In kindergarten we had rest rugs. Naps. I never saw the point of them. Lying there pretending to be asleep but really just waiting for it to be over. Perhaps the adults needed the break more than we did. It wasn’t a great introduction to the concept of resting. A break in the action. But I was always more excited about the action. It’s taken me years to get comfortable with the concept of being rather than doing. Well, more comfortable. 

David Whyte writes that rest is the conversation between what we love to do and how we love to be. It is the opportunity to step away from the mental constructs of doing and step into an integration of doing and being, an integration of body, mind, and spirit, a calibration with spiritual and universal energies. In winter, the Earth calls us to slow down, to rest and recalibrate. She calls us to the cave. 

During these last months of cave time, we stayed mostly here at MossTerra nestled in the forest. We didn’t participate at all in the holidays beyond our SolsticeFire celebration. We actually did many things but that doing was informed by what called to be done, not what we had planned. So while most people were giving and accumulating the stuff of gifts, we were called to fill bags and boxes of stuff for charity shops. While most people were spending Christmas eve and day together, I was painting the kitchen and dining room. While most people were celebrating the New Year, I was painting the laundry and utility room. It was exactly the flow that we were called to. And the ancestors kept telling me, “Yes, this is exactly what you need to be doing in this time. You are resting and getting ready.” Resting, clearing, and getting ready. One one level I hoped they would tell me what I was getting ready for but on every other level I know exactly. The messages are strong and clear.

As the Light is returning and Spring is arriving, I reflect back on this time and know that so much insight and wisdom arrived in that flow. While I was busy doing with paint brushes, the Universe was doing the recalibration, and quite happy to not have my mental gymnastics in the way. For it was a conversation of Soul and my job, it seems, was to keep my mind busy with cleaning and purging and painting while the narrative unfolded. 

Now, the energy is shifting with this coming season. Yet I will continue to weave the threads of resting rhythms into the fabric of my life. This conversation, this calibration, is a glorious dance for all seasons.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com