Alban Arthan

Alban Arthan is 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.

From A Druid Way: "One link between the objective and the subjective is awen, inspiration, the flow of spirit, which lets us evoke in others an echo of our original experience. Let the echo be strong enough, let our understanding of this thing called being human, and our skill in working with it, run equal to the task, and music, image, voice, story, object of craft can all serve to unite us in the experience of mystery. An echo from outside awakens a resonance within us." 

Agenda today:

1. Read a novena

2. Druid peace prayer 

3. Light a candle for Order

4. Read "Spirit Walker"

5. Soyal retreat practices for order and self-care

6. Self-care practices brainstorm

7. Pre-school plans

8. Home order practices

Simple Living

I've been working at creating order in our house, by building habits of simplicity and orderliness, because creating a peaceful and efficient sanctuary creates a feeling of stability which is a basic practice of resilience.

And besides that, habits of simplicity and order aid me in reducing my consumption, and using only my share of the earth’s resources, which is the honorable and sustainable thing to do, and is one way that I show reverence for the Earth and for God. 

Agenda:

1. Read "One Year to an Organized Life":

2. Clean and clear the bedrooms
3. Simple steps for health

4. Review essential intentions

Living Room Questions

The living room is the sanctuary of our home, where we gather to be safe and together. It's the entry to our home, the welcoming arena, and where we celebrate life together. This is a shared family space: We fill and arrange the room together; it’s our creation- we speak our souls into the emptiness, and suddenly, there is life. 

Agenda today:

1. Read "One Year to an Organized Life"

2. Clean and clear the living room

3. Simple steps for health

My Room

I'm lucky to have a room to call mine; this small room (which is just called My Room) is where I spend most of my alone time - where I write every morning, and return to throughout the day to recenter and catch my breath.

A room of my own has always been essential for me, because I am an introvert. I have always needed a room with a closed door, and plenty of quiet time to be alone in it - time to read, collect things, make up stories, become an expert at something, listen to rock & roll, or browse the internet. This is not passive or wasted time; I am intensely focused on filling myself up with creative energy and juicy ideas, and the harmony and balance I need to succeed.

My Room is pretty packed with stuff; it's where I store my computer, my clothes, most of my books, my sewing machine and ironing board, and my photo albums and memorabilia. It feels cramped and cluttered, even though it's pretty tidy. This final week of January I will devote to creating some order and peace in here.

Agenda today:

1. Read "One Year to an Organized Life"

2. Clean and clear My Room

3. Simple steps for health

Day of Order

My sabbath is a good day to get organized for the week. Order means to "let all your things have their places, and let each part of your business have its time"; today I will take it slow, and ease in to order. 

My perfect sabbath is a celebration, a holiday. I keep it holy with my attitude: I don't rush, complain, or worry. Everything I do has a flavor of peace. I schedule some work, but it's work I find fulfilling, or uplifting. Simple is a great word to describe my ideal activities for the sabbath: Simple tasks, simple foods, and an undemanding schedule.

Agenda today:

1. Read "One Year to an Organized Life"

2. Start an evening routine

3. Simple steps for health and order

4. Make pitcher of green smoothie

5. Clean and clear the bathroom

Active Hope

My theme this year is Active Hope.

None of us know what the future holds - what movements might rise up; what a big corporation may suddenly decide to do; what planetary shifts might still occur. But as environmental journalist Arno Kopecky writes in his book “The Environmentalist’s Dilemma”: We are “living on borrowed time. The worst is yet to come.”

Agenda:

1. Review the Divine Laws
2. Prayer candle ceremony
3. Read "Active Hope"

4. Hope and resilience steps

5. Simple steps for health and order
6. Create an intentions ritual

Epiphany and First Quarter Moon

January 6th is Epiphany, the final day of the Christmas season. This was the day when the three Magi arrived in Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus, and recognized that he would grow up to be a great helper of people.

Epiphany comes from the Greek epiphania, meaning manifestation, or moment of recognition. The Magi had an epiphany - a moment of recognition, when the truth became clear through something simple and striking.

Tonight is also the First Quarter Moon; we are one-quarter of the way through the moon cycle. The moon is waxing - growing in light and energy, creating a time for decisive action and full effort. 

I use this January quarter moon's energy to grow still and listen within.

Agenda for today:

1. Epiphany meditation

2. Review the Divine Laws

3. Prayer candle ceremony

4. Simple steps for health and order

5. Make a full effort plan

6. Bake a King's cake and make a crown

New Year's Eve

Tonight is New Year's Eve - a big night for many people. W and I are visiting family for the New year's weekend, as has been our tradition for a few years now.

This is the final day of 2024; it's time to see it out, and welcome in the New Year! 

Agenda today:

1. 

Kwanzaa principle

2. 

Christmas retreat brainstorm

3. Celebration plans

4. Resolutions

5. Simple steps for health and order

6. Make noise!

Christmas Eve

Tonight is Christmas Eve. Advent is nearly over, and Christmas is upon us. Today I will tie together some loose ends (finish one gift, final wrapping, bake sweet bread), and settle into the grace and mystery of Christmas.

What is the grace of Christmas? It's an experiential thing. We don't need faith that the sun will rise because we have experienced it. Even in the darkest of times, this season of Light and Love will deliver its grace.

Agenda Today:

1. Read a novena

2. Christmas Retreat Brainstorm for Renewal

3. Health Reading

4. Health plans

5. Make Danish Prune Bread

6. Hang our stockings

Fourth Day of Christmas

This is the fourth day of the twelve-day festal tide - a sacred, festive season. My retreat today will again embrace the disposition of a toddler and a pre-schooler ... a busy kind of retreat, with lots of short projects and (hopefully) a long nap!

1. Christmas retreat

2. Kwanzaa principles
3. Light a candle for health
4. Read "Root and Ritual"
5. Plan physical nurturance habits
6. Plan New Year's resolutions

Finding My Muse

Making art has been healing for me; I've used it throughout my life to explore my grief and my hopes. But I've felt disconnected from inspiration for quite a long while now.

Lately I've been wondering how I can use my art skills (and teaching art skills) to help heal the rift in our human connection to the Earth. I've opened myself to that possibility for the last month, and finally have just a glimmer of insight. This week I'm practicing all the ways I can think of to connect to my muse, and see a path forward for me and art.

Agenda:

1. Read "Healing with the Arts"

2. Weekly lesson

3. Guided meditation

4. Make a medicine wheel

5. Look for signs & omens in nature

Final Days of Christmas

We have two days of Christmas left! By now, most people are fed up with holidays and ready to get back to "normalcy" - but I'm holding on for my full 12-days-worth.

Agenda:

1. Christmas retreat

2. Health goals for 2022

3. Year of Awareness

4. Winter walking meditation

Final Days of Christmas

We have three days of Christmas left! By now, most people are fed up with holidays and ready to get back to "normalcy" - but not me. I'm holding on for my full 12-days-worth.

I'm also transitioning into the celebration of my birthday, so these final days of Christmas take on an introspective, self-focused quality.

Agenda:

1. Me meditation and journal

2. Finish my Ideas Poster

3. Healthy habits plan

4. Birthday pampering plan

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

Balance on the Sabbath

Today is Sunday, which I celebrate as my Sabbath-- meaning that I keep it simple, slow-paced, and peaceful. 

Autumn Flowers- acrylic on board

It’s not possible for me to do NO work on the Sabbath, but I schedule very little work, and my work has a different focus and flavor. I take time out from busy-ness so I can practice deepening my inner life-- how I feel, how I behave, and how I express myself.

My theme this month is balance, and I've decided to contemplate today how to bring a little balance to my Work Flow- how can I maintain a steady pace at the work of my life, with fewer diversions in to solitaire and television?

Sabbath Plan:
1. All day meditation
2. Journal queries
3. Cultivate flow
4. Healthy habits

Indigenous Peoples Day and New Chrysanthemum Moon

Happy Indigenous People's Day! Some people celebrate the second Monday in October as Columbus Day, but many of us prefer to honor instead the people who were here in the Americas for centuries before Columbus "discovered" it. 

Many cities are finally making the name change official, adopting Indigenous People's Day to celebrate the people and their culture, and also to reflect on their ongoing struggles in this land. The celebration today includes powwows, drumming, dancing, Native American foods and crafts.

This is also the night of the new moon. The Chinese call this ninth new moon the Chrysanthemum Moon. The chrysanthemum is a symbol of long life and endurance because of its ability to withstand colder temperatures. According to Chinese scholars, it shows the virtues of one who can endure temptations and maintain grace.

Agenda:
1. Journal queries
2. New moon meditation
3. Set intentions
4. Make fry bread
5. Make a prayer stick

Indigenous People's Day

Happy Indigenous People's Day! Some people celebrate the second Monday in October as Columbus Day, but some of us prefer to honor instead the people who were here in the Americas for centuries before Columbus "discovered" it. 

Many cities are finally making the name change official, adopting Indigenous People's Day as a day to celebrate the people and their culture, and also to reflect on their ongoing struggles in this land. The celebration today includes powwows, drumming, dancing, Native American foods and crafts.

Agenda:
1. Journal queries
2. Make fry bread
3. Make a prayer stick

Stillness on the Sabbath

Today is Sunday, which I celebrate as my Sabbath, meaning that I keep it simple, slow-paced, and peaceful. I take time out from busy-ness so I can practice deepening my inner life-- how I feel, how I behave, and how I connect.

Draft for "Stillness", from my Message in a Bottle series, acrylic and collage on paper

January has sped by for me, with lots of activity, travel, and committee work, and framed by a new year's celebration on each end of the month. Today I will take a pause to focus some attention on myself, inside and out.

Sabbath Plan:
1. All Day Meditation:
I begin my celebration of the Sabbath right away when I awaken-- I pause before jumping out of bed to remember God, and acknowledge that I have God within. I hold that remembering through the day, lightly, like a dove resting on my shoulder. I remember to smile and allow love to shine.

2. Altar:
Today I added to my altar:

• the Greek Delphic injunction- Gnothi Seauton- Know Thyself.
• a grey candle for objectivity and release, an unbiased color, useful for pondering complex issues and neutralizing bad feelings. 

3. Journal:
My theme this month has been stillness. I have spent a little extra time in study, reflection, and meditation. Today I will decide on one aspect of my nature to focus on for the next several weeks, and begin to collect information and advice on ways to work with it. I will keep a separate journal to track what I learn. 

Today I light the grey candle on my altar, center on my body, my breathing, and all of my physical sensations. When I am grounded, I observe the feelings I am having right now: Just take an objective inventory. As a feeling enters, I hold it gently, then let it float away.

I ask:

What difficult feelings or moods do I struggle with repeatedly in my life? 

What are the attitudes or actions that flow from them?

From my journal: It's an easy question! I am over-reactive when I feel I've been wrongly-criticized or misjudged. I get a little self-righteous, and I have a hard time letting it rest; I become indignant and combative, and hold grudges- sometimes for years. It's very hard for me to forgive "transgressions" against myself.

4. Health:
As I focus on myself and my inner life, I balance that with attention to my body. The weather has kept me inside far too much this month! I need to respond with some extra exercise and a better diet. Simple steps I plan to take this week:

Sadie is taking me home after a morning walk to the park.

• Be kind to my body with a better diet. Make a checklist, and try for 5 cups of water, 4 whole grains, 3 servings of veggies, 2 fruits, and 1 yogurt each day.
• Get outside for longer walks now that the weather is better- aim for 7000 to 10,000 steps a day.
• Make an appointment for a check up as soon as possible-- I'm not sure how much longer I will have my federally-subsidized health insurance and when it's gone I'll be without health care again.