Eleventh Day of Christmas

This is the eleventh day of the twelve-day festal tide - we have two days of Christmas left! I celebrate these last days in Sabbath mode, doing as little work as possible, resting, reflecting, and finding peace within.

And it's also still the time of Soyal, a Hopi ceremonial period that begins at the new moon closest to the Winter Solstice and lasts for 16 days. Soyal is short for Soyalangwul, which means Establishing Life Anew for All the World. It's a sacred time of peace and preparation for the new growing season.

Agenda:

1. Review the Divine laws

2. Prayer candle ceremony

3. Read "The Creativity Book"

4. Record some nostalgia

1. Review the Divine Laws:

At Soyal, I review the Divine Laws, as I see them. A Divine Law is anything that comes directly from God: a natural law, universal truth, principle, or a rule of conduct that is inherent and essential in human society.

Today I will review my testimony of Creativity: Embrace the unknown, and remain flexible, open, and willing to generate new ideas, directions, opportunities, and innovations.

Some of my plans for creativity this year:

• Explore "Active Hope" with abstract paintings and appliqué story pictures.
• Share fun seasonal pre-school art and nature projects with my grandsons, and remind myself to play when we make art together. 
• Make fun things with my hands. 
• Schedule some personal play time that isn't on a phone: Read a novel, walk with friends, visit the library, go shopping for fun, and play with art.

2. Prayer Candle ceremony:

I'm enjoying a daily prayer candle ceremony throughout Soyal, using small candles and candle ends and choosing a new candle to add each day.

Today I light an orange candle for Creativity, and ask the Spirits to bring the rain of loving care down upon the whole world.

3. Read "The Creativity Book":

A few years ago I started but didn't finish this book by Eric Maisel (one of my favorite writers). The subtitle is "A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance." Who doesn't want that? 

I'm on Week 19: Get Nostalgic. He talks about how hard it is to sustain wonder when we become jaded. "We live in the present on shaky footing and it's hard to create with the ground quivering beneath us. One way to recover our footing is through memory."  

He suggests we ground ourselves in memories of physical experiences, colors, scents, and feelings. "Embedded in our best mature work are things from long ago that are just unforgettable, if only we remember them. ... Because nostalgia has sadness in it, you may want to avoid feeling it. But if you do, you miss out on much joy." 

4. Record some nostalgia:

As I make plans for creativity this year, I will journal a bit about my creativity as a youth. I was always making things - a dollhouse in an old suitcase, tiny paper dolls, oil painting when I was twelve, and handmade gifts for everyone. I remember my first piñata, which was a bird (it was so lopsided that ended up papier-mâchéing an aluminum plate inside to fix the shape - impossible to break!) I painted sets for a play when I was 14, and won a calligraphy competition when I was 16. How I loved my art teacher! Lovely man; he gave me the name Dragonfly.