whispers in every season. What will He tell you, in this darker half?
Benediction
O God of All Seasons, meet us here in this doorway, we pray.
Prepare the way for us as we stumble from one day to the next.
Be a soft place for us to fall whenever our way darkens.
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Oh friend, you KNOW how I feel about all this. 😂😂 The modern distinction of seasons based on astronomical rather than meteorological signals just doesn't make sense bodily. It feels artificial.
The division into light and dark halves of the year does have historical precedent - and given our ancestors' close cultural ties to agriculture and nature, it seems fitting that their reckoning of time would be more attuned to natural shifts.
As you know, I'm always celebrating new year's eve on Hallowe'en alongside you!
The Jewish community also uses seasons to mark the seasons and festivals. Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the new year and it celebrates Creation in the fall (this year sept 15-17.) During the next weeks, Jews reflect on the previous year and plan changes for the next. This weekend is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement for sins between people and God. Following that is Sukkot, my very favorite Jewish holiday (even though I am not Jewish.) It is celebratory and joyful, a harvest gathering that recalls the 40 years in the wilderness and gratitude for coming out the other side. There's also evidence that the Pilgrims used Sukkot as a model for Thanksgiving.