Gathering the Bones
Hannah Green
Happy New Year and happy full moon! I hope you have a moment to bask in the moonlight this weekend. I invite you to also acknowledge yourself for navigating the holidays! If challenges arose - is there a way to use those challenges an invitation to get down to the bones of things and to what is most essential as you step into the new year? Winter is the season of the hag or bone woman archetype - the time where we are invited to come back to our most deeply held truths and values. Going "home for the holidays" is one way of returning to source at this time of year but on the deepest level...
What is it like to come home to yourself?
RECIPE FOR THIS MONTH
Gathering the bones....
Do some journaling, collaging, art work or free writing on the following....
1. What are some times in childhood or in the recent past that you felt most alive, in flow, embodied or blissful? Free associate and trust what comes up. List them out.
hint: These are often fleeting, personal or quiet moments. Like staring at a tree on the way to work, seeing our beloved cozy in bed or getting lost in art or cooking.
2. If you had "one year to live" - what do you picture yourself doing?Write what comes up. Would you sit in the garden, spend time with loved ones, create, travel?
3. Take these two ingredients and let them boil and bubble - reduce them down to their bones - distill them and notice the patterns they contain. What do you see? Name what you see to give you what Danielle Dulsky calls your "unburnablevalues."
For instance in . #1 if you have a memory of feeling fully alive in nature as a child and in #2 you also picture yourself spending time in nature one of your unburnables may be "connection with nature." Other examples of unburnable values are service, love, creativity, spirituality, pleasure....
Gather the bones and spend some time acknowledging these unburnables in a way that feels right to you. Bring them into consciousness by writing them down and placing them somewhere visible like an altar space. Perhaps use an unburnable as the basis for a painting, poem or collage.
These unburnables will also connect you to your desires and intentions for the year. Begin to write these down if they are emerging.
4. What do you want?You can also begin to loosely gather information on what specific actions, people, classes, investments and supports will move you closer to those desires. I encourage you to do this gently like you would gather images for a collage, giving yourself time to be in the liminal space of the new year. Next month is a wonderful time to look at these aspects again and then move forward with passion, purpose and commitment.
~ inspired and adapted from Danielle Dulsky's Bone Vision Mandala.
FAVORITE JANUARY BOOKS
Tarot for Yourself by Mary K Greer - This is wonderful book about Tarot from a Jungian perspective. - It is also an experiential workbook that guides you through your own unique journey of exploring the Tarot.
Many Moons Lunar Planner - I have been using this planner for a few years and I can not sing it's praises enough. It has helped me in countless ways to create more awareness, balance and abundance in my life.
This Mythic Life - monthly membership program. Sharon Blackie's membership program offers monthly modules on mythological, feminist, Jungian and archetypal themes. Her work has had such a profound impact on me. A treasure trove!
JANUARY TAROT CARD:
THE EMPEROR
In Numerology, each year has a Major Arcana card and 2020 is the year of the Emperor. This is an invitation to work with themes of power, the Father and Eagle vision. In the words of Sarah Gottesdeiner, "How can you be your own Daddy?" The number IV is a stable number that like a house with four walls, offers shelter and containment. The Emperor archetype within can see a goal in the distance and harness resources, strategy and energy as she moves methodically towards her target.
What is your highest goal? How are you strategically and methodically pursuing this goal one day at a time?
What systems and power dynamics are you outgrowing and overthrowing as you claim your own sovereignty?
How can you enjoy a sense of inner strength and security?