New Year's Eve

Tonight is New Year's Eve - a big night for many people. W and I will celebrate quietly at home this year. AND I will continue my 12 Days of Christmas mini-retreat, focusing on my priorities and what I'm called to do next in my life.

I'm finishing up the work of setting goals and resolutions for the New Year, focusing on my priorities, which are Love, Home, Health, Service, Learning, Creativity, and Life Purpose. 

I came up with this list of priorities a few months ago as a way to give my daily action more focus. It has been so restful to know which activities truly matter most to me, and how to best spend my time. I just plan on doing one or two things in each of these categories, and everything else I fit in around the side! 

I'll take some time this spring to re-evaluate my priorities, but for now I'm sticking with this list.

Agenda today:

1. Kwanzaa principles

2. Journal queries

3. Creativity goals for 2021

4. Practice creativity with 

a resolutions postcard

5. Wassail my apple tree
6. Make noise!

6th Day of Christmas

This is the sixth day of Christmas and the fifth day of Kwanzaa. I will continue my 12 Days of Christmas mini-retreat, focusing on my priorities and what I'm called to do (or not do) next in my life. 

Agenda today:
1. Kwanzaa principles

2. Journal queries

3. Purpose, depth, and career goals for 2021

4. Practice purpose with New Year's resolutions

5th Day of Christmas and Full Cold Moon

This is the fifth day of Christmas, and tonight is the Full Moon! The full moon of December is called the Cold Moon (for obvious reasons). Nature is resting now in preparation for the growing season, and so should I be. No matter how busy I feel, I can slow down, rest more, and pay better attention to the inner growing that is going on.

The turning point of solstice is past- the light born out of the darkness- but it's only the very beginning, not anything complete. I can feel my own tiny inner growing- a flicker of compassion, a butterfly of creativity, a sprout of wisdom.

Agenda today:

1. Kwanzaa principles

2. Update my altar

3. Journal queries

4. Learning goals for 2021

5. Practice stillness and learning

6. Update my intentions poster

4th Day of Christmas

This is the fourth day of Christmas and the third day of Kwanzaa. I will continue my 12 Days of Christmas mini-retreat, focusing on my priorities and what I'm called to do (or not do) next in my life. 

Agenda today:
1. Kwanzaa principles

2. Journal queries

3. Service and activism goals for 2021

4. Practice service with end-of-year donations

3rd Day of Christmas

Our Christmas cactus bloomed for Christmas! A miricle.

This is the third day of Christmas and the second day of Kwanzaa. It gets harder on the third day to maintain a Sabbath mentality; I've had to be firm, place  limits, and find others to take on some of my responsibilities. It's worth it, though, to have this extended time of retreat from the norm. Today I continue to rest, reflect, and find peace within.

Agenda:
1. Kwanzaa principles

2. Journal queries

3. Health goals for 2021

4. Practice health with a long walk to the river

5. End of year work list

Kwanzaa and 2nd Day of Christmas

Kwanzaa is a seven-day African-American cultural holiday - an American holiday inspired by African traditions. The word kwanza is Swahili for “first”, as in "first fruits", because in some parts of Africa this is the season for first fruits harvest festivals. Kwanzaa is a time of thanksgiving for the earth, but also a time to honor ancestors, and a time for African-Americans to celebrate their heritage and learn about African traditions and values.

This is also the second day of the twelve-day festal tide - a sacred, festive season. In some old traditions, this whole season was seen as a sort of Sabbath: Prepare ahead of time and then spend the Twelve Days doing as little work as possible. It's a good time to rest, reflect, and find peace within.

Just like in the Netherlands, this year we are celebrating Christmas for two days. (The Dutch call it First and Second Christmas Day.) This morning we will have brunch and a big Christmas fire outside with my children and grandson, to open presents, eat, and drink, and be the crazy people we are. Later, we will go inside with half of my family to do a puzzle and have Christmas dinner together.

Agenda:
1. Kwanzaa principles

2. Journal queries

3. Love Goals for 2021

4. Practice Love with a Christmas brunch

5. Make Advocaat

Christmas Day

Today is Christmas, but only the first day of Christmas (what Norwegians would call 1. juledag, or "First Christmas Day"). 

This is the start of the twelve-day festal tide adopted by the Christian Church: In 567 C.E. church leaders proclaimed the days from December 25 to Epiphany as a sacred, festive season.

Normally I would spend all day with my family, doing a puzzle, eating and drinking, and generally wallowing in joyful abandon. This year is different: We plan to visit one household today that is in our pod, and then have a brunch gathering outside tomorrow for all of us together.

Agenda:
1. Journal queries

2. Goals for 2021

3. Put Baby Jesus in the manger

4. Open (some) gifts

5. Create sanctuary with a fire-side oasis

6. Make Danish prune bread

Christmas Eve

Tonight is Christmas Eve. In some places, folks open gifts tonight. This year we won't open gifts together until the day AFTER Christmas, when we all had the day off. That means I have two more days to finish and wrap gifts!

Agenda Today:
1. Prayer journal queries
2. Make a cheese ball
3. Hang our stockings with care
4. Christmas Novena, day 9

Shamanic Solstice, and Christmas Novena, Day 8

I feel the darkness of winter in my body and my heart; some mornings my bones ache and I can't shake the gloom. The expectation of joy and good cheer are not helpful.

I've been reading an article by Jade Grigori, a Shaman teacher, about Winter Solstice in the indigenous north: 

Winter Solstice: A Time of the Shaman’s Gift Bringing

"The underlying aspects of the various cultural Winter Solstice celebrations lies rooted deep in Shamanic origins. Amongst the Saami (Laplanders) and Siberians, Buryats and Altaic tribes, all of the far northern climes, there was and is a very common motif in the Shamanic practices surrounding the Winter Solstice ceremonies."

The shaman was called on by the people to go into a deep trance, helped along with mushrooms and/or shamanic drumming. The purpose was to access and deal with burdens of Inner Darkness:

"At the time of the Winter Solstice the days have descended into the depths of darkness. It is at this moment, however, that the Sun begins to return, and with it, the days begin to lengthen. As the days become longer more light radiates into the world. This natural rhythm of the dance of Earth and Sun is a trigger within our psyche. 

As all the things that have remained hidden in the darkness begin to be revealed in the greater light of day, so do all the things that we tend to hide in our own Inner Darkness begin to be brought forth into activity as the days lengthen, just as seeds left in the darkness beneath the soil begin to sprout and grow in response to the emerging light. Generations upon generations of experiencing this cycle of our own Soul’s dynamic led the people of ancient cultures to utilize the very same patterns of nature to deal effectively with their burdens of pain and suffering, of anguish and trauma that had laid hidden within the Inner Darkness of their own Soul."

Jade suggests that we can use Winter Solstice ceremonies to release our burdens and the grudges we hold, forgive the debts owed us, and start fresh - be reborn, accepting how things are.

The Shaman also receives a symbolic gift for each person, which he or she sings into the Soul Essence of each person, as a blessing and a gift of the Spirit.

"The ceremonies performed at the Winter Solstice are powerful in their transformative effect. They are empowering of each participant in the awakening of each to their own inherent spiritual gifts. They are ceremonies of compassion and liberation, ceremonies of blessing, well-being and abundance in the year to come."

Agenda today:
1. Prayer journal queries
2. Spirit Guide trance

3. Christmas Novena, day 8

Alban Arthan and Christmas Novena, Day 7

I continue my solstice celebration today with Alban Arthan, the Celtic and Druidic name for the Winter Solstice; it's Welsh for Light of Winter. 

The Winter Solstice was never a one day festival - three days seems to be the minimum. The sun appears to stand still for three days, then days begin to noticeably increase in length (and we all sigh in relief). 

Alban Arthan is a celebration of the strengthening sun, and the central theme is renewal; we leave the past behind and greet the new. The world is undergoing constant change and we must change and adjust, too, in order to be able to survive.

"All things which come into being must first be born. Even as creation was borne by the great Mother of the universe, so too must we be born of the spirit to become spirit. The winter solstice is a celebration of being ‘born again’—not of flesh, but of the spirit. It’s a celebration of the birth of the spiritual Son, the Christ, within a person’s consciousness in the process of awakening.” 

From The Path of the Spiritual Sun: Celebrating the Solstices & Equinoxes by Belsebuub (Mark Pritchard)

Agenda:
1. Advent prayer
2. Prayer journal queries

3. Christmas Novena, day 7

Winter Solstice / Yule

 The winter solstice occurred this morning at 2:02 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice happens during the coldest season of the year, when the sun is at it’s lowest angle and is seen for it’s shortest period. This is the turning point, the moment of new beginnings - the darkest time, with the brightest hope.

In the Pagan tradition, the Winter Solstice is often called Yule; it's the Sabbat that begins the Pagan year. Yule (Jul) was a midwinter festival celebrated by the indigenous Norse and Germanic peoples. The name might mean “Wheel of Fire”. The original date of Yule isn't known but it probably started about the time of the winter solstice and very likely at the new moon. 

Yule is a fire festival, a time of celebrating the return of the light.

Many ancient solstice traditions are adopted and absorbed into Christmas festivities. I mark the solstice separately from- but linked to- Christmas. This is when I honor the sun, and remember that in spite of our technology, we are still dependent on the sun for life. Our world does revolve around the sun!

Agenda today:

1. Prayer journal queries

2. Christmas Novena, day 6
3. Paint a plum tree calendar
4. Make Norwegian donuts
5. Mother's Night offering

6. Solstice fire!

Fourth Sunday of Advent, and Christmas Novena, Day 5

The fourth and final part of advent begins today. 

When I have observed advent well, I find that I am now mostly prepared for Christmas - my house is fairly clean, shopping is almost finished, and the cupboards are filled with yummy food. I need to complete only a few finishing touches. Even so, I find myself fretting over details!

This is a good day to take a deep breath and go back to the source, back to the Spirit that brings me to this place of light and grace; back to living in Spirit, being Spirit. I remember then that happiness comes in calm simplicity, and awareness in the moment. I experience Spirit through my breath, and with each sensation, sight, sound, smell, and taste. I only need to be fully awake to the ordinary miracle of Being, and keep my focus on the Spirit of Love that guides me.

Today is the fifth day of the Christmas Novena, a Catholic ritual of a prayer recited or sung during the nine days leading up to Christmas Day.

Agenda:
1. Winter Awareness Walk
2. Advent wreath ceremony
3. Plan ways to give attention to Light and Love
4. Read the Christmas Novena, day 5

5. Horn Blowing

Christmas Novena, Day 4- In Communion with the Victims of Alcohol and Drugs

Today is the fourth day of the Christmas Novena, a Catholic ritual of a prayer recited or sung during the nine days leading up to Christmas Day.

Read this prayer from the Worldssps (Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit):

In Communion with the Victims of Alcohol and Drugs:

Let us pray for the people enslaved by alcohol, drugs and other addictions, that through the word of God they find the strength to fight for freedom, overcome their addictions and live in sobriety and joy.

Let us pray for the people who had lost their sense of life, as a result of abuse of alcohol and drugs. May a particular grace, love of God and support from other people, help them to discover the true meaning of life and liberate them from the sinful attachments, so they can enjoy their families and the community of the Church.

Let us pray for the families and friends of those who are addicted to alcohol and drugs, that they find comfort in people who are supporting them in any way.

Loving God, we ask you to liberate people addicted to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and all kinds of addiction. Let them desire to reject the temptation of using them again. We know that by their own strength, they cannot break from the acquired habits: heal them, clean their intentions, and strengthen the weak-willed. Free them from the effects that these addictions caused. Support them in their desire to live in inner freedom. Help them overcome the power of body tensions and wrong desires. Fill them with the power of God’s Word in Scriptures and embrace them with your love flowing from the Eucharist. We believe that with your grace they will become a people not only free but also devoted to your service.  Amen.

Christmas Novena, Day 3- In Communion with Refugees and Migrants

Today is the third day of the Christmas Novena, a Catholic ritual of a prayer recited or sung during the nine days leading up to Christmas Day.

Read this wonderful prayer from the Worldssps (Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit):

In Communion with Refugees and Migrants

Merciful God, we pray to you for all the men, women and children who have died after leaving their homelands in search of a better life.  Though many of their graves bear no name, to you each one is known, loved and cherished.   

May we never forget them, but honour their sacrifice with deeds more than words.  We entrust to you all those who have made this journey, enduring fear, uncertainty and humiliation, in order to reach a place of safety and hope.  Just as you never abandoned your Son as he was brought to a safe place by Mary and Joseph, so now be close to these, your sons and daughters, through your tenderness and protection.  In caring for them may we seek a world where none are forced to leave their home and where all can live in freedom, dignity and peace.

Merciful God and Father of all, wake us from the slumber of indifference, open our eyes to their suffering, and free us from the insensitivity born of worldly comfort and self-centredness.  Inspire us, as nations, communities and individuals, to see that those who come to our shores are our brothers and sisters.  May we share with them the blessings we have received from your hand, and recognize that together, as one human family, we are all migrants, journeying in hope to you, our true home, where every tear will be wiped away, where we will be at peace and safe in your embrace.

(Prayer of Pope Francis when he visited the refugees on Lesbos, on 16 April 2016) 

Christmas Novena, Day 2- In communion with the environment

Today is the second day of the Christmas Novena, a Catholic ritual of a prayer recited or sung during the nine days leading up to Christmas Day.

Read this wonderful prayer from the Worldssps (Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit):

In communion with the environment:

Triune God, wondrous community of infinite love, teach us to contemplate you in the beauty of the universe, for all things speak of you. Awaken our praise and thankfulness for every being that you have made. 

Give us the grace to feel profoundly joined to everything that is. Show us our place in this world as channels of your love for all the creatures of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight. 

Enlighten those who possess power and money that they may avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live. 

The poor and the earth are crying out. O Lord, seize us with your power and light, help us to protect all life, to prepare for a better future, for the coming of your Kingdom of justice, peace, love and beauty.

Las Posadas and Christmas Novena

Tonight is the start of Las Posadas, a nine-day Mexican celebration that begins on December 16 each year. Posadas is Spanish for "lodging", and the nine days represent the nine months of Mary's pregnancy.

Tonight is also the start of the Christmas Novena in Italy. A Novena is a Catholic ritual, a prayer repeated daily for nine days. It can take place at any time of the year, but one of the most observed is the Christmas Novena, recited or sung during the nine days leading up to Christmas day. Las Posadas comes from that same tradition.

Agenda:
1. Listen to novenas
2. Set out our crèche

3. Have a Posadas Procession

Family Love at Advent

My children painted these plaster houses when they were young.

During this week of Advent my theme is "family love and joy". 

Of course, the joy of the season is spontaneous and un-planable, but I do these three things to create the right conditions:

• Take the time to consider what my friends and family will want most this season. In other words, I become less self-focused and more generous in all ways. 
• Be respectful, patient, and kind (no matter how stressed I feel).
• Take care of myself so I can be calm and present for the spontaneous joy when it arises.

These are obviously year-round aspirations, but I need a strict reminder now, because, somehow, everything seems so important: I have high expectations and I feel I must get this right.

Agenda this week:
1. Journal queries
2. Check in with my family
3. Card-writing practice
4. Make simple gifts

5. Take care of myself

New White Moon

Tonight is the new moon. The Chinese call the eleventh new moon the White Moon, perhaps because it brings the snow, or perhaps because it's a yin time of year. 

This season puts limits on our lives. Chinese philosophy says the winter season is a time of conservation and storage; the night, the feminine, water, and cold is dominant. We slow down, go inward, and spend more time on quiet, yin activities.

Luckily, advent is four weeks long, allowing us to grow slowly and steadily towards the light. We are halfway through advent, on the darkest night of the month: Let yourself go inward now - be like the bear in her cave, saving your strength and relishing the darkness. Don't celebrate Christmas too soon; allow yourself to experience the darkness of winter, against which it shines.

Agenda Today:
1.  Journal queries

2. Prayer for the Light

3. Make luminaries

Third Sunday of Advent

We made it through the second week of advent, and now the excitement is really growing!

Agenda:

1. Journal queries
2. Advent wreath ceremony
3. Plan activities for family fun

Lussi Night and Luciadagen

Tonight is Lussi Night in Norway and in Sweden, and tomorrow is Luciadagen (pronounced LOO-sha-da-gen), or St. Lucia’s Day, or St. Lucy’s Day.

It's hard to sort out all the Lucys: We have St. Lucia, a Sicilian woman in the reign of Diocletian who became a Christian martyr. Because her name means light, she was appointed to be the patron saint for the eyes. 

We also have the older Roman goddess Lucina, also the goddess of light, and of childbirth- bringing children to light.

And in Scandinavia, we have Lussi, a female demon or witch accompanied by an entourage of gnomes and spirits called Lussiferda.

Agenda:
1. Lusse-vigil
2. Set out more candles
3. Make Lussekatt (St. Lucia buns)

Advent Peace Testimony

Quakers have a testimony of peace;

by testimony we mean a call to bear witness by our words and actions to our ideals.

Our Faith and Practice says: 

"Our peace testimony begins with opposition to war and is a positive affirmation of the power of good to overcome evil. We seriously consider the implications of our employment, our investments, our payment of taxes, and our manner of living as they relate to violence at all levels. We remain sensitive to the covert as well as the overt violence inherent in some of our long-established social practices and institutions, including unfettered capitalism and the unjust distribution of wealth. We work to change those elements which violate our conviction that there is that of God in everyone."

Agenda
1. Journal queries

2. Plan a Quaker Christmas celebration

3. Advent prayer for peace

Hanukkah

Tonight is the first night of the eight day Jewish holiday known as the Festival of Lights. Hanukkah is observed beginning 3 days before the new moon closest to the winter solstice, at the darkest part of the moon phase and the darkest part of the sun phase.

Agenda today:
1. Journal queries
2. Prepare for Hanukkah
3. Make potato latkes
4. Hanukia Ceremony

Human Rights Day

Today is Human Rights Day: The United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on this day in 1948.

The 2020 Theme: Recover Better - Stand Up for Human Rights

"This year’s Human Rights Day theme relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the need to build back better by ensuring Human Rights are central to recovery efforts. We will reach our common global goals only if we are able to create equal opportunities for all, address the failures exposed and exploited by COVID-19, and apply human rights standards to tackle entrenched, systematic, and intergenerational inequalities, exclusion and discrimination."

Human Rights must be at the centre of the post COVID-19 world.

The COVID-19 crisis has been fuelled by deepening poverty, rising inequalities, structural and entrenched discrimination and other gaps in human rights protection. Only measures to close these gaps and advance human rights can ensure we fully recover and build back a world that is better, more resilient, just, and sustainable. 

Agenda:
1. Journal queries
2. Choose next steps
3. Watch more videos

4. Take the human rights pledge

Advent Unity and Peace

My theme for this week of Advent 

My grandson's first St. Nicholas Day!

is "Striving to find unity and peace with all the people of the world".

One way I love to do that is by learning about the traditions and beliefs of people throughout the world.

This year I decided to learn more about the advent customs in the Netherlands, the land of my paternal grandmother's people: My geat-great-grandparents, Izaak and Anna Caterina (Remeeus) Toussaint came from the Netherlands to Milwaukee by boat in 1854. (Izaak's family, the Toussaints, emigrated to the Netherlands from Normandy, France, before 1718.) 

Agenda:

1 - Research the Netherlands

2 - Make Speculaas cookies
3 - Make a wooden shoe ornament

Rohatsu

Rohatsu is Japanese for "eighth day of the twelfth month," so it always falls on December 8th. 

Today Japanese Buddhists observe the enlightenment of the Buddha. It's also known as Bodhi Day. Here's the short explanation:

After years of searching for answers, Siddhartha Gautauma finally vowed that he would sit under the Bodhi tree until he found the truth. Siddhartha fasted and meditated under the tree for a week, and on the morning of the eighth day he was enlightened by the principles at the heart of Buddhism. After that he was called the Buddha - The Enlightened One.

In Japanese Zen monasteries, Rohatsu is the last day of a week-long sesshin, an intensive meditation retreat. Participants maintain silent meditation at all times, even while eating and doing chores. And each evening's meditation period gets a little longer, until on this last night they sit up all night. The Rohatsu Retreat gives participants the opportunity to realize their own Buddha nature.

Agenda today:

1. Zazen Meditation

2. Make rice kheer

3. Decorate with a string of colored lights